From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

Olga Tokarczuk,

Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Translator)

Start date: July 15, 2022

Finish date: August 15, 2022

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Carol

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Reading List

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
By Lynn · 1 post · 49 views

last updated Jun 20, 2025 08:37AM

Call for Nominations — Classics Corner Jan–June 2026
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What Members Thought

Dec 09, 2019 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, nobel-prize, read-2019, e-books, viciados-em-livros, polish-literature

A little gem of literature....

TR Flights
4* Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

4 likes · Like · see review

Feb 15, 2020 Linda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cultural, fiction, mystery, ill-chcpl, award-winner, hardback, book-cougars, 2020

Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!
It was hard to see where this was going. First time ever that I read a prize-winning book and didn't wonder "HOW did this win awards?"
I was very involved, went along with the premise and can't wait for the discussion from the Book Cougars podcast. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Sep 22, 2019 Sylvia Tedesco rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I just now finished the book and wanted to write how much I enjoyed it. What an original voice, written so clearly about deep subjects with a kind of poetry of its own. She managed to conjure a world of people and animals so particularly of their country (Poland and Czech Republic) and yet timeless and current. I'll be thinking about it for some time.
This book might not appeal to everyone. The protagonist is a "crazy old lady" who goes into serious Astrology, hates hunters, is a vegetarian..... ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 18, 2022 Ann D rated it really liked it

Tokarczuk won the Nobel Prize for literature. This is the first of her books I have read. It is a highly original book.

The plot centers around Janina, an older Polish woman who lives in a Polish village near the Czech border. She loves animals and has frequent disputes with the authorities about the mistreatment of animals. They consistently ignore her complaints. In the off season, Janina is the caretaker of the summer homes of city dwellers. Her next door neighbor is found dead, and the myste ...more

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Mar 30, 2021 Curious Squid rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

What an odd book! Main character is a quirky and sickly older lady who has a decidedly different view of the world. An example being how she comes to refer to people like her neighbors as Big Foot and Oddball.

That’s why I try my best never to use first names and surnames, but prefer epithets that come to mind of their own accord the first time I see a Person. I’m sure this is the right way to use language, rather than tossing about words stripped of all meaning.

Some really great passages in this ...more

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Feb 12, 2021 Paige rated it really liked it · review of another edition

So when I started reading this book back in February (? January?), I stopped at about the halfway point because I didn't like it. The other day as I was driving to work, it came into my head for some reason and I was surprised by how much I remembered about it--often with books I don't like, I can't remember a thing about them even a couple weeks later. So I thought maybe I should pick it up again, and miraculously, when I started reading it again, I really liked it. Go figure. ...more

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