Prachtig erudiet boek over eigenlijk van alles, liefde, geschiedenis, massatoerisme, het failliet van Europa. ( )

I first want to mention that I read this book in English translated by Michele Hutchinson.

Somehow my opinions on this book were split evenly between "I love this", "this is okay", and "I'm really not enjoying this". I can pin point where I had these opinions too. The inner ramblings and open conversations about tourism were great. I was especially engrossed about all of the chapters based around the documentary making. I hated the long rants about specific art and if I had known there would be so much focus on this I might have thought twice about picking it up. Everything else was neutral.

I feel somewhat cheated that the blurb puts focus on the book being about "mysteries of the hotel" with it's "memorable characters" considering this was the weaker aspect of the book and the characters living there were definitely NOT memorable.

The discussions around tourism were strong enough to keep the book entertaining though, so I enjoyed the read and feel like 3 stars is fair. ( )

Strange and utterly wonderful!
At first, I could not figure out what it is - a memoir, a documentary, a novel, a danbrownish thriller, a very-very long essay? I guess all of them, really. But then all the pieces fell into the right place and I'm still a bit flabbergasted. HIGHLY recommended!
(Spoiler alter: if you like to travel, this book can fuck you up quite thoroughly.) ( )

sharp analyses of netherlands and, less so, whole of Europe ( )

not my cup of tea.. ( )