Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
A Novel
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Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
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Narrated by:
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Beata Pozniak
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Written by:
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Olga Tokarczuk
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Antonia Lloyd-Jones
About this listen
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?
©2019 Olga Tokarczuk and Antonia Lloyd-Jones (P)2019 Penguin AudioWhat the critics say
Named a best book of 2019 by Time, NPR, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and BookRiot.
PEN America Translation Prize longlist
Warwick Prize for Women in Translation shortlist
“A marvelously weird and fablelike mystery.... Authors with Tokarczuk’s vending machine of phrasing...and gimlet eye for human behavior...are rarely also masters of pacing and suspense. But even as Tokarczuk sticks landing after landing...her asides are never desultory or a liability. They are more like little cuts - quick, exacting and purposefully belated in their bleeding.... This book is not a mere whodunit: It’s a philosophical fairy tale about life and death that’s been trying to spill its secrets. Secrets that, if you’ve kept your ear to the ground, you knew in your bones all along.” (New York Times Book Review)
“While it adopts the straightforward structure of a murder mystery, [the book features] macabre humor and morbid philosophical interludes [that] are distinctive to its author...[and an] excellent payoff at the finale.... As for Ms. Tokarczuk, there’s no doubt: She’s a gifted, original writer, and the appearance of her novels in English is a welcome development.” (The Wall Street Journal)
“Drive Your Plow is exhilarating in a way that feels fierce and private, almost inarticulable; it’s one of the most existentially refreshing novels I’ve read in a long time.” (The New Yorker)
What listeners say about Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Canuck2016
- 2022-02-14
Nobel Prize Winner that’s Entertaining
The narrator’s odd voice put me off at first. As the story unfolded I realized she perfect for this book. This is the rare book by Nobel Prize winner that is highly entertaining.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2022-09-02
Unusual and intriguing
I loved the witch-like main character with her astrological world view and her odd assortment of friends. Even in translation, some of the descriptions of nature are lovely. The reader’s accented pronunciation lent a genuine tone to the audio version. The mystery’s plot twist took me by complete surprise.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Elaine Lipski
- 2020-11-14
Beautifully dark
A brilliant story with many ideas to contemplate. The narration was slow, but perfect when I sped it up to 1.1, didn’t sound annoying at this speed and moved the story along more organically. Would love to listen to it in Polish
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Listener
- 2021-02-09
Bit of a Slow Burn
An interesting story, although you might be able to predict the ending. I often find myself turning the narration speed down on audiobooks, but this was the first time I had to turn it up in order to make it listenable. The narrator reads extremely slowly. Still, it's an interesting story with an interesting protagonist (and a host of decidedly less-interesting minor characters), and worth a listen.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kconnerty
- 2020-01-22
Superb!
This was my first exposure to Ms Tokarczuk and our narrator Ms Pozniak. My concise summary: murders are happening in a quiet hamlet of Poland and Janina, our narrating character, has significant astrological data that supports a more 'natural' if somewhat vengeful answer to why they are happening. With her friends Odd Ball, Good News, Dizzy and Boris she journeys through these events in a unique and individual way that is entertaining, fascinating and weirdly wonderful all at the same time.
I was so happy that I listened to this book. The narrator, Ms Pozniak, added depth to the main character, Janina, in a way that reading the book never could have. In her distinct accent, she set the stage for Janina and the Polish landscape in a very unique way. Her portrayal was excellent! The story was also quirky, but in a somehwat comedic and tragic sense, too. Animals with a vengeful agenda isn't new, but this story reflected so many of my own feelings towards people who hunt animals and Janina's anger provided some satisfaction for those feelings. It's a simple story, really. Neighbours find their neighbour dead, things happen to people and we're introduced to a cast of characters including some deer, some foxes, two sweet dogs and numerous other wildlife. This was more than entertaining - it was an introduction to a writer who can more than hold their own. I'm so glad that this book is getting attention and that I decided to pick it up.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jenny
- 2022-12-04
Unpredictable, Dark, Surreal
Narrator's voice is very distinct. Slightly whispered, husky and dramatic Eastern European accent. It fit the story and main character very well. Ending was unpredictable. Could have sworn I had it figured what was going to happen halfway through - thought it was to be a Kafkaesque ending. To my surprise it wasn't and was delivered instantly. Did not see it coming. Interesting 🤔 will probably try another of Olga's works in the near future.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- canuckles
- 2019-10-11
Exquisite blend of narrative and philosophy
I found Tokarczuk’s Flights didn’t work as an audiobook because it was too fragmented and aphoristic. Far better to appreciate it in print. But Plow is a triumph as an audiobooks. The narrator captures the main voice perfectly, and Tokarczuk skillfullly threads a mystery with compassionate philosophy for animals and the natural world. Can’t wait for more to be translated, and for Pozniak to tackle more of Tokarczuk’s work.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Judy A Taylor
- 2020-11-29
Brilliant daring read
A tale for our time. Good narration in the voice of the protagonist, a wise old woman who loves animals
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- mariariarian
- 2020-04-15
Good, and strange
This is an odd story that gets better as it goes along. The narration is also odd—very slow, so the book is actually about half the length if it were read at a regular speed. However, the slowness suits the narrator’s accent and the main character. The ending is good, and I’ll recommend this to friends.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Genevieve Paquette
- 2021-02-24
not for me
The top 5 star review calls it "literary, quirky, snarky, noir." She's not wrong. Well, I'd debate the noir bit, but the rest is spot on. But that's also precisely why I didn't like it.
If you're into reading about someone going on and on and on about astrology and William Blake, and hard-core soapboxing against hunting/killing animals in any way, this is the book for you!
Here's the thing. I'm also hard-core against hunting. I don't even swat mosquitos. I should be sympathetic. I'm not. She bordered on ridiculous. And she just didn't shut up...
The blurb sounded so interesting. The actuality? Awful "literary" dreck with an intentionally unlikable protagonist. It was aggressively quirky and try-hard and nothing bloody happened.
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