An interview with Rivka Galchen ’98, author of Atmospheric Disturbances

Rivka Galchen ’98’s debut novel, Atmospheric Disturbances — about a lonely therapist, Dr. Leo Liebenstein, who returns to his New York apartment one day to find that his wife, Rema, has been replaced by a simulacrum, a woman who looks, talks, and acts exactly like her — garnered critical praise when it came out last year. Newly published in paperback by Picador, the novel was named a Slate.com best book of 2008, a finalist for the 2009 New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, and a New York Times Book Review notable book of 2008, among other honors. The story follows Liebenstein as he searches for his real wife, whom he is certain is alive and hiding. Galchen, an English major at Princeton who earned a medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, weaves in psychology, meteorology, and an examination of love and human relationships. She spoke with PAW’s Katherine Federici Greenwood.

You recently competed an M.F.A. at Columbia, having already earned an M.D. Do you practice medicine?

No I don’t practice medicine, which I suspect is a good thing for all. I’m not very comfortable with bodies. I could never keep myself from apologizing before performing a physical exam.

Why did you switch from medicine to fiction writing?