Laura van Cutsem

My “story” about Grand Hotel Europa

Grand Hotel Europa by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer was a rememberable recommendation back in 2019. I was in Venice with school and my Greek teacher was our guide in the city. We were sightseeing and passed by the place were the characters of this book had their home. Then, my teacher told us about Grand Hotel Europa.

I remember I had heard of this book before because I worked in the local bookshop in the summer of 2018. Grand Hotel Europa was released in December 2018 and it was on the Top 10 list of the most bought books. So I had to scan lots of copies of Grand Hotel Europa and they were also quite heavy when I had to carry a bunch of them across the shop.

Anyway, I was curious about this book and when a very good friend of mine had also read it and recommended it to me, I could not wait any longer.

About the book itself

I consider Grand Hotel Europa as one of the best books I’ve read before. Besides that it is so beautifully written, this book touches on mass tourism in a way that is eye opening. The statements that “Europe is the playground of the rest of the world” or that “Europeans live in the past” let me think about the reality of tourism in Europa. I must say I had a certain opinion about tourism and going on holidays before I started reading GHE. (The convenient abbreviation me and my friend use for Grand Hotel Europa.) Visiting cities and places worth seeing only because everyone has seen them or has to see them, was obviously not my intention. Furthermore, my opinion about going on a vacation has changed not only because of GHE but also partly because of the decision not to go elsewhere this summer. Though it is true that your struggles and worries don’t disappear while being on holiday, it can make a welcome change in forgetting and dealing with them later. Staycation as it is called, is not a bad concept, as long as you make the most out of it.

Another topic GHE covers is the glorification of the past, by any means, architecture, books, food tradition, certain aesthetics, music and so on. As an Arts student and classical music listener, it is no surprise I recognised that I, for a great deal, glorify the aesthetic of the past. (Food tradition aside, of course).

GHE is not only a plea about mass tourism, it is a love story as well, with a thrilling search for a painting of Caravaggio. This mix of different plots made it a very enjoyable book. At last, the author of the book is a classicist as regards an academic education which shines through the story with intertextual and mythological references.

Grand Hotel Europa is a pretty voluminous book that covers a variety of interesting topics. I am sure a conversation about it wouldn’t be that bad of an idea!