When ex-stationary engineer Giulio Chiavetta disappears from a Montreal psychiatric clinic, his doctor, Wilhelm Ryle, looks into Chiavetta’s psyche for clues in this offbeat novel from Mirolla (The Boarder
). Fortunately, Chiavetta, who on admission accused himself of killing his wife and child (despite the absence of any evidence that wife and child ever existed), has left on his computer a document called Berlin: A Novel in Three Parts
, the ostensible recollections of philosophy professor Antonio Serratura, who makes a trip to West Berlin to attend an academic conference. The novel-within-a-novel alternates between dense discussions of philosophical theory and accounts of Serratura’s odd exploits on the eve of a visit to the city by President Ronald Reagan. Dr. Ryle studies the various weird episodes in the novel’s text in an effort to relate them to what he knows of Chiavetta’s actual life. Fans of the bizarre films of David Lynch are the most likely to enjoy this curious book. (Jan.)
