A review by katiejames
Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

filled with astrological explanations and philosophical musings, olga tokarczuk’s drive your plow over the bones of the dead is completely captivating. 

raising questions of who should live and who has the right to kill, tangled with perfectly executed dark humour and creating an atmosphere of noir, tokarczuk’s writing pulls you deep into a mystery of strange deaths in a small polish village. 

it was incredibly refreshing to be reading something other than a sad twenty-something in the city thinking about love. our protagonist, janina, is an older woman living alone in a secluded village who does not subscribe to the given way of thinking. for example, she prefers to name others as to what she feels suits them best, which rarely tends to be their given name. to her, the feet are the window to the soul rather than the eyes. natal charts are used to decipher personalities, life events and even deaths. animals and the environment are as sacred as human life. it is difficult to argue with how janina thinks as she has been written so purely convincing. 

filled with eccentricities, quirks, melancholy and empathy, drive your plow over the bones of the dead is a new favourite of mine and something i would highly recommend if you enjoy good writing and sensitive translation.