Customer Reviews

Blast from the Past: A Novel (Kinky Friedman Novels)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I had lost some faith in Kinky Friedman's tales of the Village Irregulars and the "mysteries" that they take on. Most folks noticed that the series was starting to get long on drawl and short on substance about the time the gang was searching for Ratso's mother...however, Friedman had a flash of brilliance when he started pulling out new scenarios for his alter ego.

First was Kinky going back home to Texas to fight the bad buys on the stomping grounds of his youth instead of the mean streets of New York. Then we had an entry featuring Willie Nelson as one of the main characters (Roadkill is still the best of the series, too). Now, in Blast From The Past, Kinky's back on Vandam Street...circa 1979. That's right, a blow to the head sends the Kinkstah's memory banks through the years to his first amateur detective work ever. And, to make things even loonier, counter-culture hero (and real life Friedman pal from back in the day) Abbie Hoffman is the center of much of the action.

For those of you who've never read a Kinky Friedman book this is not a good place to start. By this point in the series it's understood that the reader "gets" Kinky's world and the characters in it. If you're not familiar with the skidmark-covered couch over at Ratso's place or the unusual greeting that they get every time they enter Big Wong's restaurant...well, go back a few books and catch up first. Many of the recurring points of interest in the series have their origins explained in this volume as well, but you have to know what the big deal is about.

The jump back in time also sends the meter of un-PC behavior skyrocketing. The Kinkster is eyebrows-deep in the 'ole Peruvian Marching Powder and has just discovered Jameson's whiskey. It's a high old time (and it opens with Kinky in bed with a strange girl). It's grand fun and proof that there's still plenty of new ground to explore in the series. Or at least plenty of off-color jokes, humorous antecdotes, sex, drugs, and a teensy bit of crime-solving. My faith in this Texas Jewboy is as strong as ever.

Kinky Friedman has been my favorite writer, balladeer for many a moon. His exploits with the Village Irregulars has kept me laughing through my share of rainy days and plenty of bad cigars.

Alas, Blast from the Past did not live up to the creative, humorous standard the Kinkstah has established for himself. I found it to be repetitive and sometimes stale as a fifty cent stogie. I think it's time to rotate the tires on this bad boy and pump some gas into the fuel injector. Kinky's too good a writer to allow his novels to fall so flat. If this was indeed the product of a ghost writer, maybe that person should make like a ghost and get the Boo out of the industry.

I still have faith and eagerly await the next opus. I even have the Jameson waiting by the easy chair.

You get the sense that Kinky needed a change of pace with Blast from the Past, as if even he realized that his previous few novels were almost becoming caricatures of themselves. So he wrote a "prequel", going back in time to the early 1970's in order to bring together the Village Irregulars for the first time, and to detail his beginnings in the private detective world.

As usual, Steve Rambam is all business, Ratso is his typical wisecracking cheapskate self, and McGovern drifts in and out of the plot as a hard-drinking, loud Irishman with little to do. The action begins on Ratso's couch with Kinky in the arms of "Judy", although it is not specified whether we are dealing with Uptown Judy or Downtown Judy from Elvis, Jesus and Coca Cola fame. Abbie Hoffman a.k.a. Barry Freed drifts into the picture, and the mystery of the novel involves someone who is apparently trying to kill either Hoffman, Kinky or Judy. A parallel plot line, which Kinky suspects may be related to the first, involves the appearance of a man Judy believes to be her deceased Vietnam veteran husband.

As in all Friedman books, the plot is just there as an amusing excuse to throw the various characers together for some good-natured fun. It probably has more substance to it than Spanking Watson, (at least we weren't treated to two dozen conversations with a mute cat), but overall I agreed with some of the other reviewers who thought this effort was a little empty. The characers don't get along, so there is little sense of camaraderie, and you get tired of reading about Kinky's agressive appetite for "Peruvian marching powder". I thought the funniest scene was one in which Kinky, getting ready for a date with Judy, unknowingly brushes his "moss" with a toilet brush at McGovern's apartment. I give it 3 stars, an interesting diversion but instantly forgettable.

After reading this novel I immendiately went back to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail. Much better novels. The plot is thin and after awhile I could not wait to but this book down. I would recommend everyone pass on this one.

I haven't read it yet, but it did arrive before the expected arrival date, so it shipped with great speed and I imagine it'll be pretty good. It's a Kinkster book after all.

I loved this book. It's an easy read, but it gives the reader a round trip ticket aboard the Kinkster's crazy train. A lot of fun!

. . .or at least that is what I am told. This probably is a more fun book after you already know these characters from previous adventures. That said, it was wildly funny and silly, although a poor mystery. I do plan on reading more of the books, so obvioulsy the silliness was more of a blessing than a grating characteristic. I liked this more for style than content.

I always finish Kinky's books feeling confused and a bit violated, but I have no idea why. The books are so entertaining although there is not much story - just a mix of insane people (who you just can't tell if they like each other or hate each other), and their often unfortunate lives.

Blast from the Past does give you some insight into the Kinkster's life and you learn things like how he came to live in his fourth floor apartment on Vandam Street, how he left country music to be a P.I., and how he came to know many of his cohorts such as Rambam, Ratso, Chinga and McGovern.

This book, along with other Kinkster books is just plain bizarre and silly!

Having read all of Mr. Friedman's previous titles, it was great to finally learn the origin of The Kinkstah's illustrious career as a private dick. The reluctant Village Irregulars seem to fall into place one by one in humorous and unexpected ways. Abbie Hoffman's presence as a character adds an interesting perspective to the story; making it both nostalgic and somewhat touching.

The world that Kinky's characters inhabit can, at times, be lonely, dark and dangerous. The truth is, though, that these misfits form a "family"; always there for one another in the end. Somehow, Kinky Friedman's stories, and all of the baggage that he gives "The Kinkstah" to carry around with him, are reminders that we always need to remain true to our nature. Basically, in the end, it will be where all the roads will take us back to anyway. If we let our true selves guide us, it can be all we need to get by. Well, perhaps that combined with some quirky pals, a dispassionate feline, a cheap cigar and a shot of Jameson.

A one-way trip back to his roots -- and the fertilizer they're buried under, Kinky introduces us to the lovable psychotics who have made his previous 10 titles so enjoyable. Including the cat.