The difference between showing and telling is drastic. Telling pulls the reader into a state of boredom while showing pulls the reader into a different world. However, showing becomes problematic when telling makes it simpler and easier to understand. For instance, if a rule book showed through abstract metaphor how to play Battleship the players would spend more time interpreting the metaphor rather than playing. But showing is better in a literary setting.
This week I started reading A.E. Hotchner's personal memoir about dealing with Ernest Hemingway. In it he switches between showing and telling frequently. One section of writing starts off by saying, "Ernest's suite was well attended when I got there." It then goes on like this: In the center of the room was a round table on which rested two silver ice buckets, each containing a bottle of Perrier-Jouet, a huge blue tin of beluga caviar, a salver of toast, a bowl of finely chopped onions, a bowl of lemon slices, a salver of smoked salmon and a thin vase containing two yellow tea roses.
Passive voice aside, he could have just removed the first sentence and only had the second since the second shows and doesn't tell.
I agree with you about Hotchner's mistake. Don't you wish you were a published writer who could get paid even with mistakes?
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