Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Ratings163
Average rating3.8
Liian masentavaa luettavaa. Pääsin sivulle 102, minkä jälkeen hyppäsin viimeisiin lukuihin nähdäkseni miten kävi.
In een Pools dorpje gaat iemand dood, en daarna gaan steeds meer mensen dood. De hoofdpersoon, een vrouw op leeftijd die ‘s winters als een van de weinige inwoners van het dorpje op de vakantiehuizen van de “buitenstaanders” let, heeft zo haar eigen ideeen over welke rol de dieren hierbij spelen.
“I'm 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 ambulance in the Night”.
Thriller, sprookje, aanklacht tegen van alles (waaronder de Poolse katholieke kerk) maakt een verfrissende mix. Je leert ook nog eens wat over astrologie :-)
“Here subtle dependencies between Pluto, Neptune and Mars came into play. As soon as Mars was in aspect to these two Slow Planets at the same time, the television showed a repeat of one of the Alien films. Isn't that fascinating? “
De precieze Bedoeling achter de vele Hoofdletters werd me toch niet helemaal duidelijk...
Raar boek, lezen!
She's an ICON, she's a LEGEND and she IS the moment.
Janina is funny, fearless and unique, and she refuses to be diminished or dismissed by those around her, challenging societal norms, misogyny, speciesism, ageism, and advocating for the voiceless. Her unwavering position against animal cruelty and the marginalization of those who are considered invisible/worthless highlight themes of empathy and justice. Janina's character teaches us that life's beauty lies in its simplicity, its slow pace, its depth and complexity. This novel asks us to think deeper, slowly and honor and protect what truly matters.
This novel smells and tastes the same as Gloria Fuerte's poetry, they both explore the softness that true strength requires and how beauty is scattered around us, floating, shimmering, pulsing, like stars in a dark sky.
I really didn't want to leave this polish village.
Drive your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is a murder mystery shrouded by philosophical monologues against animal cruelty.
The novel follows Janina, an old woman who deeply cares about animal rights & astrology. She is an unreliable narrator, someone who makes sense when she is exposing the hypocrisy that's prevalent in society regarding the treatment of animals. Yet, she can still be exhausting with her half-baked astrology theories.
Halfway through this book, I got really bored because the animal cruelty arguments got repetitive. Repetitive to the point, one has to wonder is this all a parody of animal activists?
The book only picked up in the last quarter, during its climax when the tiny pieces started lining up conveniently.
I felt like this book could have been a lot more interesting if you could get the PoVs of other secondary characters like Oddball & Dizzy. Something which shows, you the reader, how is Janine perceived by others.
Overall, this isn't the best murder mystery that will surprise you but when you look at the niche category of murder mystery with sermons against animal cruelty. This might work.
this was so good the ending was insane
i didn’t see it coming personally but someone smarter might have 🫣 but it was so so good
Kind of a bummer to be honest... the concept of nature taking revenge on humanity is so up my alley, but it's incredible how little of that is explored, focusing more on astrology because crazy old lady protagonist :)
full time idiosyncratic, sometimes polemical, and sometimes humorous, ‘Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead' is more of a philosophical novel thinly veiled as a noir crime novel. The author maintains a whimsical narrative even while discussing the hypocrisy/double standards of society, ranging from cruelty against animals to the stigmatization of individuals with differing opinions or unconventional traits not deemed acceptable by “civilized” society.
While I found the book overall pleasing, in later parts, I felt that (especially Janina spilling beetle pheromones, which felt forced and foolish, seemingly to expedite the discovery of the killer), the progression appeared somewhat artificial.
Antonia Lloyd-Jones's translation is natural and fluid, making it delightful to read.
3.75/5
Mrs. Duszejko is now one of my favorite characters. I love her so much and I feel like I'll be like her too in the same situation. I think it's so cool how her mind is still bright and active but her old woman body is how an old woman's body is (full of aches and ailments). She also goes on a tangent often like an old woman yet if she were younger then people will think oh how intellectual of her, or how original her thought process is. An old lady protagonist is so refreshing. The book showed how the world disregards old women, puts them in this category and that's all they are but they're not.
Taken from my mother's library. Do you ever find yourself reading a translation and feeling jealous of the folks who got to read it in its original language? Not to knock the translator, because the prose of this absolutely sings - I just suspect it's even more exquisite in Polish. I loved the magical realism, loved the embedded study of Blake and astrology, loved the narrator winding her way through town and the woods knowing few people are more invisible than an older woman.
Can we talk about how satisfying the writing in this book is for a second? Like seriously I sometimes found myself just smiling because I was enjoying the writing so much. The story was good enough but the style and storytelling really is where it's at with this one.
“It's hard work talking to some people, most often males. I have a Theory about it. With age, many men come down with testosterone autism, the symptoms of which are gradual decline in social intelligence and capacity for interpersonal communication, as well as a reduced ability to formulate thoughts.”
The writing style of this book is definitely unique, and I was intrigued by the plot at the beginning. However, I honestly found the main character, Janina, annoying and the twist at the end barely felt like a twist at all. The endless paragraphs of astrological ramblings also distracted from the plot. There was one surprising element, but it wasn't enough to make up for the rest in my opinion.
I was waiting for the right time to read this book, which I thought would be Fall but was actually Winter. Perfect book for when the nighttime comes at 4pm.
“Oh yes, the human body is most definitely inhuman, especially a dead one.”
Maybe I'm not smart enough for literary fiction in some cases, but this just felt boring and tedious. Janina is an elderly Polish woman who loves her astrology and animals, and quickly becomes irritated with people who don't share her extremely inflexible morals where killing (for sport, for food, for necessity) is concerned. When neighbors and villagers start turning up dead under mysterious (and sometimes violent) circumstances, Janina thinks she has it all figured out, but nobody listens to the crazy hermit who lives out in the woods.
The book's written in a stream of consciousness style through Janina's eyes, so there's entire sections of the book that really don't relate to anything. She's a bit of an oddball, sends polite registered letters to the local cops asking them to check with their force's astrologer about the murders, and does other kooky old-person-cum-dorky-detective things you'd expect. Unfortunately the author does a great job of hammering home who the culprit is almost from the beginning, and even I was able to point to the right person around 15-20% in, so it's not really much of a mystery.
It also felt kind of preachy in some places, particularly when Janina goes off (mentally) about animal slaughter and environmental problems and such. I can't tell how much of that is character-driven and how much of that is author-driven, but it came off like a finger waggy school lesson in some places. These are all real issues, but a mystery novel feels like the wrong venue for trying to get your message across.
I don't know, I didn't connect much with this book. For a Nobel Prize winner, I expected something a bit more compelling. Instead I got a lot of dead air passages where I found myself mentally checking out until Janina (mentally) found the thread of where she was going plot-wise again. There's the bones (heh) of a good, dark story here, but I felt like they were buried under way too much meaningless meanderings and social commentary.
Ikke helt min type bok, var ikke alltid jeg skjønte hva som foregikk med mye astrologi men tar for seg store spørsmål med en gøy plottwist på slutten:-)
Don't get me wrong, this is a good book, BUT... I was not prepared for the endless meandering with the plot, in a very atmospheric setting. It took me 3 months to finish this quite short book because of it! The ending was not very satisfying to me, unless I chose to interpret the story as told by an unreliable narrator. Speaking of the narrator, really happy to see a woman in her 60s as a protagonist.
The writing however was a pleasure to read and I will look into more books by this author.
It simply wasn't my cup of tea. The author just wasn't concerned about the happenings in the book and was more focused on sharing her beliefs about a lot of things in general. I would say the reveal at the end was unexpected and good but if there was just no good lead up to conclusion. To me it was just it was a random reveal. One of the longest 250 pages i had read.
Puolalainen Olga Tokarczuk on sillä lailla poikkeuksellinen nobelisti, että nimi on tuttu ja tuotantokin nimien ja kansikuvien tasolla. Mitään en ollut Tokarczukilta kuitenkaan lukenut, joten tilanne oli syytä korjata. Uusin Aja aurasi vainajain luitten yli vaikutti ihan hyvältä paikalta aloittaa.
Kirjan tapahtumat sijoittuvat Puolan etelärajalle, Stołowe-vuorten ylängölle, lähelle Tšekkiä. Siellä mökissään majailee Janina Duszejko, joka käyttää aikansa astrologiaa tutkaillen, kääntäen ystävänsä apuna William Blakea puolaksi, opettaen englantia koululaisille osa-aikaisesti ja huolehtien kesäasukkaiden asunnoista talvisin.
Alueella alkaa tapahtua mystisiä kuolemia. Kirja alkaa sillä, kun Duszejkon naapuri Outolintu herättää tämän keskellä yötä apuun: toinen naapuri Isojalka on kuollut ja Outolintu haluaa pukea ruumiin siivompaan kuntoon ennen poliisien kutsumista paikalle. Mitä näihin nimiin tulee:
Mitä mielikuvituksen haaskausta olivatkaan kaikki viralliset etu- ja sukunimet. Niitä ei kukaan koskaan muista, sillä ne eivät banaaliudessaan ikinä liity kyseisiin ihmisiin eivätkä millään tapaa muistuta heitä. Kaiken lisäksi jokaisella sukupolvella on aina omat muotinsa, ja yhtäkkiä kaikki ovat Małgorzatoja, Patrykeja tai – herra paratkoon – Janinoja. Siksi yritän aina olla käyttämättä ihmisistä heidän nimiään, vaan sen sijaan puhun heistä luonnehdinnoilla, jotka pälkähtävät päähän itsestään, kun näen ihmisen ensimmäisen kerran. Olen varma, että se on oikea tapa käyttää kieltä toisin kuin se, että viskellään ympäriinsä sanoja, joilla ei ole mitään merkitystä.
One sentence synopsis... A literary whodunnit, set in a desolate Polish village, examining the line between sanity and madness, humans and animals. .
Read it if you like... deep readings of astrology, examining the poetry of William Blake, or truly strange, wacky ensembles of characters. .
Dream casting... Stellan Skarsgard as Oddball, a future older version of Renée Zellweger as Janina.