Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Guida il tuo carro sulle ossa dei morti by Olga Tokarczuk

28 reviews

chris_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Vomit, and Medical content

lifepath7's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death

Minor: Murder and Gaslighting

willow_thewisp's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Grief and Religious bigotry

_maia3_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Considering I quite like plot-light books and don't care awfully for mystery, this book suited me perfectly. I found the narrator endearing and continued reading more out of an interest in her rather than the murders. 

Which was fortunate, as honestly I think this book has been mislabeled. This isn't a typical genre fiction book - more like a fictional memoir concerning the events of a mystery rather than a detective-culprit story.  I did feel a little cheated when this clicked, but again, the mystery wasn't my first priority anyway.

The entire setting toes the line between being real and unreal, and this adds to the overall atmosphere of the unreliable narrator who is, technically, correct. To explore morality, lines between humans and animals are intentionally blurred whilst making police and church corruption blatant - it felt very fable-like whilst also being realistic.

Read this book if you enjoy odd, liminal little stories with morality as a central theme.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Grief

tjwolf's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Murder

Minor: Misogyny, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

cryfest's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Sexism, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Classism

bedtimesnack's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Ableism, Child death, Confinement, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Sexism

noahfence's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

yeah, so. prepare to enter the world of janina duszejko. like, really prepare. its not for the faint of heart.

i have never read anything quite like this book. it is a story that will question your perception of madness, animals, astrology and religion—and you will probably finish it with a very different view of the world.

the plot follows the story of the sickly, elderly woman janina duszejko and her life in a lonely polish village on the border of the czech republic. the book drags you along on her investigation into the strange, unsettling murders of several members of the town’s hunting society, filling you with intrigue, awe—and perhaps horror, depending on your attitude towards animals. do you treat them like they have souls, or not? are you willing to face their wrath?

drive your plow over the bones of the dead is everything i could ever ask for in a book. the weather is strange, the animals are vengeful, the stars are sentient. it is a beautifully dark exploration into feminism, animal rights and murder, and although at first it may just seem like the story of a lonely old women, the prose grips you by the throat and really doesn’t let you go. you will come away from the book wondering if your horoscope could show you how you will die, and if you should really continue eating meat.

drive your plow over the bones of the dead is a deliciously dark read. so go on—take the plunge. 🤭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Drug use, Misogyny, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

athenium's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Sexism, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror and Body shaming

rozmaran's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Murder

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting