Lebensentwürfe, Liebeshoffnungen, Alterseinsichten – was ist Illusion, und was stimmt? Was bleibt, wenn eine Illusion zerplatzt? Die Flucht in eine andere? Weil das Leben ohne Lebenslügen nicht zu bewältigen ist? Sieben irritierend-bewegende Geschichten von Bernhard Schlink.

What a wonderful collection of short stories. Some were truly ominous in a subtle way that crept up on me. Others, incredibly moving. ( )

This is, overall, a very strong collection of seven interesting, longish short stories. Most of them are generally about the disenchantment of weath, success, family and love and take place in various parts of Europe and the U.S. Something made me care about these people though, despite how pathetic that last sentence just sounded. Truly though, not all who acquire the things we all want, marriage, a successful career, etc., are happy, and these stories show that. Or maybe, more accurately, they are not sure if they are happy. Schlink is a graceful writer who seems to, in equal parts, care about his characters and dislike them (and there seems a bit of glee in watching them implode). All of the stories are a bit (or a lot) unsettling and the most disturbing one was actually the story I liked the most, "The House In The Forest" about a failed author, married to another writer and she quickly becomes the "it" author of the decade, demanding all of her time traveling and when she is home working. To try to contain her, he becomes the stay at home Father to their little girl and they buy a house out of NYC and in the country on the border of Vermont. Slowly he starts to unravel, but in such a way that was so incredibly real and creepy. Recommend these stories highly and if I had one complaint it was the repetitive them of disenchantment amongst so many characters who, buy most people's estimation, have everything they could want. Every story seemed to touch on that. ( )