Reviews with content warning for Violence - Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

39 reviews

clarabooksit's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

While this isn’t a go-to genre for me, I liked the many threads to this story and how Tokarczuk wove them together. There’s a lot of good story and character crafting here. However, the ending ruined it for me:

not only was it predictable, but the lengthy, detailed description of exactly how and why the murderer killed the people they did was unnecessary and annoying. There are enough layers to the story that just a brief reveal of why they did it would’ve brought the threads together nicely, no need to spoon-feed the reader.

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bella_cavicchi's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Who knew quirky noir was a genre? I do now, and I love it. I don't think I have read something like DRIVE YOUR PLOW in a long while, and that I have been thinking about it all day -- in fact, thinking about it ever since I finished its stunning last chapter yesterday evening -- is a testament to Tokarczuk's skill. I don't think it's a book for everyone, but I fell hard for it. What a play it's going to make (!).

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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

drive your plow over the bones of the dead is an incisive, atmospheric, and well-written read that isnt necessarily dark but deals w/ darkness, and is a powerful, revealing condemnation of human hypocrisy towards animals.

this book's filled w/ innumerable observations and insight abt life & death, the human condition, and animal treatment, some thought-provoking, and others sardonically true and darkly humorous, although the extensive discussion abt astrology isnt rly my thing. the characters are imbued w/ life and color even amid the bleakness of the landscape, and the main character's developing relationships w/ her increasingly close circle are subtly poignant. weirdly, the twist at the end shouldnt have been surprising, yet it still jolted me w/ the abruptness of its revelation.

needless to say, one cant talk abt this book w/o mentioning tokarczuk's biting denunciations of human treatment of animals, the hypocrisy and numbing, desensitized acceptance of it all. they're bewilderingly powerful and persuasive, though in hindsight i wish some discussion went into past necessity of certain aspects of this animal-related issue.

a surprisingly rewarding - though occasionally droning and weirdly paced - novel that invites a second reading and makes me interested in checking out tokarczuk's other works.

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kshertz's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This was definitely a weird one for me. It was recommended to me because the old woman is a curmudgeon which is true and I do technically love a curmudgeon. But I’m thinking maybe it just didn’t translate for me into English from Czech? The old woman’s eccentricities I think were what ended up kind of putting me off the book. Her belief in astrology and palm reading and such were just too out there for me. But she does get sweet vengeance in the end so I’m glad I finished it and didn’t just give up on it. But definitely only recommending to friends who love Czech literature and astrology 😝

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