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

Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Sobre los huesos de los muertos by Olga Tokarczuk

21 reviews

athenium's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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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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lizzieinmt's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

This books as extremely well written, even with the translation into English the prose were powerful and full of emotion. While none of the main characters are exactly loveable they win you over and I loved the moral delemma it left you in. As a vegetarian I found this a great look into how some people view animals and how much it hurts not to be valued. Really interesting read.

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horizonous's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Great sense of place, interesting main character, but I just didn't care about the horoscope passages or William Blake's poetry and to me it was also very obvious where the story is going. However, this won't be my last book by Olga Tokarczuk.

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nabila99's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

there aren't enough audacious, passionate, idiosyncratic, philosophical, and simply unhinged older ladies in literature! it was such a delight being in our protagonist's world, despite the astrological jargon completely flying over my head. what a gorgeously written, poignant, atmospheric, story (def would classify this as a character study rather than a thriller, although it was truly a kick when

the final few chapters of the book finally furthered the plot and the unreliable narration!

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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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foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

As soon as I heard the lines “he must have mercury in a reticent sign. I reckon it must be Capricorn in a square or may be in opposition to Saturn. It could also be mercury in retrograde.” I knew I’d be hooked. I think I’ll have to give this one a re-read!

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