Blast From the Past is one of Ben Elton's shorter books, and another damn fine $5 bargain I managed to pick up back when my local Collins bookstore got taken over by Fox's Unleashed bookstore brand. Like every other Ben Elton book I've read, this is both an amusing and thought-provoking read that seemed to fly by.
Our three main characters are Polly, Jack and Peter... Polly works for the local council and lives by herself in a little flat. Jack is a big American General who had a passionate fling with Polly twenty years earlier. Peter is a man who has been stalking Polly for the last two years. The book switches perspectives between all three characters and we learn more about how they relate to each other as things progress.
Polly used to be an activist and a bit of a hippy and Jack was just starting out a promising career with the Army. Against all the odds, the opposites attracted and they clicked despite their differences. Now, after many years, Jack has decided to return. Meanwhile Polly is being menaced by Peter, a really messed up guy that gets under our skin as much as he does Polly's.
Obviously, this being a Ben Elton book, there are more than a few surprises in stall. The book is very fast-paced and switches character perspectives (as well as between the past and present) with the greatest of ease. It's very tightly constructed and Elton proves again and again what an adept sleight-of-hand-author he can be, pulling surprises out left, right and centre like bouquets of beautiful flowers from a magician's sleeve.
Elton uses his characters and story to talk about gender-roles, military morality and the debilitating affects of obsession. Most importantly, as the title implies, the book is about the past and how it relates to the present. It's not as clever as Elton's Dead Famous or as thematically big as High Society, but it's a tight and funny read and very enjoyable.
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