Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer: playing games with structure and reader expectations.
GRAND HOTEL EUROPA, by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer (Fourth Estate, $35) [out May 4]
When Grand Hotel Europa was published in 2018 in the Netherlands, its depiction of life in a continent with its best behind it struck a chord with local readers.
“Europe is drowning in its history," author Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer warned. “There's so much past in Europe there's no space left for the future."
Four years on, it's an increasingly uncomfortable view. If Pfeijffer had chosen to update his bestseller for its English release, a global pandemic followed by the outbreak of war would make an unsurprising if depressing epilogue. It's lucky, then, that the novel, at 500-plus pages, is already full to the brim.
This story is from the May 7 - 13, 2022 edition of New Zealand Listener.
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This story is from the May 7 - 13, 2022 edition of New Zealand Listener.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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