Simalcrum is just such a neat word

So my parents are therapists. They also belong to a number of book clubs. In one, they read this book, that apparently is a much different book for therapists (or their children) then others. If you want to read this book from a pure perspective, stop reading this post now.

Still here? So Rivka Galchen's Atmospheric Disturbances begins with this line: "Last December a woman entered my apartment who looked exactly like my wife." The book follows (and is narrated by) Leo, a therapist who believes his young wife, Rema, has disappeared and been replaced by a near-perfect, but not quite, imposter/doppleganger, to whom he refers as the "Simalcrum". He also recently have a patient disappear. This patient had a habit of disappearing with other therapists, because he believed he was an agent of a secret agency who was in charge of charting and protecting the weather from a secret, parrallel universe-jumping, cabal who are trying to mess with it. In other to keep his patient in New York, the dr. and Rema (pre-simalcrum) pretend to be a meterologist from this society, Dr. Tzvi Gal-Chen (yes, this book is that meta). Leo decides to find Rema by visiting her mother in Buenos Ares, while also trying to find his patient, and get in touch with the real Dr. Gal-Chen.

Confused yet? Well, the plot thickens a bit, because, according to my parents (and wikipedia), Leo is most likely suffering from a rare pyschopatholgy called a Capgras Delusion, the symptoms of which are a person believe that a close friend, relative, or partner has been replaced by an identical looking imposter. So, in all of his travels, hunting, emails with long deceased meterologists, and insistences (to her face) that the woman claiming to be his wife is not, in fact, his wife, there is the distinct possiblity that he is going clinically insane. The book never seems to decide, and I can't really either (though I do trust my parents). The book falls apart a bit in its second half, but for the first 50 pages and for its slow unfolding of massive ideas about identity and what makes a person him/herself, it may jsut be worth it. Especially if you like the weather.