Atmospheric Disturbances

Starred review from February 11, 2008
In this enthralling debut, psychiatrist Dr. Leo Liebenstein sets off to find his wife, Rema, who he believes has been replaced by a simulacrum. Also missing is one of Leo’s patients, Harvey, who is convinced he receives coded messages (via Page Six in the New York Post
) from the Royal Academy of Meteorology to control the weather. At Rema’s urging, Leo pretends during his sessions with Harvey to be a Royal Academy agent (she thinks the fib could help break through to Harvey), and once Re- ma and Leo disappear, Leo turns to actual Royal Academy member Tzvi Gal-Chen’s meteorological work to guide him in his search for his wife. Leo’s quest takes him through Buenos Aires and Patagonia, and as he becomes increasingly delusional and erratic, Galchen adeptly reveals the actual situation to readers, including Rema’s anguish and anger at her husband. Leo’s devotion to the “real” Rema is heartbreaking and maddening; he cannot see that the woman he seeks has been with him all along. Don’t be surprised if this gives you a Crying of Lot 49
nostalgia hit.