What if your Postman Read your Mail? — The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman
“He used to send letters to himself, but the experience had been a disappointment. He’d gradually stopped, and didn’t really miss it; he didn’t miss himself.”
Bilodo, a Canadian postman, is ostensibly the most boring person to ever exist — he has only taken one sick day in decades, enjoys his daily postal routes, and doesn’t care much for social interaction. One thing though, sets him apart from the crowd — he reads all the personal letters he posts.
Denis Theriault’s ‘The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman’ is a lean novella that details the relationships Bilodo forms by vicariously living through reading these ‘replies’, especially the letters he’s been ‘receiving’ from a Segolene, a female who seems to only write in haiku.
The concept of a postman spending his free time painstakingly misting the flap of envelopes open before gluing them back as if nothing had happened is what drives this novella. ‘Is it acceptable for a postman to secretly read letters if it brings him great joy, and no one else has knowledge of his readership?’ is a question that Theriault constantly prompts the reader to ask at the start of the novel. Theriault’s plot is naturally interesting, and as the story progresses, he adds further intrigue by adding twists and turns that keeps you turning the pages until you somehow find yourself looking at the back cover of this 137 page novella. From beginning to end, this is certainly a well-paced novel which is an easy and enjoyable read in one sitting.
After the novelty of situation wanes, Theriault shifts his focus to the themes. Identity, love and fate are all explored with much sensitivity. Is it possible to find yourself emotionally connected to someone who writes haiku not to you, but intended for someone else? What happens when you imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes so intensely that you prefer that someone to yourself? What really is love? Theriault exploration of Bilodo’s evolving situation shifts the perspectives of the reader — we understand why Bilodo feels the way he does, but as his actions gradually become more invasive and less passive, morality comes into play.
Important to the theme of identity is the character of Bilodo. If there was a weak link in the novel, it’s that it was not written from the perspective of Bilodo, but in the third person. The intended effect is understandable — further removing the reader from Bilodo allows us to perceive his actions from an external perspective, which then prompts us to ask why his overtly creepy and privacy-invading actions seem less peculiar when we perceive the whole picture of his life and not just those actions alone. What this does too though, is establish a disconnect between the narrator and the character. One line in the novella exemplifies this effect clearly: ‘But he didn’t notice, or did he choose not to?’. This establishes that there are gaps in the narrator’s understanding of Bilodo, that Bilodo is able to hide certain feelings and thoughts. Personally, I felt that this detracted from the novella since the character and his thoughts are so vital to the plot — it’s a story about Bilodo and his experiences, and not understanding his immediate thoughts and feelings felt as though he was less realized a character, and thus less personal. “Drive you bones into the plow of the dead” is an example of a novel who features a similarly peculiar protagonist existing on the edge of consciousness, and I felt that the first person perspective there really helped fully form the character, as opposed to how it is done in this novella.
However, when you do reach the end of the novella, Theriault writes an ending that lingers. It’s perhaps not completely believable nor plausible, but it ties the plot points and themes so well together that you’re left pondering the true meaning of identity, love and fate long after you put this book back down.
To conclude then, ‘The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman’ is an extremely intriguing, enjoyable and effective exploration of its plot and themes, at the expense of fully realizing the protagonist’s character. However, this novella has much more to like than dislike, and considering its succinct conveyance of its subject matter, one that you should definitely consider picking up and finishing in one sitting.
And so… out of a full rating of ‘BOOKED.’, ‘The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman’ is a ‘BOOKE’ that promises to linger on your mind long after its final pages.
