[.ca] Linger Awhile (ISBN 1567923267)

Elijah spake:
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. \ostephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada\c