Why a Booktrail?
2000s: So, what do you know about Brussels?
The Capital
What you need to know before your trail
Brussels. A hive of tragic heroes, manipulative losers, involuntary accomplices. No wonder the European Commission is keen to improve its image.
The fiftieth anniversary of the European Commission approaches, and the Directorate-General for Culture is tasked with organising an appropriate celebration. When Fenia Xenopoulou’s assistant comes up with a plan to put Auschwitz at the very centre of the jubilee, she is delighted. But she has neglected to take the other E.U. institutions into account.
Meanwhile the city is on the lookout for a runaway pig. And what about the farmers who take to the streets to protest against restrictions blocking the export of pigs to China?
Locations
Reset- Belgium - Brussels
- A: Atomium
- B: Council of the European Union
- C:
- D: Grand Place
- E: Manneken Pis
Travel Guide
Travel to Brussels, The Capital, BookTrail style
Brussels is the capital of Europe of course and for many they only know the city for its links to the EU. Now, in the time of Brexit, we might have a new opinion of it but this crime novel cleverly links in many themes into a good yarn. There’s some lovely language too which reminds you of the classic Belgian painters and art scene:
“It had stopped raining. The wet tarmac, the façades of buildings and the passers-by shimmered in the light of the streetlamp and the neon of the chip stand,The book is a satire of the European ideal, the European Commission is a unifying über-power overcoming nationalism, paternally steering the individual countries under its aegis. as if a Flemish master had just applied the varnish to this scene“.
The book is a satire of the European ideal and everything Europe stands for, what it hopes to achieve and what other countries think of it looking in.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Capital
Destination: Brussels Author/guide: Robert Menasse Departure Time: 2000s
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