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A review by casparb
Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
4.0
A rather macabre, but amusing novel with flashes of absolute genius - even in translation.
Going into a 21st century Polish novel, I wasn't expecting comedy, so there were pleasant surprises.
'There are some people at whom one only has to glance for one's throat to tighten and one's eyes to fill with tears of emotion. These people make one feel as if a stronger memory of our former innocence remains in them, as if they were a freak of nature not entirely battered by the Fall.'
This is one of those novels that fit into that peculiarly popular vein in contemporary fiction that I like to succinctly call: Novels In Which The Protagonist Is An Elderly Person That Is Alone In The World (NIWTPIAEPTIAITW). Tokarczuk's style reminds me of Anna Burns' Milkman in its anonymity, but here there is a certain clawing for names: Janina, the aforementioned elderly protagonist nicknames everyone around her (including herself). It's something I have recently been informed is true to life.
Plenty here for ecocritics to go ham (or preferred substitute) on , there's overall a wonderful balance between wacky hysterical realism and saccharine post-irony.
Going into a 21st century Polish novel, I wasn't expecting comedy, so there were pleasant surprises.
'There are some people at whom one only has to glance for one's throat to tighten and one's eyes to fill with tears of emotion. These people make one feel as if a stronger memory of our former innocence remains in them, as if they were a freak of nature not entirely battered by the Fall.'
This is one of those novels that fit into that peculiarly popular vein in contemporary fiction that I like to succinctly call: Novels In Which The Protagonist Is An Elderly Person That Is Alone In The World (NIWTPIAEPTIAITW). Tokarczuk's style reminds me of Anna Burns' Milkman in its anonymity, but here there is a certain clawing for names: Janina, the aforementioned elderly protagonist nicknames everyone around her (including herself). It's something I have recently been informed is true to life.
Plenty here for ecocritics to go ham (or preferred substitute) on , there's overall a wonderful balance between wacky hysterical realism and saccharine post-irony.