Review
When Dr. Leo Liebenstein's wife, Rema, comes through the door of
their apartment carrying a "russet puppy", he knows instantly that she's an
impostor. First of all, Rema doesn't like dogs. And secondly, though this
simulacrum has the same "hayfeverishly fresh scent" in her hair, "same tucking
behind ears of dyed cornsilk blond", and does a perfect imitation of Rema's
Argentine accent with "halos around the vowels", he's certain she's not
his
Rema. Either Dr. Leo Liebenstein's mind is fracturing or the reality of the book
is fractured, and the novel perches on this dangerous ledge, playing with one
foot over the precipice, inviting the reader to decide where it will land. Equal
parts intellectual exercise and emotional Rorschach, negotiating the web of
reality is part of the great delight of reading this gorgeous and brilliantly
constructed debut....
Beyond the Book
Capgras Syndrome
The idea of simulacrum, or impostors, has long been a subject of fascination in
fiction, and Capgras syndrome, or variations on its symptoms, often crop up in
short stories and novels. Most recently,
The Echo Maker by Richard Powers revolves around a character who suffers
from Capgras syndrome after he suffers a head injury in a car accident.
While the unreliable narrator of
Atmospheric Disturbances is
constantly evaluating and analyzing himself, he does so with increasingly
suspect reasoning, and never touches on the obvious psychological cause for his
belief that his wife has been replaced by an impostor.
Capgras syndrome, or Capgras delusion is a rare disorder in which the afflicted
person...
