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Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead: A Novel
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE
New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
"A brilliant literary murder mystery." —Chicago Tribune
"Extraordinary. Tokarczuk's novel is funny, vivid, dangerous, and disturbing, and it raises some fierce questions about human behavior. My sincere admiration for her brilliant work." —Annie Proulx
In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then a neighbor, Big Foot, turns up dead. Soon other bodies are discovered, in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain that she knows whodunit. If only anyone would pay her mind . . .
A deeply satisfying thriller cum fairy tale, Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead is a provocative exploration of the murky borderland between sanity and madness, justice and tradition, autonomy and fate. Whom do we deem sane? it asks. Who is worthy of a voice?
New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
"A brilliant literary murder mystery." —Chicago Tribune
"Extraordinary. Tokarczuk's novel is funny, vivid, dangerous, and disturbing, and it raises some fierce questions about human behavior. My sincere admiration for her brilliant work." —Annie Proulx
In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then a neighbor, Big Foot, turns up dead. Soon other bodies are discovered, in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain that she knows whodunit. If only anyone would pay her mind . . .
A deeply satisfying thriller cum fairy tale, Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead is a provocative exploration of the murky borderland between sanity and madness, justice and tradition, autonomy and fate. Whom do we deem sane? it asks. Who is worthy of a voice?
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Community Reviews
I read this book for a book club which is the only reason I finished it. I donât understand the high praise. It seemed that the author was using this book to preach at us about her disdain for meat eating and hunting. Intertwined with that is her love of astrology. The plot dragged and I had no connection to the characters.
This book has everything: a quirky central character, mystery, suspense, drama, social commentary, humor.
Janina is a woman "of a certain age," who makes do by teaching some classes and acting as caretaker for her neighbors' holiday homes. She and her friend Dizzy get together often to translate Blake's poetry. She seems to be tolerated by the locals, but they think she's a little bit off her rocker. She's an animal lover, and when we meet her, she's still grieving the loss of her "girls," her two dogs who went missing awhile back and whom she assumes are dead, probably killed by a hunter.
More strange things start happening. Her neighbor dies under questionable circumstances, or was it just an unfortunate accident? Wild animals are rumored to be stalking the area. Are they plotting a revenge, turning the tables on the human hunters?
Janina is a woman "of a certain age," who makes do by teaching some classes and acting as caretaker for her neighbors' holiday homes. She and her friend Dizzy get together often to translate Blake's poetry. She seems to be tolerated by the locals, but they think she's a little bit off her rocker. She's an animal lover, and when we meet her, she's still grieving the loss of her "girls," her two dogs who went missing awhile back and whom she assumes are dead, probably killed by a hunter.
More strange things start happening. Her neighbor dies under questionable circumstances, or was it just an unfortunate accident? Wild animals are rumored to be stalking the area. Are they plotting a revenge, turning the tables on the human hunters?
Stream of consciousness? 50+ year old female protagonist? Unreliable narrator? Eco-justice diatribes? Yes please.
What a book! I found it hard to put this one down. At the turn of every page, I found the character of Janina getting under my skin to the point that I was seeing the world she occupied from her own perspective. Having lived in Northern Europe a few years ago the descriptions of the harsh conditions and landscapes evoked memories that I didn’t expect to be raised again. Olga Tokarczuk is so accurate in her descriptions that the reader is there in the same shoes as Janina, trudging through the snow and feeling the cold right through to the very marrow of her bones. Her descriptions don’t just evoke the cruelty of the landscape though, there is a harshness in the descriptions of the characters and a great sense of pain and suffering, not least from Janina herself as the twist at the end of the story reveals.
full time idiosyncratic, sometimes polemical, and sometimes humorous, 'Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead' is more of a philosophical novel thinly veiled as a noir crime novel. The author maintains a whimsical narrative even while discussing the hypocrisy/double standards of society, ranging from cruelty against animals to the stigmatization of individuals with differing opinions or unconventional traits not deemed acceptable by "civilized" society.
While I found the book overall pleasing, in later parts, I felt that (especially Janina spilling beetle pheromones, which felt forced and foolish, seemingly to expedite the discovery of the killer), the progression appeared somewhat artificial.
Antonia Lloyd-Jonesâs translation is natural and fluid, making it delightful to read.
3.75/5
While I found the book overall pleasing, in later parts, I felt that (especially Janina spilling beetle pheromones, which felt forced and foolish, seemingly to expedite the discovery of the killer), the progression appeared somewhat artificial.
Antonia Lloyd-Jonesâs translation is natural and fluid, making it delightful to read.
3.75/5
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