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

[John]

The novel's protagonist, Janina, is a former bridge construction engineer who has retired to a small home on a remote plateau on the Polish/Czech border. She occupies her time with horoscopes, translating William Blake poetry into Polish, and watching the homes of the wealthy in the winter when they are not vacationing there.

When her neighbor Oddball informs her that he has found their neighbor Big Foot dead apparently having asphyxiated on a chicken bone, he requests her assistance in preparing his body for burial. Within the weeks that follow, a number of deceased people are killed in a number of creative ways, including the Commandant, the chief of the police, who was found headfirst in a well with only his legs visible. Since all loved to hunt, Janina believes that all were killed by animals seeking revenge. Although she informs the police of her theory, she is not taken seriously since she has a reputation of being a crank.

Although this Polish translation is touted as a whodunit, there is little sleuthing that occurs. It is primarily a character study of the protagonist. I found the translation unusual since some of the common nouns are capitalized. Not being familiar with the Polish language, I don’t know whether this a common practice or was there some significance that the author was implying. I enjoyed the novel but found it dragged on at times and thought the climax lacked dram

[NancyJ]

I really enjoyed this book. The main character was weird but I had respect for her, and I enjoyed her take on things. I especially appreciated the environmental theme. I think if I read it as a mystery, I might have been annoyed, but as a character study it was fascinating.

[Booknblues]

So many people loved this book, but I was not on the love side.

Even though I love both mysteries and quirky people, it didn't quite mesh for me.

My comments were:
Janina is funny and at first seems delightful.

But soon her stream of consciousness craziness wore on me and began to seem tedious and endless.

Obviously it has received high accolades, but I admit to a sense of regret of having chosen to read this.

[Joanne]

On your side with this one BnB-a DNF for me