Atmospheric Disturbances
| Price: |
$27.99 |
| On Sale: |
15/07/2008 |
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Formats:
B+ Format Paperback
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The evening Dr. Leo Liebenstein's wife disappeared, she left behind one strange, significant clue: a woman who looks, talks and behaves exactly like (and even audaciously claims to be) her – rather, almost exactly like her.
While everyone else may be fooled, Leo knows better than to trust the senses in matters of the heart, and the arrival of his missing wife's double sends him off on a quixotic journey to reclaim his lost love. With the help of his psychiatric patient Harvey – who believes himself to be a secret agent who can control the weather – Leo attempts to unravel the mystery of the spousal–switch, the secret workings of The Royal Society of Meteorology in their cosmic conflict with the 49 Quantum Fathers, the enigmatic guidance of Dr. Tzvi Gal–Chen, and how he, or maybe his wife, or perhaps even Harvey, is at the center of it all. From the streets of New York to the southernmost reaches of Patagonia, Leo's erratic quest ultimately becomes a test of how far he is willing to take his struggle against the uncontested truth he knows to be .
Atmospheric Disturbances investigates the moment of crisis when you suddenly understand that the reality you insist upon is no longer one you can accept, the person you love has been somehow reduced to merely the person you live with, and how you spend your life trying to weather the storms of your own making.
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Author Extras
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Critical Praise for
Atmospheric Disturbances
ADVANCE PRAISE: ‘Rivka Galchen’s Atmospheric Disturbances is playful yet profound, Murakami-esque yet original, analytical yet heartbreaking. It’s an absolutely stunning and unforgettable debut.’ Vendela Vida, author of Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name 'Rivka Galchen has written a powerful novel about love, longing, Doppler radar, and the true appreciation of a nice cookie with your tea. ‘Atmospheric Disturbances' is fantastic.' Nathan Englander, author of 'The Ministry of Special Cases'. ‘Reader, you are holding in your hand one of my favorite novels ever: Rivka Galchen's divinely hilarious, heartbreaking tale of Leo's search for his ‘lost’ wife Rema. This is a novel of Borgesian erudition, wit, and playfulness, though its obsessively pursued subject - as it rarely was in the Argentine's fiction - is love, the enraptured lover, and the mystery of the beloved, the intersection of love's fictions, realities, and pathologies. It is also as funny as any episode of the Simpsons (imagine Homer as a besotted and brilliant New York psychiatrist). The prose jumps with one astonishing observation, insight, and description after another. 'Atmospheric Disturbances' delivers unforgettable joy.' Francisco Goldman, author of 'The Divine Husband'. ‘Galchen has created a heart breaking puzzle of a novel. Hilarious and daring. The novel tracks the way we seek to destroy our most precious love affairs and, in doing so, our own sanity. The hero, Leo, is like a brilliant mad scientist trying to prove that the earth is flat, because he desperately needs a ledge high enough to jump off of.’ Heather O’Neill, author of Lullabies for Little Criminals
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