Synopses & Reviews
A sweeping, atmospheric novel about European identity, centered on a hotel that encapsulates the continent's manifold contradictions.
The love of my life lives in my past. This, despite the alliteration, is a terrible sentence to write. I don't want to come to the conclusion that, as is the case for the hotel where I am staying and the continent after which it is named, the best is behind me and that I have little more to expect from the future.
A writer takes residence in the stately but decaying Grand Hotel Europa in order to contemplate where things went wrong with Cleo — an art historian and the love of his life. His moping takes him all the way back to when they first met in Genoa, his wanton visits to her in Venice, and their dulcet trips to Malta, Palmaria, Portovenere, and the Cinque Terre in their thrilling search for the last painting made by Caravaggio. Meanwhile, he becomes fascinated by the mysteries of the Grand Hotel Europa and the memorably eccentric characters who inhabit it, all of whom seem to come from a more elegant time. All the while, globalization is making its unmistakable claim on even this place, where a sense of lost glory hangs sulkily in the air.
Grand Hotel Europa is Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer's masterly novel of the old continent, where there's so much history that there hardly seems space left for a future. Cinematic, lyrical, and brimming with humor, this is a novel about European identity, which like the staff and residents of the Grand Hotel Europa may have already seen its best days.
Review
“Pfeijffer's prose, bravely translated by Michele Hutchison, is as multifarious as the novel itself--now elegant and baroque, now...reportorial, now bawdy...[a novel of] incorrigible high spirits.” — Rand Richards Cooper, The New York Times Book Review
Review
“An epic new work...Pfeijffer's voice is variously comic, tragic, knowledgeable, inspired, and obsessive...Characteristically elegant.” Kirkus Reviews
Review
“Lively and entertaining…Grand Hotel Europa is a fine take on (one big part of) the contemporary European condition, as well as on tourism and the question of authenticity (with considerable overlap across all of these).” — M. A. Orthofer, The Complete Review
Synopsis
Grand Hotel Europa] calls to mind Nabokov, Tom Wolfe, Baudrillard, Umberto Eco, Wes Anderson . . . a novel of] incorrigible high spirits. --Rand Richards Cooper, The New York Times Book Review
A sweeping, atmospheric novel about European identity, centered on a hotel that encapsulates the continent's manifold contradictions.
The love of my life lives in my past. Despite the alliteration it's a terrible line to have to write. I don't want to come to the conclusion, just as the hotel I'm staying in and the continent it is named after, that the best times are behind me and that I've little more to expect of the future than living off my past.
A writer takes up residence in the stately but decaying Grand Hotel Europa in order to contemplate where things went wrong with Clio--an art historian and the love of his life. His recollections take him back to when they first met in Genoa, his wanton visits to her in Venice, and their dulcet trips to Malta, Palmaria, Portovenere, and the Cinque Terre in their thrilling search for the last painting made by Caravaggio. Meanwhile, he becomes fascinated by the mysteries of the Grand Hotel Europa and the memorably eccentric characters who inhabit it, all of whom seem to hail from a halcyon era. All the while, globalization is laying claim to even this place, where a sense of lost glory hangs sulkily in the air.
Grand Hotel Europa is Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer's masterly novel of the old continent, where there's so much history that there hardly seems space left for a future. Cinematic, lyrical, and brimming with humor, this is a novel about the European condition, which like the staff and residents of the Grand Hotel Europa may have already seen its best days.
Synopsis
Longlisted for the 2023 DUBLIN Literary Award
" Grand Hotel Europa] calls to mind Nabokov, Tom Wolfe, Baudrillard, Umberto Eco, Wes Anderson . . . a novel of] incorrigible high spirits." --Rand Richards Cooper, The New York Times Book Review
A sweeping, atmospheric novel about European identity, centered on a hotel that encapsulates the continent's manifold contradictions.
The love of my life lives in my past. Despite the alliteration it's a terrible line to have to write. I don't want to come to the conclusion, just as the hotel I'm staying in and the continent it is named after, that the best times are behind me and that I've little more to expect of the future than living off my past.
A writer takes up residence in the stately but decaying Grand Hotel Europa in order to contemplate where things went wrong with Clio--an art historian and the love of his life. His recollections take him back to when they first met in Genoa, his wanton visits to her in Venice, and their dulcet trips to Malta, Palmaria, Portovenere, and the Cinque Terre in their thrilling search for the last painting made by Caravaggio. Meanwhile, he becomes fascinated by the mysteries of the Grand Hotel Europa and the memorably eccentric characters who inhabit it, all of whom seem to hail from a halcyon era. All the while, globalization is laying claim to even this place, where a sense of lost glory hangs sulkily in the air.
Grand Hotel Europa is Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer's masterly novel of the old continent, where there's so much history that there hardly seems space left for a future. Cinematic, lyrical, and brimming with humor, this is a novel about the European condition, which like the staff and residents of the Grand Hotel Europa may have already seen its best days.
About the Author
Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer is an award-winning Dutch writer who has more than forty titles to his name, including poetry, novels, short stories, plays, and essays. His novel La Superba won the Libris Literature Prize, which is awarded every five years by the Royal Academy of Belgium. The book was a bestseller and has been published in several countries, including the United States, Germany, and Italy. Pjeijffer studied classics at Leiden University, where he earned his PhD and worked as a researcher and teacher of Ancient Greek until 2004. In 2008, he moved to the northern Italian port city of Genoa, where he has lived and worked ever since.
Michele Hutchison is a literary translator from Dutch and French into English. In 2020, she won the Vondel Translation Prize for her translation of Stage Four by Sander Kollaard and the International Booker Prize, together with the author Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, for The Discomfort of Evening. She is also the coauthor of The Happiest Kids in the World: What We Can Learn from Dutch Parents.