In Linger Awhile Hoban seems to be telling us that we have a tendency to forget that the elderly do not necessarily lose their desires and longings. He also seems to be preparing us for that final goodbye, the time when there will be no more Russell Hoban novels to amuse us, to challenge us. Hoban has a skewered perspective of life which he proffers to the world with an twinkle in his eye, a twinkle that always has a serious undertone. That is what makes his novels so fascinating, so thrilling to read. They always open yet another door to us of how to see life.

As for that twinkle, it is most evident in this latest novel in which he simply lets loose without ever losing control. The language is raunchy at times, but Hoban's character never cuss or use profanities without reason. While we have to suspend disbelief, we are also dealing with real characters, and their frustrations, as they are confronted by surreal situations.

It is interesting that some reviewers in England, where the novel has been published by Bloomsbury, refer to his protagonist, the 83-year-old Irving Goodman, as 'lecherous' for having fallen in love with a long-dead movie actress. What such writers don't seem to get is that Hoban is telling us that feelings, sexual desires, moods of longing and love don't fade away just because we age. He pricks the smugness balloon of a younger generation that is incapable of imagining that the elderly are not so different from the young and that we should not push them aside so easily.

In Linger Awhile, Irving seeks a way to bring starlet Justine Trimble back to life and so turns to one of Hoban's longstanding characters, Istvan Fallok, to achieve this seemingly impossible feat. Suffice it to say that Istvan manages to do so, but as always in Hoban's books, there are consequences. We also meet another Hoban character from previous books, Grace Kowalski, the proprietress of All that Glitters "on Berwick Street, toward the Oxford Street end," as she describes its location.

While I haven't told you much about the plot of the novel, let it suffice that it, among other things, involves two female vampires who are making the streets of London unsafe. And, of course, I've already told you about Irving and his infatuation with a movie actress who died decades earlier. The rest you have to find out yourself.

Once again we are taken on a tour of Hoban's most favorite parts of London. He has a way of bringing the city alive as few other writers can. Of course, his London always has an edge to it, as do his characters, but that is part of the enjoyment of reading a Hoban book, a wonderful blend of the real and surreal, of the possible and the impossible. It is an easy, enjoyable ride the first time you read it, the second time around it takes on a deeper tone and the ride becomes a richer experience. Do take it.

I've something to tell you/Oh linger awhile. That line, by the way, is slightly misquoted at the beginning of the book, but who cares. And do smile when he tells you that 'Mamma Mia' is playing at the Prince Edward Theatre. I'm sure he is taking a little swipe there at Charley-boy, the Prince of Wales.