This book was on the New York Times' 2008 Notable Books list. I was surprised to find it on the shelf at the library and picked it up right away. The novel is by an American who has studied in Argentina, and her style includes the magical realism commonly found in South American literature. She is also a doctor, which comes through in her writing.
The story follows a psychiatrist who is treating a patient who has disappeared. At the same time, he begins to suspect that there is a woman in his house pretending to be his wife, and that his wife has disappeared as well. As he embarks on a trip to Argentina to track down his wife, we start to wonder if he is losing his mind or experiencing a strange collection of incidents. The unreliability of the narrator becomes a major part of figuring out what is going on.
While I enjoyed the first half of this book, I found the second part, leading into the climax, to be more tedious than anything. The things happening in the book were confusing and I could not find the links and symbolism that should have been there for me to appreciate his breakdown completely. I did think Galchen ended the book well, but I would have appreciated better editing in the middle.
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