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A review by floatinthevoid
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-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
3.5
This is a strange one.
I came in with little to no expectation. I heard about Tokarczuk a lot, but i don't want to read Flights yet, because it seems like a challenging read so i chose this one.
This book is surprisingly quirky? But from my experience it's not the insufferable quirky type. Philosophical musings inside the head of the main character happens a lot. Although i'm a bit wary at the beginning, it doesn't really bother me that much later on.
Janina Duszejko is one of a kind main character. So authentic yet realistic. Almost like an amalgamation of mad woman and witches archetypes. She is a middle aged woman, living in a barely isolated area in the forest, near the poland-czech border. She does a lot of things: an english teacher, a (sort of) housekeeper, a translator, an ex engineer. She has a strong fixation with astrology to the point that it drives her to do definitely very bad things. As a character, she's fascinating to observe. It's very clear that beneath her odd layers, she's a lonely and depressed old woman.
Despite that, i found that a big chunk in the middle part is so mind-numbingly dull. I know the mystery aspect is not meant to be a whodunit as the main focus, but maybe it should be shorter and weirder. The few murders that happened in this book feels like forever to read. What pushed me to keep reading forward is unrelated to the book itself (if i see my reading progress is already more than 70%, it's very likely i'll finish the book).
The writing style is beautiful, though a bit dense if i may be honest.
My favorite part of the book is the quote below. Despite Janina's offputting aura, the things that she did in her elementary classroom? I respect that.
'Rumours have reached me before now of your unconventional teaching methods. Apparently you burn candles, some sort of fireworks during lessons, then other teachers complain about a smell of smoke in the classroom. The parents are afraid it’s something satanic, Satanism. Perhaps they’re just simple people… And you give the children strange things to eat. Durian-flavoured sweets, for instance. What on earth is that? If any of them were poisoned, who’d be responsible? Have you ever stopped to think?'
I came in with little to no expectation. I heard about Tokarczuk a lot, but i don't want to read Flights yet, because it seems like a challenging read so i chose this one.
This book is surprisingly quirky? But from my experience it's not the insufferable quirky type. Philosophical musings inside the head of the main character happens a lot. Although i'm a bit wary at the beginning, it doesn't really bother me that much later on.
Janina Duszejko is one of a kind main character. So authentic yet realistic. Almost like an amalgamation of mad woman and witches archetypes. She is a middle aged woman, living in a barely isolated area in the forest, near the poland-czech border. She does a lot of things: an english teacher, a (sort of) housekeeper, a translator, an ex engineer. She has a strong fixation with astrology to the point that it drives her to do definitely very bad things. As a character, she's fascinating to observe. It's very clear that beneath her odd layers, she's a lonely and depressed old woman.
Despite that, i found that a big chunk in the middle part is so mind-numbingly dull. I know the mystery aspect is not meant to be a whodunit as the main focus, but maybe it should be shorter and weirder. The few murders that happened in this book feels like forever to read. What pushed me to keep reading forward is unrelated to the book itself (if i see my reading progress is already more than 70%, it's very likely i'll finish the book).
The writing style is beautiful, though a bit dense if i may be honest.
My favorite part of the book is the quote below. Despite Janina's offputting aura, the things that she did in her elementary classroom? I respect that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Death