This started off so strong for me—funny, sharp, and unexpectedly moving. There’s a real gift in the way he weaves personal reflection with larger commentary about class, identity, and American systems. His reverence for the USPS and its unsung role in our daily lives is clear—and often well-earned.

But as the book went on, the structure started to feel a bit repetitive. The same themes resurfaced in slightly different packaging, and I found myself wishing he’d trust the reader a little more—let some things land without needing to restate the thesis every chapter. That said, there are still standout passages all the way through, and the later sections add weight and vulnerability that deepen the narrative. His personal history with gun violence, for example, retroactively reframes a lot of what came earlier.

It didn’t quite sustain the momentum of the early chapters for me, but I’m glad I read it. There’s something meaningful here—especially if you’ve ever stood in line at the post office and wondered what worlds were tucked behind the counter. Thank you Simon & Schuster for the gifted book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

DNF ... tried to stick with it, but just way too wordy and too slow ... read about 50%, but could tell there'd be more of the same ...

Inverted Hillbilly Elegy. That really is the easiest way to have a general idea about this book. Take nearly everything about Hillbilly Elegy, invert it, and you have a pretty solid approximation of Grant's thinking. Told as a native of the eastern/ southern side of Appalachia rather than the western/ northern side, this is a man who went to prestigious Southern schools (his dad was shot in the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting) rather than prestigious Northern schools ("the" Ohio State and Yale). Instead of going into the military as a way out of Appalachia, Grant had already left Appalachia long ago as a businessman and came back during COVID to work in a purely peaceful, yet also Constitutionally guaranteed, service - the United States Postal Service, with its own sworn oath remarkably similar to that of the military's. Instead of "spreading Democracy" as a desk jockey PR flack in Baghdad, Grant was the first person outside their homes and families that many people in his rural area of Virginia saw during the global shutdowns of COVID, spreading hope person to person in a manner somewhat reminiscent of the titular Postman of both David Brin's original book and Kevin Costner's movie (neither of which Grant ever mentions, to be clear). Instead of learning to fire a rifle from ROTC, Grant learned from his family and friends - including his avid fly fisherman dad. Instead of never really needing one in the safe zones of Baghdad (as Vance himself noted, to be clear), Grant speaks of the necessity of his John Browning designed 1911 pistol in the hinterlands of Appalachia - even against explicit USPS policy, as Grant notes more than once. Instead of the dangers of a broken family, Grant's dangers come from both his own mind and the natural world around him, including an incident with a hornet nest as well as the burning and freezing of working out of a largely uninsulated metal box.

Now, Grant doesn't seem to have any ambition for public office - even when Hillbilly Elegy came out, Vance was already running for US Senate - and that is truly one key distinction here. And yet, there are so many other similarities that the dichotomies really do speak to how you, the reader of my review of this book, can begin to get an idea of the overall nature of the book and whether you might be interested in reading it.

In all honesty, this is absolutely one I would recommend for anyone even remotely interested in learning about the lives of a "normal" (if any of us really are) American in a job most of us will never have, but who came to that job during a period where most all of us experienced massive upheaval. (To be clear, I was atypical during that period - the *only* difference in my job was that suddenly I was doing it from my home rather than driving across town to a cubicle I largely hated being in anyway. At the time I was working for a Fortune 50 global bank, and had been for a couple of years already. I wouldn't leave there until long after the world had regained most normality, such as it had by the mid 2020s at least.)

Now, you may be asking me, "Jeff, why didn't you deduct a star for relying on COVID so much? You literally did that in your very last review for a book set in that exact same year." Which is a fair question, because I did do that and I do maintain that I largely don't want to read anything about that year at all. But it is also a *nonfiction* and specifically *memoir* based look at that year (which also spared it the star deduction for lack of bibliography, as this was purely memoir), and it was clear from the description - that mentions Grant losing his job in March 2020 specifically and becoming a mail carrier after that point - that this book would be covering that period in some manner. Thus, I can't exactly deduct a star for a real life look at that period that I was explicitly told up front was exactly that.

Overall a truly solid work perhaps more in the vein of the relatively unknown One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Frick (which told of a Dartmouth graduate's experience as a Marine officer who was among the first "boots on the ground" in both Afghanistan and Iraq in the post 9/11 era) than Hillbilly Elegy, yet also with the direct contrasts between itself and Hillbilly. In other words, compelling, interesting, and...

Very Much Recommended.

“Just go from one mailbox to the next and deliver the mail. Then get up again and do it tomorrow.”

This memoir covers a year in a white-collar worker’s life when he loses his well-paying consulting job during the pandemic. When faced with an uncertain future, a “benign as cancer gets” diagnosis, and a family who depends on him, Steve Grant applies for a Rural Carrier Associate position with the USPS. The gap between his skill set and the needs of this position couldn’t have been wider. “The thing about the internet is that it shortens the distance between impulse and action, which may not be the best thing for someone with impulse control issues.” Though he would not have a gap in coverage with COBRA and both options carry premiums, his argument for taking the job is for insurance coverage.

Grant was raised and educated in Blacksburg, VA, home to Virginia Tech. He left the area for several decades before returning with his family. Though he was headquartered in New York City, he commuted, maintaining an office in the Corporate Research Center. This maze of brick buildings with hidden addresses and cryptic names, as he describes it, was established “to help spin out intellectual property developed at Virginia Tech into the private sector.” It is where rural carriers are sent to fail, he says, but for him, it “was my briar patch, my home away from home.” Recognizing this, the Postmaster assigns him to that route. Whether it was evident or not, this decision allowed Grant the opportunity to muse about who he had been and was becoming.

This memoir is a primer on the USPS laced with musings about service versus intellectual work, the people who populate those worlds, religion and politics, and the differences between those who live in Blacksburg, “The Cambridge of Appalachians,” and those who live in the rural areas.

Grant regularly makes distinctions between himself, a card-carrying member of the local intelligentsia, and those who are skeptical of government and science or don’t appreciate him sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. He has a mini tantrum when management doesn’t appreciate his research solving a flow problem. He had crossed boundaries on several fronts, but instead of recognizing this he demeans the boss. “David was a high-energy guy, whippet-lean, a leg bouncer. He was a serious dip user, likely self-medicating for ADHD and stress. The dip gave him the perpetual appearance of a man-squirrel who had found himself trapped under the hood of a car that had just roared to life and was now accelerating toward the freeway.”

Though presented as a noble observation, Grant’s elitism is on display when he opines how “someone without a degree, or without skilled labor,” can use the USPS as a path to the middle class. Perhaps he forgot that it can also provide a safety net for wealthy, educated men from a wealthy, educated family, even those with a year’s worth of savings on which to live and options for medical coverage.

Grant is funny, foul-mouthed, irreverent, and introspective. He comes across as a bit of an ass if you forget he’s trying to be funny, and there are lots of kind and insightful moments.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for providing this e-galley.

Mailman is Stephen Starring Grant’s memoir which chronicles his unexpected transformation from corporate marketing strategist to rural mail carrier during the early days of the COVID 19 pandemic. After losing his job and facing a health scare, Grant joins the USPS workforce in Appalachian Virginia, setting out on a grueling 60 mile mail route that winds through remote farms, trailer parks, and mountain roads.

I found this book to be a warm, witty, and candid narrative filled with colorful characters and rural Americana. I felt it delivered practical, behind-the-scenes detail about USPS operations and highlights the physical and emotional toughness of mail carriers. I was drawn to its ability to explore community, service, and the redemptive power of purpose and routine.

I felt the author did a great job adding in humor, humility, and heart. He faced physical challenges like dodging dogs, icy roads, heavy mailbags and administrative quirks of life in a federal workplace. His anecdotes are both funny and insightful, offering sharp observations on democracy, community, rural poverty, and politics.

Pick this up if you enjoy memoirs that are true to life narratives that make you smile through life's ups and downs.

Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home by Stephen Starring Grant

I never thought I’d be fascinated by the United States Postal Service, but here we are. And on top of learning so so so many facts about the USPS, the feeling of home resonated with me so strongly. Oh, and this book was funny.

What was really special to me with this book was that it took place where I’m located and have grown up. He was a mail carrier in Blacksburg, VA, which was where I attended college, and I have since moved back to the area. His feelings and descriptions of Appalachia were so accurate that many I felt in my own soul.

As for the writing itself, it teetered on being a little over wordy and repetitive at times. Some of the chapters seemed to get lost in themselves. However, because I was so pulled into the “home” feeling, and I genuinely enjoyed learning about the mail process, I was able to power through.

People who enjoy memoirs that teach you about something, readers curious about how your bookmail finds you behind the scenes, or readers hoping to get a sense of Appalachia will find much to love in these pages. And seriously, thank your mail carriers!

I absolutely loved and devoured this book! I grew up going to the mountains in Virginia, which initially drew me to this story. What came out of it was so much more. I loved hearing about the inner workings of the USPS and the commentary about finding a new career really late in life when circumstances almost force you into it. I appreciated Grant's humor in his storytelling and, as such this has been one of my favorite memoirs to read in the past 5 years. An ode to good ol' virginia, the postal service, and never being too old to do something new- this one had it all.

I absolutely loved this memoir! One of the best memoirs I've ever read. It's hilarious and heartwarming, and I love that it was written by a regular person. I am interested in listening to the audiobook because I would love to hear him tell this story. I'm recommending this to everyone!

Thank you Simon and Schuster for this arc.

When Covid hits, Grant is suddenly out of a white collar job and in desperate need of health insurance due to a cancer diagnosis and a family dependent on him. Eventually he applies for a part-time job as a rural mail carrier.

Then it’s time to really learn the job by doing it and it is hard. Seasoned veterans of the USPS make it look easy. But to sort the mail by delivery address means memorizing the delivery route which can be 60 miles long. The USPS delivery trucks are both sturdy and a nightmare. What to wear to avoid heat stroke or hypothermia? Better learn fast as each year mail carriers die from these. Dogs on the route? Veterans tell the newbies that one day a dog (or two) will have your number and you’d better have two to three cans of HALT!.

Grant experiences the highs and lows of the job. Newbies often don’t last long and some veterans won’t engage with them for up to two months until they prove they’ve got what it takes to stick with it.

During his year, Grant sees those who treat the carriers with respect and those who treat them with disdain. He hauls chicken feed and realizes that “Book of the Month” is still a thing and that mail carriers know everything about their regular customers. He discovers that along with books, delivering mail-in ballots is the most important thing he does all year. More than delivering the mail is learned. Grant does a lot of mid-life self discovery. He’s back in the town he was brought up in but seeing it with different eyes.

There is a lot about politics in this book. 2020 was full of it. Grant spends a chapter on getting back in touch with religion. He describes the smell that mail has and outlines his ‘survival gear.’ He desperately searches for a new corporate job and in the end, gets one. After reading this book, I’ve crossed “mail carrier” off my theoretical list of “that might be interesting to try” jobs but from now on I have a great deal more respect for them. B

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the electronic ARC.

I enjoyed the vast majority of the book about the meat and potatoes of delivering the mail, the job, the coworkers, the whole vocational bit. I did not enjoy the author's "flights of fancy" (imagining delivering mail with President Obama?) and some of his fantastical attempts at wit and extrapolation.
This all said, Mailman was a fun, light read and I would recommend it.

Author Steve Grant was laid off from his job at the start of COVID. He needed insurance due to a serious illness and took a job as a mailman in his hometown in rural Appalachia. Not only is this book fascinating (haven't you always wondered about the life of a letter carrier - think of all they see and experience), but its tender-hearted and lovely in the way it describes you local letter carrier as part of the community. The letter carrier delivers things to people that, at times, need help bringing it to their door or need a chat because they're alone and lonely. This book has layers and I loved every one of them. Heartfelt thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy.

tional and a bit of a shock to most of us.

It was a shock to him too -- he was a white collar manager, a creative type, with a corporate job when the pandemic hit. He got laid off, with a wife and two kids, a mortgage and a medical need for health insurance. He applied to the post office in the Appalachian community he grew up in. From a mail delivery point of view, the area was a mix of difficult rural geography and affluent university town.

His insights about the ethos of the USPS are endearing. Who knew what a difficult job this can be? But along the way, he makes a lot of discoveries about himself that he acknowledges he never would have known in his previous cushy life.

Entertaining, provocative, funny, and touching. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

When Stephen Grant was laid off during Covid, he had just been diagnosed with cancer. Needing health care for himself and his family, he took the only work he could find, delivering USPS mail.

I always knew that the USPS worked very hard to get the mail out come rain or come shine. That’s not simply a slogan, it’s a truth. From reading this book, I now understand that they view this essential work not just as a job, but a public service to the nation.
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I learned lots of fascinating details about how USPS mail is processed and delivered, especially in rural areas, and how it compares to delivery in urban zones. Grant takes you up and down with him from deep pain and despair to literal and spiritual (perhaps that’s redundant) highs! I appreciated the author’s ability to find humor in the difficult. I ’d recommend this book for all readers. Thanks to the publisher for granting me a free ARC from NetGalley. This is my honest and objective review

I was a mail carrier for 2 years and this book brought back a lot of those memories from orientation to first day of training and then finally realizing you got a new job and were going to be able to leave soon. It was one of the toughest jobs I think I have ever had. This book was well written and really explained all of those feelings and inner workings of being in the post office. I felt like I was experiencing all those moments again. It is definitely an interesting read for those who are wondering what it is like to be a mail carrier, especially a rural one.

This wasn't quite the book I was expecting based on the description, but I did find the details about how mail delivery works to be fascinating. With government programs being gutted left and right at the moment this felt like a particularly apt time to read this book.

I think the postal service is a marvel and I so looked forward to reading Mailman by Stephen Starring Grant for the insight and perspective that could only be shared by someone who has worked on the inside and has the intimate knowledge of the day-to-day experiences and expectations of the country’s mail carriers.

Laid off from his corporate job at the start of the pandemic, the author takes a position with the post office so that he can provide his family with health insurance and keep them financially afloat during this uncertain time. Through his perspective, readers get a sense of the serious nature of new employee training, the stress of learning new routes and routines under constant pressure, and the challenges of fulfilling the daily demands with a lack of proper equipment or ill-maintained roads or inhospitable stops, whether due to the people who live there or the animals they keep, and he depicts a system and bureaucracy that are both necessary and crippling to the people who work within it. He also tells stories of helping neighbors and colleagues, of gratitude, and grit, determination, and will. There are many feel-good moments that evoke a real sense of community between mail carriers and the residents on their routes. The sheer volume of envelopes, parcels, packages, and boxes that the postal service transports every day is enormous, and the book helps illustrate how its workers are truly unsung heroes in processing and delivering so many of our daily necessities.

Where the book lost its luster for me was on the numerous occasions when the author extolled his weighty political opinions. They detracted from the story and exacerbated the class divisions between the elite academics and their Appalachian neighbors in this somewhat isolated, rural area. After establishing a sense of community between postal carriers and so many of the residents they serve, it was a disappointing and unnecessary interruption in the flow of the story and the goal in telling it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am from this area and it gave me a bit of nostalgia as he discusses the locations where he worked. The peek behind the scenes of the post office was more interesting than I imagined it would be. It felt like the writing needed one more edit, but who am I to say.

This book is for everyone who had a favorite mail man growing up. Mailman is a well written, witty, heartwarming memoir written by a laid off 50 year old who, of course, becomes a mailman. The book answers all your postal questions and more that I didn't even know to ask. It is truly a picture of our dedicated American postal workers/letter carriers and challenges they face everyday. I'll be buying his for my favorite mail carrier!

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book before its general release.

Overall, Mailman was a fine tale, but one that was too drawn out at times. I’ve always been fascinated with the USPS so reading about the “back office” of a post office, the training regime, and the inside of those iconic mail vehicles was really interesting. However, some of the stories seemed out of place and almost a bit repetitive. The title also mentions how Mr. Grant has cancer, but his cancer was rarely talked about throughout the entire memoir. All in all, I can’t criticize the book much because delivering the mail was Grant’s journey and story to tell. I appreciated the memoir and will definitely be sure to strike up a conversation with my mail person more often.

I loved this book! I was a rural carrier for the USPS for seven years, and this book brought back many memories. It is a hard job, but you do make many connections in the community. Stephen Grant did a great job accurately describing the job, process, and the ins and outs of the USPS. A fantastic memoir!