Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Format: Paperback
Book Type: Standalone
Genre: Literary Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary
Review:
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead was an experience. A strange, unsettling, occasionally frustrating experience – but an experience nonetheless.
I’ll admit, the beginning was tough for me to get into. The odd capitalizations, the peculiar nicknames – it all felt a little distracting, like the story was keeping me at arm’s length. But once I settled into its rhythm, I found myself deeply caught up in Janina Duszejko’s world – her anger, her loneliness, her unwavering convictions.
She is, without a doubt, an unreliable narrator – one who sees the world through her own rigid logic, filtering reality through personal grievances, astrology, and an ever-growing sense of justification. And yet, it’s impossible not to feel something for her. Her frustration at the lawless killing of animals, her desperation to be heard – it all builds into something dark, messy, and unsettlingly justified. Because as much as you might disagree with her choices or actions, there’s a part of you that gets it. And maybe even… cheers for her?
The astrology element? Still not entirely sure what to make of it – perhaps a way for her to validate her own logic, to assign meaning to what she felt was already inevitable. But either way, the novel thrives in its ambiguity, blurring the lines between justice, morality, and madness.
It’s not a book I loved in the way I love others, but it’s one I felt – and that, in itself, makes it worth reading.
Side note: I read Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead for Book Club, and we chose it based on the fact that Pedro Pascal was reading it (love you, Pedro, but ???).
Favorite Quotes:
“The best conversations are with yourself. At least there’s no risk of a misunderstanding.”
“The prison is not outside, but inside each of us. Perhaps we simply don’t know how to live without it.”
“Perhaps that’s the whole point of prayer – to think to yourself in peace, to want nothing, to ask for nothing, but simply to sort out your own mind. That should be enough.”
“Here Mankind is not governed by the rules of reason, stupid and strict, but by the heart and intuition. The people do not indulge in idle chatter, parading what they know, but create remarkable things by applying their imagination. The state ceases to impose the shackles of daily oppression, but helps people to realize their hopes and dreams. And Man is not just a cog in the system, not just playing a role, but a free Creature. That’s what was passing through my mind, making my bed-rest almost a pleasure.
Sometimes I think that only the sick are truly healthy.”
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