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A review by schnauzermum
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
4.0
At one level, this is a crime novel. It also asks big questions about the relationship between humans and animals, the role of tradition, and the way we treat those who don’t conform.
That might sound daunting, but it is also funny. The novel is narrated by Janina Duszejko, a former engineer turned schoolteacher living in an isolated rural community seemingly centred on hunting and mushroom picking. The first sentence sets the voice immediately:
‘I am already at an age and additionally in a state where I must always wash my feet thoroughly before bed, in the event of having to be removed by an ambulance in the Night.’
One night, she finds the dead body of her neighbour, a prolific poacher. He appears to have choked to death on a venison bone. Can the animals be wreaking their revenge? Janina sets out to try to convince her neighbours and the police that this is exactly what is going on.
I shouldn’t have called her ‘Janina’, as she hates the name, and says she tries to avoid using other people’s given names, choosing instead to use a nickname that comes to mind the first tine she sees someone. So we have Oddball, Big Foot and (my favourite) Father Rustle.
Tokarczuk is critical of aspects of Polish society and this novel caused a stir when it was published. It has taken nearly 10 years for it to be available in English, probably helped by the success of ‘Flights’, last year’s Man Booker International winner. This is a prize that does a good job in bringing new authors to an English-speaking audience. As the narrator says, ‘How wonderful - to translate from one language to another, and by so doing to bring people closer to one another - what a beautiful idea.’
The translator is Antonia Lloyd-Jones.
That might sound daunting, but it is also funny. The novel is narrated by Janina Duszejko, a former engineer turned schoolteacher living in an isolated rural community seemingly centred on hunting and mushroom picking. The first sentence sets the voice immediately:
‘I am already at an age and additionally in a state where I must always wash my feet thoroughly before bed, in the event of having to be removed by an ambulance in the Night.’
One night, she finds the dead body of her neighbour, a prolific poacher. He appears to have choked to death on a venison bone. Can the animals be wreaking their revenge? Janina sets out to try to convince her neighbours and the police that this is exactly what is going on.
I shouldn’t have called her ‘Janina’, as she hates the name, and says she tries to avoid using other people’s given names, choosing instead to use a nickname that comes to mind the first tine she sees someone. So we have Oddball, Big Foot and (my favourite) Father Rustle.
Tokarczuk is critical of aspects of Polish society and this novel caused a stir when it was published. It has taken nearly 10 years for it to be available in English, probably helped by the success of ‘Flights’, last year’s Man Booker International winner. This is a prize that does a good job in bringing new authors to an English-speaking audience. As the narrator says, ‘How wonderful - to translate from one language to another, and by so doing to bring people closer to one another - what a beautiful idea.’
The translator is Antonia Lloyd-Jones.