Name: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
ISBN: 9780525541332

Olga Tokarczuk

Finalist for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize. A deeply satisfying thriller cum fairy tale, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is a provocative exploration of the murky borderland between sanity and madness, justice and tradition, and autonomy and fate.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

Erin O’Donnell

Everything will pass. The wise man knows this from the start, and has no regrets.

erin alise 

tara  (she/her)

It is in the feet that all knowledge of Mankind lies hidden; the body sends them a weighty sense of who we really are and how we relate to the earth. It's in the touch of the earth, at its point of contact with the body that the whole mystery is located -- the fact that we're built of elements of matter, whíle also being alien to it, separated from it. The feet -- those are our plugs into the socket. 

Najara Valente

Catarina

Sasha Maiboroda

Reality has grown old and gone senile; after all it is definitely subject to the same laws as every living organism — it ages.

aywen

But why should we have to be useful and for what reason? Who divided the world into useless and useful, and by what right? Does a thistle have no right to life, or a Mouse that eats the grain in a warehouse? What about Bees and Drones, weeds and roses? Whose intellect can have had the audacity to judge who is better, and who worse? A large tree, crooked and full of holes, survives for centuries without being cut down, because nothing could possibly be made out of it. This example should raise the spirits of people like us. Everyone knows the profit to be reaped from the useful, but nobody knows the benefit to be gained from the useless.

eileen lee

The prison is not outside, but inside each of us. Perhaps we simply don't know how to live without it.

A large tree, crooked and full of holes, survives for centuries without being cut down, because nothing could possibly be made out of it. This example should raise the spirits of people like us.

sarah

 I am a phantom built out of pain. Whenever I find it hard to know what to do with myself, I imagine I have a zip fastener in my belly, from my neck to my groin, and that I'm slowly undoing it, from top to bottom. And then I pull my arms out of my arms, my legs out of my legs, and take my head off my head. As I extract myself from my own body, it falls off me like old clothes. Underneath them I'm finer, soft, almost transparent. I have a body like a Jellyfish, white, milky, phosphorescent. Oh yes, then I am free. 

isabellaargote

It made me feel sad, horrified, for even someone as foul as he was did not deserve death. Who on Earth does? The same fate awaits me too, and Oddball, and the Deer outside; one day we shall all be nothing more than corpses.

I stopped in the sloping market square, and gradually I felt flooded by a powerful sense of communion with the people passing by. Each man was my brother and each woman my sister. We were so very much alike. So fragile, impermanent, and easily destroyed. 

As I gazed at the black-and-white landscape of the Plateau I realised that sorrow is an important word for defining the world. It lies at the foundations of everything, it is the fifth element, the quintessence. 

In any case, I know the date of my own death, and that lets me feel free. 

From nature’s point of view, no creatures are useful or not useful. That’s just a foolish distinction applied by people. 

In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then a neighbor, Big Foot, turns up dead. Soon other bodies are discovered, in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain that she knows whodunit. If only anyone would pay her mind . . .

i really loved this book, its language, its ecofeminism, its unapologetically flawed and odd and wonderful protagonist, its unexpected plottwists - i am excited to read Olga Tokaczuk's other works

Tabea

arresting prose, arresting (but not arrested) narrator

alice

SHE GOT, SHE GOT AWAYYY

arresting prose, arresting (but not arrested) narrator

The way she paints characters in her stories is amazing. Even though I prefer her other books , but this reads great . 

Krzysztof Tokarski

I really enjoyed the characters but I did not truly understand the plot until I looked up reviews and author interviews after finishing it. Once I know what I was looking for, I found it a very compelling exploration of how a person may step into the gap between what is immoral and what is illegal and try to exercise what they see to be natural Justice.

Emily McMeans

paola montepiedra

Før plogen din over de dødes knokler

Started this because of Pedro Pascal, finished it because it was good. 

Daniel U

A subversive, entertaining noir novel from the winner of the 2018 Man Booker Prize.

I know it’s only the beginning of the year, but this was one of the books I was most excited to read in 2025 — and no, it’s not only because I already started this book in December, and brought it over with me into the New Year with a desperate need to finish it finally. I first heard of Tokarczuk around fall time last year on Tiktok, in a video comparing her work to that of Ottessa Moshfegh, which I’ve been interesting in for quite a while now but was never in the mood for — so I decided to check out the so-called OG then, and boy how right I was about that. (Not a diss at Moshfegh, I was just really impressed with this book — I still haven’t given Moshfegh a try, so what do I know.)

What I was immediately taken with about this one was the writing style. Throughout the story I had the sneaking suspicion that Tokarczuk was blessed with the gift of using all the right words, in all the right order to make her points meet you beautifully dressed. The final product is an extremely gorgeous and picturesque prose that keeps your imagination going, beautiful descriptions that simultaneously walk off the page and somehow still keep feeling almost mysterious. 

Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead

 deals with subjects and characters that I don’t engage with regularly, be it intentional or not. Our main character and first-person narrator, the elderly Polish woman Janina Duszejko is an avid Astrologer (not something I can strongly relate to or find particularly interesting in other circumstances, but I think Astrology was a nice tool here to tie and connect different ideas together), an ex-bridge engineer now English teacher, translator of William Blake, and a friend of a colorful group of individuals, a lady whose pockets are full of opinionated Theories and Hypotheses about everything and everyone, and probably feels in this world the most passionate about the welfare of the Animals of the Plateau, the scene where our story takes place. She speaks through a fresh and unique point of view on life so firmly that it will inevitably make you question and re-evaluate your own at some points. 

The novel starts and ends in the aftermath of a murder, because at the end of the day, this is a crime story, a mystery by genre. Though it was not its essence for me, still a sense of who-dunnit lingers in the background of it all. We follow Janina for about a year as she tends to the vacation homes of wealthy city residents during the Winter, visits random townsfolk, files complaints to the police, and spends peaceful days-in with her once-student Dizzy translating the poetry of Blake, all the while people keep dropping like flies, and the police dismiss Janina’s claims that it’s the Animals finally taking their revenge on hunters as the delusions of an old, crazy woman, because it does sound a bit silly, doesn’t it? Well, Janina has the charm to make, if not the police, but the readers second guessing.

I found Janina’s philosophies and values very interesting to read about, especially after seeing 

, where I learned the novel sparked conversations around animal rights and hunting laws in Poland. It retroactively added that much more merit to her character for me, and I found the juxtaposition of a character that represents the activist’ values in the story being someone who is written off as absurd, misguided, and eccentric by her environment (even those closest to her, like Dizzy and Oddball are hesitant to even just entertain her ideals) a brilliantly ironic choice. 

Along with the beautiful writing, I found Janina a very skillful execution of an unreliable narrator, as through her misguided recollection of events you had the chance to grow to empathise with her and her position enough to be completely thrown off at the end of the novel, not by just the final reveal in the murder mystery plot itself, but also in the way that you try to question and moralise the situation when you close the book and evaluate and recount all that has just happened. 

lambie

I know it’s only the beginning of the year, but this was one of the books I was most excited to read in 2025 — and no, it’s not only because I already started this book in December, and brought it over with me into the New Year with a desperate need to finish it finally. I first heard of Tokarczuk around fall time last year on Tiktok, in a video comparing her work to that of Ottessa Moshfegh, which I’ve been interesting in for quite a while now but was never in the mood for — so I decided to check out the so-called OG then, and boy how right I was about that. (Not a diss at Moshfegh, I was just really impressed with this book — I still haven’t given Moshfegh a try, so what do I know.)

What I was immediately taken with about this one was the writing style. Throughout the story I had the sneaking suspicion that Tokarczuk was blessed with the gift of using all the right words, in all the right order to make her points meet you beautifully dressed. The final product is an extremely gorgeous and picturesque prose that keeps your imagination going, beautiful descriptions that simultaneously walk off the page and somehow still keep feeling almost mysterious. 

Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead deals with subjects and characters that I don’t engage with regularly, be it intentional or not. Our main character and first-person narrator, the elderly Polish woman Janina Duszejko is an avid Astrologer (not something I can strongly relate to or find particularly interesting in other circumstances, but I think Astrology was a nice tool here to tie and connect different ideas together), an ex-bridge engineer now English teacher, translator of William Blake, and a friend of a colorful group of individuals, a lady whose pockets are full of opinionated Theories and Hypotheses about everything and everyone, and probably feels in this world the most passionate about the welfare of the Animals of the Plateau, the scene where our story takes place. She speaks through a fresh and unique point of view on life so firmly that it will inevitably make you question and re-evaluate your own at some points. 

The novel starts and ends in the aftermath of a murder, because at the end of the day, this is a crime story, a mystery by genre. Though it was not its essence for me, still a sense of who-dunnit lingers in the background of it all. We follow Janina for about a year as she tends to the vacation homes of wealthy city residents during the Winter, visits random townsfolk, files complaints to the police, and spends peaceful days-in with her once-student Dizzy translating the poetry of Blake, all the while people keep dropping like flies, and the police dismiss Janina’s claims that it’s the Animals finally taking their revenge on hunters as the delusions of an old, crazy woman, because it does sound a bit silly, doesn’t it? Well, Janina has the charm to make, if not the police, but the readers second guessing.

I found Janina’s philosophies and values very interesting to read about, especially after seeing Dua Lipa in conversation with Tokarczuk, where I learned the novel sparked conversations around animal rights and hunting laws in Poland. It retroactively added that much more merit to her character for me, and I found the juxtaposition of a character that represents the activist’ values in the story being someone who is written off as absurd, misguided, and eccentric by her environment (even those closest to her, like Dizzy and Oddball are hesitant to even just entertain her ideals) a brilliantly ironic choice. 

Along with the beautiful writing, I found Janina a very skillful execution of an unreliable narrator, as through her misguided recollection of events you had the chance to grow to empathise with her and her position enough to be completely thrown off at the end of the novel, not by just the final reveal in the murder mystery plot itself, but also in the way that you try to question and moralise the situation when you close the book and evaluate and recount all that has just happened. 

highlighted a lot of passages from this book which is rare for me. some top writing and poignant themes. beginning and end were great, middle a struggle. I’m sure if I’d been able to maintain focus I would’ve enjoyed it more and rated it higher 

Amalie

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE "A brilliant literary murder mystery." —Chicago Tribune "Extraordinary. Tokarczuk's novel is funny, vivid, dangerous, and disturbing, and it raises some fierce questions about human behavior. My sincere admiration for her brilliant work." —Annie Proulx In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then a neighbor, Big Foot, turns up dead. Soon other bodies are discovered, in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain that she knows whodunit. If only anyone would pay her mind . . . A deeply satisfying thriller cum fairy tale, Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead is a provocative exploration of the murky borderland between sanity and madness, justice and tradition, autonomy and fate. Whom do we deem sane? it asks. Who is worthy of a voice?

A Novel

It was random and sort of hard to read for 250 pages which was a great writing style that matched Duszenko well, then loved where it went with the last 30 pages. I love it when you start to see something coming

Finn James

Quirky old woman, astrology, mystery, & some great life advice/wisdom.

Poppy Keogh

WINNER OF THE 2018 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE With Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, International Booker Prize-winner Olga Tokarczuk returns with a subversive, entertaining noir novel. In a remote Polish village, Janina Duszejko, an eccentric woman in her sixties, recounts the events surrounding the disappearance of her two dogs. She is reclusive, preferring the company of animals to people; she's unconventional, believing in the stars; and she is fond of the poetry of William Blake, from whose work the title of the book is taken. When members of a local hunting club are found murdered, Duszejko becomes involved in the investigation. By no means a conventional crime story, this existential thriller by 'one of Europe's major humanist writers' (Guardian) offers thought-provoking ideas on our perceptions of madness, injustice against marginalized people, animal rights, the hypocrisy of traditional religion, belief in predestination - and caused a genuine political uproar in Tokarczuk's native Poland.

instant favourite from the first 10 pages

𝒦

Not sure if I loved or didn’t love. Janina is a jks hun

Allegrachatterjee

rachel

Probably one of the most peculiar novels you will read. Regardless, a really impressive whodunnit. 

Frederik De Bosschere

category is kooky unreliable women but its really just about ecofeminism at its core. 

Classic unreliable narrator but it’s actually just an environmentalist old lady so who can even blame her, she made all her besties fall in love with her and they took care of her cute

jillian tenner

So glad I brought this with me on the trip

deacon

Emily Wisnesky

not a bad book, i just didn’t find the whole entirety of the book interesting enough for me 😭

Olga Tokarczuk does everything I have ever wanted in a book here. She capitalizes Unnecessary Words, uses an obscene, albeit necessary, amount of frivolous commas, which is great, and I enjoy it. This Book also does a lot with expanding Tropes and Common Ideas into new zones. Loved this one.

Eli Alvah Huckabee

Lindy

We Have Always Lived in the Castle but make it ecofeminist? I regret reading Flights shortly before this, as I am still hungover on the author's particular brand of woo and this tempered my experience of this novel.

We follow our quirky narrator (single woman around 60) who dislikes her name, so she doesn’t use it often. She also feels other people don’t have good names, so she has a nickname for nearly every person and animal in her life. She likes animals much more than humans. She also thinks everything can be explained with horoscopes and astrology.

The book is set in a very rural area of Poland near the Czech border.

The protagonist is I think around 60, lives on her own and checks on the houses nearby that are only used in the summer to keep herself busy. She lives on a plateau above a village that is icy and or snowy for several months a year and hard to get to and out of without a car.

After witnessing her next door neighbor dead she comes up with a theory that the animals in the forest have come to kill bad humans. This theory is not well liked or appreciated by the police.

She is a very interesting protagonist, because she is a single woman so her life doesn’t revolve around being a wife or mother. She also lives in a rural area so remote that it makes sense she is in tune with nature.

The end is very interesting. The whole book was very interesting and one of the reasons I love reading books by authors who live in the country they write about.

Suzanne

translated by Antonia Lloyd Jones

We follow our quirky narrator (single woman around 60) who dislikes her name, so she doesn’t use it often. She also feels other people don’t have good names, so she has a nickname for nearly every person and animal in her life. She likes animals much more than humans. She also thinks everything can be explained with horoscopes and astrology.

The book is set in a very rural area of Poland near the Czech border.

The protagonist is I think around 60, lives on her own and checks on the houses nearby that are only used in the summer to keep herself busy. She lives on a plateau above a village that is icy and or snowy for several months a year and hard to get to and out of without a car.

After witnessing her next door neighbor dead she comes up with a theory that the animals in the forest have come to kill bad humans. This theory is not well liked or appreciated by the police.

She is a very interesting protagonist, because she is a single woman so her life doesn’t revolve around being a wife or mother. She also lives in a rural area so remote that it makes sense she is in tune with nature.

The end is very interesting. The whole book was very interesting and one of the reasons I love reading books by authors who live in the country they write about.

I loved her since she pulled big foot ID just to complete his natal chart but this ending made it even better