I really enjoy ambitious first novels. Some of the best books of the past century are first novels (The Catcher In The Rye, The Sun Also Rises, Sister Carrie, V, Catch 22). Many books are status quo, a la Anita Shreve (more on her in coming weeks), with perhaps a strong plotline, but written in a staid manner. It's gutsy to tackle history with humor like Jonathan Safron Foer's Everything Is Illuminated. Likewise, Rivka Galchen's first novel, Atmospheric Disturbances, tackled marriage, psychology and the weather, with aplomb.
We are introduced to Leo, a pyschiatrist, just as he realizes his wife Rema has been replaced by a double (simulacrum; if you don't like strange vocabulary, this book isn't for you). Double Rema is almost his wife, but not quite. His wife, for example, would never bring home a dog like the double did. Leo decides that by finding one of his missing psychiatric patients, he might be clued in to where the real Rema is. Slowly the reader is pulled into Leo's implausible adventure searching for Rema. It starts in New York, a bakery that they frequent, but soon moves to Argentina and beyond.
On one level this is a story of a man descending into a type of madness, but on another level it's the story of a man who has lost the love he had for his wife. This book is equal parts Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. With a dash of Borges thrown in.
5/5 Netflix stars
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