Atmospheric Disturbances – Boris Hinderer

Book Review >>> Boris Hinderer Atmospheric Disturbances

Galchen, Rivka. Toronto: HarperCollins, 2008. 256 pp.

Is an exact copy as good as the original? That is the question psychiatrist Leo Liebenstein, the main character from Rivka Galchen’s novel Atmospheric Disturbances, is forced to grapple with. One day Leo’s young Argentinean wife Rema disappears and he is greeted at his home by an exact replica of his missing wife. This fake looks and acts as his wife does, and even knows things only his wife could know. “Do you remember that little fight?” she asks him (208). Yet something within the impersonal, detail-obsessed Leo, tells him that this new woman is a fake. He sees that this “ersatz” wife has “fine lines of age on her face” and interprets this as a mark of an imperfect copy as opposed to the simple effects of age upon his wife (36). He sets off to find his real wife using every resource he has, including his Schizophrenic patient Harvey, Rema’s mother, and even the local library. His search takes him from his apartment in New York to Patagonia, and all the while, he is hunted by his wife’s imposter, or “doppelganger,” as he calls her. She seeks to convince her mad husband to relent his search and return to his life in New York; yet, the cold and clinical Leo is unmoved as she cries and tries to tell him, “it’s you who’s not yourself” (140). Galchen explores the perseverance of love through Leo’s continent-spanning hunt for his wife, as well as through the “doppelganger’s” quest to regain her husband and save him from his own insanity. Even in the face of contrary evidence, Leo clings to his quest to recover his beloved Rema. Atmospheric Disturbances also serves to show the kind of unlikely partnerships that arise in times of desperation. Leo finds himself working alongside his patient Harvey, who believes himself able to control the weather. Leo finds an odd mentor in the form of a meteorologist named Tzvi Gal-Chen. Oh, and Tzvi may or may not be dead, but either way he responds promptly to emails. And to thicken the mystery, Rema may also be impersonating Tzvi. These are the kind of twisting, farce-like conundrums that give the book its unique charm. In researching the possible whereabouts of the missing Rema and the work of meteorologist Tzvi Gal-Chen, Leo starts using terms such as “Doppler Effect” and “mesoscale meteorology” to address the problem of how one can know real and authentic from the fake or the copy. In the case of his missing wife, he calls it “the Dopplerganger Effect.” He ponders whether we can ever be happy with replicas or whether we will be haunted by the sense that a clone is just that, an imitation. The story is told through the perspective of an intelligent, oddly observant and very confused man in the form of Leo. This point of view, as well as Leo’s strange allies and their pursuit of truth, infuses the book with a distinct and quirky sense of humor. The reader can

enjoy Dr. Leo’s insights into such things as dogs, women crying, and coffee shops. Galchen’s wit and attention to detail shine through, particularly in the scenes where Leo recalls his earliest encounters with his future wife: The first time I actually spoke to Rema: she was again sitting right in front of me at the Hungarian Pastry Shop, and I leaned forward toward that hair, and I actually tapped her shoulder, but then what was I going to say if she turned around? I had no plan. She did indeed turn around in her chair, her profile showing off her long, gently fluted nose and the tendons on her neck. I found myself asking her if she was Hungarian. During the silence of indeterminate length that followed I fixed my gaze upon her forehead, since I couldn’t possibly look straight into her eyes, and what I eventually heard, in a lilting long-voweled accent, was: Why do you stare at me?(65)

I found such passages entertaining because Galchen carefully captures this highly educated man blundering into such an encounter. That encounter then leads to the socially awkward situation of the girl ignoring his question and asking him why he always stares at her. The novel also features situations where the blind are leading the blind, as Harvey the schizophrenic attempts to convince his psychiatrist to give up his search or at least carry it out in a more rational way. Harvey tries to explain, “You’re resistant to this information, Dr. Leo,” implying that his doctor is ignoring some of the facts (221). The various examples of psychosis in the book eventually lead to Galchen describing a disheartening glimpse at living with mental illness. The novel combines elements of a mystery, a love story, and a trippy adventure, allowing it to appeal towards a broad audience. Although its eccentric language and cerebral content demand a lot of its reader, it stays well above a cheesy dime store read. This book would be especially appealing towards those interested in reading novels that satirize sciences such as meteorology and psychiatry—in this case, blending the two together in humorous ways. The cynical and often zany humor laced through its pages has plenty of appeal, like when Leo tells Rema during one of their debates, “don’t be distracted by…the dog’s eventual sleeping position” (154). In this way, the book echoes the satirical humor of Don DeLlillo. There are also moments where Leo’s thoughts resemble the sinister and unsettlingly appealing philosophies of a Chuck Palahniuk character such as when he says, “I understand how resilience is in its way a demonic kind of strength, a strength not unrelated to a capacity for indifference” (96). At times Atmospheric Disturbances reminded me of a watered down “doppelganger” hybrid of White Noise and Fight Club. Yet these instances are brief and scattered, making Atmospheric Disturbances a unique tale of twisted and paranoid companionship.

Hopper