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

dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I'd read Olga Tokarczuk write about paint drying. 

This was so much fun -- unreliable narrator, small clues everywhere, small town characters and cozy soups, forest animals and bugs. And as an astrology girlie, I couldn't not enjoy the extensive musings on birth charts and aspects; I knew these parts would lose a lot of people, and that's what's so incredibly ingenious. This all created a mystical world guided by the laws of nature, and our narrator the omniscient and moral  light in the cold night.

I really love that this narrator is an older woman, who reminds us constantly how she's dismissed as a lunatic, and largely ignored and forgotten by the community. It's especially brilliant in the unraveling. 

I highly recommend this if you are interested in translated fiction, sleuthy mysteries, and really beautiful, intelligent writing. 

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