Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

This book was quite well written but I can't say I enjoyed it. In some books the pacing is slow. In this one it is glacial. On more than a few occasions I considered giving up but I hate doing that. In addition, the author is a Nobel winner. This suggests she is among the very best. Perhaps she was going through a dry spell when she produced this one. I may try another of her books and discover it is brilliant or I may conclude the members of the Nobel committee are stark raving mad. I figure it's about 50/50 either way.

Although ostensibly a murder mystery, this book is actually a character study. The protagonist, Janina, is an elderly woman whose health is failing. In some respects her mind remains sharp while in others it is deteriorating. She seems to suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder. Passionately believing in astrology, she is convinced the fate of all humanity as well as individuals is tied up in the stars. In addition, she is an extreme animal-rights activist and, although the name 'PETA' is not used, she meets the criteria of many who belong to at organization. On various occasions she makes a spectacle of herself by railing against hunters and hunting.

However when she isn't pontificating on Astrology or carrying on over animal rights, she behaves quite rationally and is able to hold down a teaching job and act as caretaker for a number of cottages in the neighborhood. These contradictions provide what interest exists in the story.

One thing I did like was the manner in which the author conveys the embarrassment of those around her when she goes off into one of her rants. She's perceived as dotty and dismissed as irrelevant. While probably the first assessment is accurate to a degree, the second is wrong. Nevertheless, the manner in which she is treated reminds me of the operation of various echo-chambers within social media. Some groups hold a certain viewpoint to be sacrosanct and dismiss all others without question. When this happens Janina is powerless to act - almost.

The writing is quite well done and part of it were interesting. There was just too much repetition. Very early on we get that she is obsessed with both astrology and animal rights. Repeating that over and over is too much. I don't recommend reading this one but if you choose to do so, prepare yourself for a long, slow story.



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