‘The Brueghel Moon’: Author untaps the power of the heart

'The Brueghel Moon,” the latest work from highly acclaimed Georgian author, poet, and playwright Tamaz Chiladze (Dalkey, $14.95), begins like a play, with an opening chapter made up almost entirely of dialogue between Levan, a success psychologist, and his wife, who is leaving him. The quick staccato of their exchange about love, loss, and truth comes as fast as a child running off a dock - an apt metaphor because the rest of the novel is like plunging underwater: we become immersed in a dreamlike adventure, meeting a number of strange and wonderful creatures along the way. And in the end, like any memorable journey, we are left wondering: Did that really happen?

When Levan's wife leaves him, he is surprised by his depression, since he and his wife lived separate lives for some time. His melancholy state is interrupted with the re-emergence of NuNu, an astronomer and one of his most memorable patients, as well as Ana-Maria, the wife of an Ambassador whose family believes she needs treatment.

Chiladze moves between narration styles, changing between first, second, and third person narration in addition to a handful of chapters told from Nunu's perspective. These shifts make it possible to not only see the world from a different angle, but they also disarm our thinking, forcing us, like Levan, to reconsider our notions of truth and sanity.

'The questions asked by my patients might sound abnormal, but are deeply human and only someone hiding behind the mask of composure can ward them off.”

And while the connections between the three characters are surprising, what's more is the way Chiladze beautifully weaves together a number of themes, including 'the unbearable loneliness” that waits 'at home, crouching in ambush,” the pain of the illusion of love, and how 'one needs an attentive, sensitive listener” in order to move from an old life to a new one. The result is a work as complex as the human psyche and as powerful as the heart.