Atmospheric Disturbances: A Novel
by Rivka Galchen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Rivka GalchenEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-27
ISBN: 031242843X
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Picador
Book Reviews of Atmospheric Disturbances: A Novel
Book Review: Has my head spinning
Summary: 4 Stars
Brief summary and review - no spoilers:
This book is narrated by Leo Liebenstein, a psychiatrist in his early 50s. Leo is married to a much younger woman, a beautiful Argentinean named Rema. At least I'm pretty sure of these facts.
You see, fairly early on, we realize that Leo is one heck of an unreliable narrator. And that's apparently because he has suffered some sort of psychotic break.
At the very start of the book, Rema walks in the house, and he believes that it really isn't her, but merely her doppelganger. And that's when things get really confusing. Leo attempts to find the "real" Rema, and in the course of this he teams up with one of his patients to join some nefarious meteorological organization that he imagines may have something do do with this.
Throw in conspiracies with dogs, coworkers, (possible) trips to Argentina and family confrontations, and you have just a taste of what this book is about. Oh, and add in some charts.
In short, it's difficult to make sense of because of course, we are unsure of what's real, and what's in Leo's mind. But Galchen manages to pull of what Haven Kimmel did so well in her book, Iodine - the reader enters the mind of the psychotic and it's very disconcerting.
This would make a very good book for book club, because there are lots of things to discuss. Of course, you could try to figure out what's real and what wasn't. But more than that, there the very real concept of how humans can fail to really see the people they love. Also at play is the concept that sometimes, if you are really afraid to lose someone (or something), you will do something that will saboteage that relationship and thus make it fail, as you feared (and expected.)
Lots to thing about with this book, and perhaps not for those who like straightforward stories with clear resolutions. This is anything but that.
Summary of Atmospheric Disturbances: A Novel
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
A Salon.com Top Ten Book of the Year
A Plain Dealer (Cleveland) Best Book of the Year
A Slate Best Book of the Year
When Dr. Leo Liebenstein's wife disappears, she leaves behind a single confounding clue: a woman who looks, talks, and behaves exactly like her. A simulatcrum. But Leo is not fooled, and he knows better than to trust his senses in matters of the heart. Certain that the real Rema is alive and in hiding, he embarks on a quixotic journey to reclaim her. With the help of his psychiatric patient Harvey--who believes himself to be a secret agent able to conrtol the weather--his investigation leads him from the streets of New York City to the southernmost reaches of Patagonia, in search of the woman he loves. Atmospheric Disturbances is a "witty, tender, and conceptually dazzling" (Booklist) novel about the mysterious nature of human relationships.
Amazon Best of the Month, June 2008: Imagine what it might be like to realize that the person you love is, in fact, not the person you love but a doppelgänger: or, what Leo Liebenstein coolly terms a "simulacrum" of his wife Rema at the outset of Atmospheric Disturbances. David Byrne's infamous cry that "this is not my beautiful wife" seems the most likely response, but Leo's reaction to this sea change takes unpredictable and dazzlingly plotted turns in the story that follows. Leo's journey to recover the "real" Rema is nothing short of byzantine; among its many mysteries is the delightfully inscrutable Dr. Tzvi Gal-Chen, a master meteorologist who in cleverly constructed flashback sequences takes up residence in the daily rhythms of Leo and Rema's marriage and becomes as much a focus of Leo's obsession as his wife's whereabouts. (Think Vertigo but directed by Charlie Kaufman.) Make no mistake: this is dizzying debut fiction, bursting at the spine with beautifully articulated ideas about love, yes, but also--and with maddening resonance--about the private wars love forces us to wage with ourselves. Be sure to keep a pen or pencil handy: it's impossible to resist underlining prose this good. --Anne Bartholomew
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