Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

Author : Olga Tokarczuk

Title : Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead
Published : 2009

Publisher : Fitzcarraldo Editions  

Pages : 272
Genre : Crime / Mystery

     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.

     This was not my first time coming to this author, last year I had the pleasure of reading House of day House Of night. It is also not the first time with this story, awhile back I watch the film Spoor which was based on this book. I was curious to see how the book and the film would compare, I suspected much like for most of you the book would turn out to be the better of the two. For me I can count on one hand the amount of time the case has been the other way around. 

     Within the pages of this book I got to become acquainted once more with our heroine Janina. As one would imagine the book give more life to this character it allows her more room to breath and in doing so meant I got a much better understanding of who she is and how her life has been. She is someone I have great respect for, having got to the point where she no longer cares what other's may thing of her. She is strong and independent and from what I can tell doesn't really give a damn what others think of her. It is also nice to see an author chose to have an older protagonist, more often than not this character would have been early twenties to maybe mid thirties. And while there is nothing wrong with this it's always nice to see a change of view point.  This is a women who is prepared to walk the path alone if she has to to find out what has been taking place in this beautiful part of the world she calls home. 

     One of the strong themes within this book is that of hunting wild animals. It is one that I am all to a where of. Although I may live in another country something remain the same and when you live out in the country side hunting is a huge part of the way of life. The all seem to have the same mentality when if comes to life now matter when they may come from. It is something I have struggled with being vegetarian and living within this environment but I feel that's a story for another time. For me I felt the author captured this aspect very well and it all felt like I could walk out of my front door and come face to face with these people. So as you can see it was fairly easy to slip into the world the author has created. This book takes it's time building up the mystery surrounding this village. To say it's a slow burner would be an understatement. It meanders it way along picking up small practicals as it makes it way. While at it's core this is murder mystery the author has chosen to use this platform to talk about bigger ideas that effect the country side in this modern world. How do we protect nature and the animals that live there in a world where humans are encroaching on the habitats more and more every year. 

     For me at least the murder mystery has not been my main sense of focus whilst reading this book. This may be in part due to having watched the film first. It allowed me more time to get to know all those people who I have come to know through the text.  This book is much more of a philosophical mystery novel. Trough her heroine she ponders not only the state of her little world but also of what Poland was like in the early nineties. Something that to me feels like a tricky best to capture. It seems to me  that once this book gets it's hooks into you that there is little that can be done to shake it off. A good read for a cosy winters evening.