Love Medicine

Love Medicine
Detail of beadwork from an Ojibwe medicine pouch

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The Mailman

Did any one else suspect that Edgar and the Mailman would be previously "related" to each other some how? I thought, before I found out what he really was to Edgar, that he could possibly be Edgar's father or something.

13 comments:

Sara W said...

I had a strange feeling about the mailman because he was so upset about Edgar's "death" that he took his own clothes off to help the bleeding when Edgars own mother would not even come out of the house. The mailmain (Nicholas) also tried to kill himself because of this event.

Jack Truett said...

I thought that relation was out of left field. Udall did a good job of twisitng the stroy with the use of the mailman.

BHidalgo07 said...

I knew the mailman would play an important role in the book because that was the whole point of Edgar's "quest." But I never thought he was almost Edgar's father so Udall's ending was really suprising and I could not stop reading when I got to that part!

Clare said...

I had nooo idea that was coming! Great twist.

bweaver said...

i had thought he would have been edgar's acutally father but two find out he wanted to adopt him it made me feel bad for the mailman because you realize the grief he must have felt thinking he killed a child and its worse knowing the child was gonna be his

Ben Schwertz said...

I thought the mailman would be a father in some way to Edgar because it was odd that the postal service doesnt service the reservation.

Taylor Harkness said...

Yea i also had that feeling. I think your supposed to. I am still not sure that it wasnt although i think it was unlikely because of all the wild west stuff ect. But if you think about it more, i think it is more unlike than likely because Nicholas would have known gloria and that she had a kid and there would probably be more confrontation between gloria and nicholas because he left her.

Unknown said...

i like the cyclical structure of the book, how the book begins and ends with the mailman, i find that books structured in this way leave the reader more fulfilled

Trevinator said...

I never suspected that the mailman knew Edgar before. The only time i think they would have met is if the mailman had seen Edgar playing around outside or something like that.

Thomas Meric said...

in the beginning of the book, we are told that the mailman leaves because he is so upset. i realize that he almost kills a seven year old, but i always thought there was another reason he was so upset. i also found it odd that he moved to the otherside of the country.

Ed Watts said...

Yes, I thought the Nicholas was Edgar's actual father. Because other people I do no think would attempt to commit suiside after accidently killing a kid. Only a father would be that upset over a child or someone closely realted like they were.

Anonymous said...

I didn't really see it coming. I just thought their only connection was that the mailman felt so bad for nearly killing Edgar. I think that anyone would take their clothes off to stop the bleeding of a child they ran over. It was strange that the mailman was there, but I didn't really make the connection until the end. Quite a surprise!

michelleb said...

I never thought the mailman had any connection to Edgar at all. the only time i ever thought about him was after the accident and my thoughts were just that he must feel really guilty and that was about it. i kept forgetting about the mailman