Reviews with content warning for Blood - Sobre los huesos de los muertos

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Sobre los huesos de los muertos by Olga Tokarczuk

42 reviews

basonok's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

I lost track of the plot of the book midway through. I wanted to like this book but ableist and fatphobic commentaries ruined the book for me. I could see the author’s background in psychology possibly seeping into the writing, but it was in such an ignorant and irresponsible way towards neurodivergence and mental illnesses. While attempting to make a social commentary on the value of certain age groups, people with chronic illnesses and other groups in society, it was written poorly in my opinion and had at times the opposite effect in devaluing the appearance, mannerisms, and capabilities of other characters in the story (especially those not in the main character’s friend group).

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lilifane's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

SO good!

This is a literary mystery set in a secluded village in the south of Poland. The protagonist is an older woman who is a hobby astrologer and likes animals more than humans. When people in the area turn up dead under mysterious circumstances, she has her own theory of what is going on, but no one is taking her seriously.

I actually wasn't expecting the mystery plot and was pleasantly surprised by the direction the story took. Loved the protagonist and her point of view, so interesting. Loved the quirky side characters and their friendship dynamics. Liked the themes of the book and the writing a lot. Also, the ending worked really well for me. The tone of the book is rather serious and reflective, but it has a subtle humor that I really liked.

The only thing I didn't enjoy were some of the monologues throughout the book. They were too abstract and too long for my taste.

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freckled_frog_boi's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Damn.. i don’t really know how to feel about this book.

Idk if i liked or disliked it. It was new though, and I was really engrossed towards the end. I wish there was a bit more foreshadowing, but I guess with an unreliable narrator, they don’t have to tell us everything.

I think this is my first Polish Translated text, and I think some meaning escaped me, but overall I liked the book even if I had a love/hate relationship with the characters.

Beware! Fatphobia and Romaphobia are rampant. There’s also a splash of anti-communism in there as well that could catch me off guard, even though within the location and time period it was common.

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cianac118's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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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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