The book is divided into five main sections: The prologue is in epistolary form, with postcards written by Suzanne to her brother, friend, and grandmother.

The novel continues the epistolary form, consisting of first-person narrative excerpts from a journal Suzanne kept while coming to terms with her drug addiction and rehab experiences.

The section ends with the crew mooning her on her birthday, and Suzanne asserts that "there isn't enough therapy" to help her with that experience.

Unlike the movie, most of the conflict in the book is internal, as Suzanne is learning to handle her life without the prop of drugs.

A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote in 2016 that while others before Fisher had written about their struggles with addiction, Postcards from the Edge "bristles with a bravery and candor that still feels groundbreaking.

"[2] According to Carolyn See's review in the Los Angeles Times: It's intelligent, original, focused, insightful, very interesting to read.

It almost requires this comparison, because it's about young Southern Californians, drugs, addiction, the good life and death.

But Postcards starts from the "hellpit" and cautiously takes the reader back to something resembling normal life.