Germany 1959, or Britain 2026? Does it matter? This is a timeless tale of four colleagues locked in a misery of their own, equally troubled, equally alone.
The writing is beautiful and meandering, leading us through dreams and memories, mixing up the past and the future through different devices for each character. It's an effective tool: we understand how the present came to be and the cyclical nature of life, hope and loss. Not a light read, but definitely worth reading.

Illusions by Ruth Rehmann follows the individual lives of four co-workers during a weekend: Paul, a man who feels trapped by his family and finds himself yearning for a friendship from his past; Carmen, a woman slowly leaving the prime of her life, continually changing her appearance, and constantly unsatisfied with her lot in life; Therese, a flighty, young typist whose life has already been turned upside down by heartache; and Frau Schramm, an older secretary who has pledged her life's meaning to the company that employs her.

Each of the characters leaves the office on Saturday teetering on the brink of disastrous inner turmoil, each one suffering from loneliness, misery, and despair.

What struck me while reading this book was how well it had aged. Published in 1959, the writing, as well as the translation, reads like it could have been written in the last few years. The themes were timeless, and the rerelease of this novel was certainly a timely one.

Written in the early postwar period, the novel is full of allusions to fascism, each rooted in a character's desperate and exhausted need for someone else to take control of their existence.

Illusions was not an easy read, and it's written in a way that requires close attention. Rehmann doesn't skimp on details but doesn't over-explain or get bogged down either. The story is quietly devastating, offering the reader little in the way of reprieve.

I was surprised to learn that this novel was mostly overlooked upon its initial publication and then mostly forgotten. Hopefully, this rerelease will change that. Illusions deserves to find a readership.

Recommended.

With thanks to Faber and Faber for the ARC.

Illusions follows four employees of the Wellis Corporation over the course of a single weekend, moving between their professional lives and private worlds to reveal the desires, disappointments, and assumptions that shape them. Set in postwar West Germany, the novel uses the workplace to examine the ways people construct identities both at work and at home.

Rehmann shifts between the perspectives of her characters, gradually uncovering the emotional and social pressures that define each of them. Her precise, evocative prose captures both everyday situations and inner experience, while the novel also reflects on the values and contradictions of corporate life. At times, the boundary between reality and imagination becomes deliberately uncertain, reinforcing its psychological focus.
Illusions is a character-driven novel about identity, work, and self-deception, offering a subtle portrait of modern life whose themes remain strikingly relevant.

In this quietly devastating book, first published in German in 1959, we follow four employees at a German corporation. They're all at different stages of life and have different backgrounds. They're not particularly friendly with one another, don't really know one another, often misunderstand each other, and are, in some cases, envious of the others. They all work in one small area, which can sometimes create tension. The window cleaner observes them from outside and takes an interest in a couple of them. Frau Schramm has devoted her life to the corporation and it's pretty much what she lives for, but she's aging and although she pushes the reality from her awareness, her working life won't continue on forever. What then? Fraulein Viol is also no longer young, but trying desperately to hide every sign of aging. She's still looking for love, which has been elusive. Therese, the young trainee, makes Fraulein Viol uncomfortable because she's young, attractive, and seemingly with her whole life ahead of her. But Therese is searching too--for what, she has no idea. She is reckless and looking for both excitement and a place/group to belong. Paul, the lone male of the group, is a failed academic who has been hired to translate documents into French. He's not very good at this in a business context and he resents having to do this work, being more comfortable in what he sees as the higher realm of literature. His job performance makes his position precarious. One Saturday at midday, their weekends begin and they leave the building to spend a day and a half without the demands of work. This time they have to fill, with no work distractions, quickly becomes difficult for all of them, each in their own way. The book takes place over this day and a half as we alternate between their stories and their lives change.

This is an excellent book. It is set at a particular time and place, but in some ways, it is timeless. The quiet desperation with which these people face the weekend is so beautifully communicated--I could feel it with each of these characters. The inability to relax and enjoy the time they have, the overthinking, the attempts to manipulate, all illustrate the pain and lack of self awareness these characters are living with. The window cleaner, observing from the other side of the glass, is often not even noticed by these people, but he seems to understand more about them than they do themselves. There would be some sort of dissonance in that time and place, I suppose, so soon after Germany's defeat in the war and the attempts to either bury or come to grips with what the country was in the not-so-distant past. It's not stated what specific year the book is set in, and the war is mentioned in passing a few times, but since it was published in 1959, it would have had an impact on the author and, by extension, the characters. However, I've known people with the same sorts of issues and I wasn't even born when the book was written, so I would say the book goes beyond a particular time and place and describes very human struggles. I had never read anything by this author before, but after having read this, I'd love to read more. Her writing is gorgeous. This is a book I highly recommend. It was a 5-star read for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital review copy.

Illusions (Faber Editions) by Ruth Rehmann; Megan Nolan with Rob Madole (Translator)

This book was not an easy read. It is set in post war Germany and follows the lives of four employees. We, as the reader, learn more about them over the course of a day or so and we see how they live their lives and how the events of their pasts have shaped them. As another reviewer has mentioned it is a fundamentally human story. Despite being written decades ago and largely forgotten until fairly recently it still feels very relevant and Rehmann is a very evocative writer. The translation feels very faithful and the book demands your attention. Not my usual read but enjoyed it nevertheless. Thank you to the author, the publisher, and to Netgalley for this ARC.