DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD by Olga Tokarczuk
translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
★★★★★
Riverhead, August 13, 2019
A subversive feminist noir mystery set in a remote Polish village, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead both dazzles and defies categorization. Olga Tokarczuk’s seventh novel (her fourth to be translated into English) follows Janina Duszejko, an elderly woman living as a recluse on the outskirts of a Polish town close to the Czech border, who spends her days reading horoscopes and translating the poetry of William Blake. But it’s a far cry from an idyllic life for Janina, whose beloved dogs have gone missing and whose neighbors keep mysteriously turning up dead.
Read the rest of my review HERE on BookBrowse, and you can also read a piece I wrote on Women in Translation Month HERE.
You can pick up a copy of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead here on Book Depository.
I love the title of this one but I’d been steering clear for reasons I now can’t remember. Your review has encouraged me!
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The title is SO GOOD. Thankfully the book lived up to it. I hope you like it!
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I was already excited about this one, but now I MUST read it.
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YOU MUST! It’s very, very bizarre and excellent.
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I’ve just started this one!
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I hope you like it!!!
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🙂 Yes! And I currently live now not far from Klodzko, that’s funny . Thanks for your lovely texts about books, I will certainly try to read some of your list
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Thank you, that’s very kind 🙂 That’s so cool that you live close to where the book is set – I bet you’ll get even more out of it than I did!
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Great review! This really sounds fantastic- I’m glad it was a 5-star read for you! I have the first hold at my library, but they’re being incredibly slow about getting the book into circulation, so I wasn’t able to pick it up in time for WIT month. Atmospheric and dark sounds perfect for the start of fall though, so I’ll still be happy to get to it next month!
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Thank you!! I really hope you like it. And women in translation all year round is the goal, honestly!
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I need to read Tokarczuk!! This and FLIGHTS are both on my tbr.
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I haven’t read Flights yet! But this was BRILLIANT, highly recommended.
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Wonderful review, you made the themes come through without giving anything away, which is tough with this book.
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Oooh thank you!!! That’s very high praise, and definitely what I was going for.
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One of my favourite books. Really enjoyed reading your review.
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Thanks so much! Glad you loved the book too.
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Wasn’t this so good?! I’m glad you liked it!
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SO GOOD! I was so impressed by how clever it was.
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