The last book I read [this year](/post/2022/12/2022-in-books) was _Grand Hotel Europa_ from Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, a lengthy critique on mass tourism and Europe's obsession with its past disguised as an innocent looking novel. It's masterfully written. Ilja himself plays the lead, reliving memories of his past flame in Venice while staying at a deprecating hotel that once was grand and now is being converted into a Chinese tourist trap.
The last book I read [this year](/post/2022/12/2022-in-books) was _[Grand Hotel Europa](https://iljapfeijffer.com/en/work/prose/grand-hotel-europa/)_ from Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, a lengthy critique on mass tourism and Europe's obsession with its past disguised as an innocent looking novel. It's masterfully written. Ilja himself plays the lead, reliving memories of his past flame in Venice while staying at a deprecating hotel that once was grand and now is being converted into a Chinese tourist trap.
The agony of a crumbling Europe that wanes under the pressure of global capitalism, where apparently consumerism and mass tourism are the only options to keep the economic balance at a status quo, was heartbreaking to read. Venice is clearly struggling to deal with the millions of tourists that huge cruises vomit into the city. And Ilja's Venice is just an example. Never before have cheap flight tickets caused that much damage---damage we all too willingly ignore in favor of a relaxing holiday, preferably including a quick shopping spree at a very "instagrammable" location. Perhaps Schopenhauer was right: living on this earth can be quite the penance.
