Outside Reading Q3 Blog

In the book Atmospheric Disturbances  by Rivka Galchen we meet the character of Dr. Leo Liebenstein. Dr. Liebenstein is a physiatrist whose wife, Rema, seems to have been replaced by someone who looks and behaves almost exactly the same. He relies only on a notion that this new wife is not the wife he once lived with. The author writes: “It was a little uncanny, the feeling I had, looking at that look-alike. I was reminded of how I used to feel before I actually knew Rema...”(28). Liebenstein has no proof that his wife is not the same person, yet he continues to pursue that idea based solely on a feeling he has inside of him. Galchen tries tells us to trust our own gut feelings sometimes in life. It makes it clear that we often do not know what we are being led into, yet we have to continue on and trust what we believe deep down.

    Galchen further develops the character of Dr. Liebenestien as one filled with honesty. We hear the words of Liebenestien: “I don’t think of my honesty as moral value, since I think of morality as involving choices, and I’ve ever particularly chosen to be honest, have simply never been able to be otherwise, feel rather predetermined to fail at lying” (22). Through these words we see Liebenestien’s views on morals and a large part of his character. It seems as though lying will not be a good choice for him to make, as he has had little practice and seems ‘predetermined to fail.’ This may foreshadow to us his success , or lack thereof, in trying to deceive one of his psychiatric patients, Harvey. This may result in disaster or the demise of one or more of the characters in the novel.