A review by crybabybea
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

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

3.75

What a delightfully weird book. One of the most unique narrators I've ever read.

This is technically a thriller I guess, since it includes a murder mystery, but I'm not sure if it would appeal to general thriller enjoyers as the pacing is actually quite slow and we spend a lot of time in our main character's head than actually in the action. I loved the unreliable narrator and the fact that she's a different type of main character for a thriller read. She's not a cop, or a PI, or even anyone that matters to the investigation. She's just a "normal" (she's actually incredibly odd) person who just finds herself in the middle of a string of murders in a small Polish town. I super enjoyed how she makes you question your own judgment. It felt a bit like a noir film with her unique perspective on the world and the way she constantly narrates the most mundane, seemingly irrelevant things. 

For a while we spent so long in the main character's narration that I wondered what was going to happen and where the story was going. But the ending picks up quite a bit and I found it super satisfying and fun. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings