Linger Awhile Paperback – April 1, 2007

I love pinup cowgirls, but this story didn't know where it wanted to go. True disappointment.

In Linger Awhile, 83 year old novel writer Russell Hoban revives a favorite character from an old book, who is then killed almost offhandedly. Also, in Linger Awhile, 83 year old TV writer Irv Goodman revives a favorite character from an old movie, who is then killed almost offhandedly.Readers who enjoy Hoban's major works will appreciate his trademark sly puns, learned references, and hallucinogenic allusions. They will appreciate his eye for human relationships, and ponder the metaphorical meaning of the vampires who wreck the twilight lives of the circle of friends at the heart of the story. Just as Vonnegut's readers never tired of even the lesser adventures of Mr. Rosewater, Hoban's will not want to miss Istvan Fallok's brush with undeath. This is not, however, a good point of entry into Hoban's body of work.Readers interested in a genre work of vampire science fiction should look elswehere. This is not that. It is a short and humorous meditation on age and aspiration, friendship and betrayal, wrapped implausibly in the plot of "Weird Science."

Hoban's attempt at science fiction-fantasy-horror throws every claptrap device, including the kitchen sink, old horny men, vampires, a western movie starlet, videotape, an idiot detective, and a restaurant with food that appeases bloodsuckers into a very short book which, save for some clever character exchanges, is a mess. Make that a messy mess. The idea of taking the story from different characters' points of view is overused and underwhelming. I can accept a ridiculous plot that asks the reader to leave one's brain on the coffee table, but come on---this is so implausible, the conceit so incredible that not only is this tale hard to swallow, it's impossible to chew, let alone digest. Very short, very unremarkable, very not worth your time.

Irving Goldman, who's old enough to know better but too young to resist, falls in love. The lady of his desires is a 1950s Western film actress Justine Trimble. She's also dead. Neither of these impairments stops Goldman, who has talented friends. With a bit of applied science, Goldman feels, Justine can be "resurrected" from her film images. He has a video - in fact, he has several. Carting his collection to his technical friend Istvan Fallok, Goldman panders to Istvan's pride in his technical skills. Urging him to "Reconstitute the woman I love", Goldman leaves the video and awaits results.Hoban's mastery of innovation and plot twists is fully displayed in this bizarre tale. Nearly every character is at or past retirement age. The scenes play with each character confronted with the reality of the calendar's dictates. Goodman is within a couple of years of Hoban himself, and there are certain to be comments about Hoban trying to fulfill impossible dreams himself. Perhaps so, but if such fantasies keep Hoban writing, and producing works of such quality, let's root for geriatric dreams.Justine, of course, dutifully appears, and launches Fallok and his circle of friends on an outlandish enterprise. Emerging from the digitised image of a half-century old Western, she lacks colour. A monochrome human, even a lovely one, lacks certain appeal. There's only one means to bring colour to her cheeks - and the rest of her. Fallok makes the first donation, but Justine needs frequent topping up. After an unexpected opening scene, Justine hits the street for needed sustenance. The result brings the attention of the police. Inspector Hunter is a resourceful copper, but the challenges of this case are beyond his ken. There's nothing in the manual nor his experience that provides any insight to solving the case.One thing about Justine, she's no 1950s wallflower. She knows what she needs and how to get it. However, she's conscious of who she is and realises she's out of place as well as time. Her thoughts on being alive again bring mixed emotions and self-reflection. How long can she last? What should she make of her new "life"? Can it mean anything? Hoban is deft in dealing with this character. The only thing unreal about her is her current situation. It's a difficult task to undertake, but Hoban pulls it off wonderfully. He not only creates excellent characters, but rings in more than one cultural icon. "If we build it, she will come" incorporates the wonderful line from Kinsella's "Shoeless Joe". Hoban's science is effective, and we are even given the recipe for the "primordial soup". Start with twenty gallons of chicken noodle and add some Oxo cubes. The toad is unexplained, but any biologist can fill you in. He further ties in the Biblical Prophet Elijah whose cameo appearance will have you howling. "Some of my best friends are goyim". Mine, too. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Now, I'm a big fan of Hoban's stuff. His early books had a density of imagery and linguistic abandon that marked him as an original. His later books, the 'London novels', are lighter in tone and substance, featuring recurrent characters. Suspiciously often they also feature old men fulfilling their sexual fantasies (RH is no spring chicken...). Nonetheless, they are usually very funny, sometimes affecting, and have anarchic and playful gimmicks by which they earn their keep.In this case, Irving Goodman (an old man...) becomes infatuated with a long-dead 1950s Western starlet, and gets a technically-skilled acquaintance to bring her back to life (by means of some amiable hokum involving capturing her particles in a "suspension of disbelief"). Of course, she is reborn in black and white, and to fill herself with colour and life she must drink blood. Vampire cowgirl in London: all very Hoban.Fun as this setup is, with a half-dozen narrative viewpoints, a pinball plot and a short text (160 pages with lots of white space), there isn't the depth here to work up any emotional involvement. There are perhaps notions of the tragedy of our animal condition, which leaves us prey to humiliating infatuations and indignities, diverting us from bettering our lives, or even accepting our lot. But these themes are hardly more than sketched out.There's always much to enjoy in Hoban's books, but they are not all masterpieces like "Riddley Walker", and "Linger Awhile" is pretty slight. (And the cover price of £10.99 on this slender paperback is taking the piss...)

Éli et André ont formé un beau duo pour ce livre!