Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

A Novel

De: Olga Tokarczuk, Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Narrado por: Beata Pozniak

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 Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

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)

Listened to it twice

This has turned out to be one of my favorite books. At first the narrator’s voice made me wonder if I would like it, but I grew to love her voice and the cadence of the sentences plus the story is fabulous fabulous fabulous. Strange title but a wonderful book. The title is a line from the poet Blake.

The courage of those who know the true nature of love

This book is not only about a “preference” for the company of animals. It is a desperate cry in defense of their very survival. I wish I had the courage, when I was living in similar circumstances, to ask for a show of conscience on the part of the hunters (and poachers) who perpetuate the so-called tradition of human dominion over the animal world. I wish that today, I had the courage to call on those who prefer to digest the blood born of horror. But, as Tokarczuk shows, to do so is madness, and we prefer reason. It is one of the many reasons why this book is so cathartic. It allows the reader to imagine herself larger, better, kinder and stronger than what she really is. I too would like, in my dreams, to put the good of animals above my own. To do something that may acknowledge their suffering and humiliation. Tokarczuk has the consummate talent and wisdom of great writers, whose work can measure the immeasurable. She can descend what Thomas Mann called, the bottomless well of time. She takes us along and brings us back up purified, and distraught by the fact that her book must end. And we must continue without her.

Quirky Story with Unusual Heroine

I was initially intrigued with offbeat tale and the accented voice of the narratior, but then the glacial pace by which she spoke eventually wore me down. Hate to ruin it for other readers, but the narrator's pronunciation of the word "animals", was like nails on a chalkboard for me.

Quirky, layered story

The book grabbed my attention, lost it, and then it came together for me as an interesting, and sometimes humorous story about being human. I sped up the narration to 1.25 because the pace of the narrator was affecting my appreciation of the book - it was so slow. I highly recommend the book as a worthwhile listen - have a friend listen at the same time because it would make a great discussion book.

Stick with it...

It is a very good story although slow and at times hard...but worth it at the end

A Hermit's Investigation of a Murder

*minor spoilers* Janinia Duszejko is a hermit who lives alone with two dogs, no immediate family, is a house-sitter, and part time English teacher for a Catholic school in a small town somewhere on the outskirts of the Czech Republic. A year ago she lost her dogs and her ailments started to keep her from doing what she loves: being completely independent. To pass the time, she takes walks around the neighboring properties, gets visits from a couple other male neighbors, and does fortune readings, particularly her own. She knows the date of her own death, so she says. It starts off with an "accidental" death of her neighbor, who she aptly named Bigfoot (she does not do well with names so she assigns nicknames to various people), who made his living poaching animals illegally (no other kind, actually). Later on it is discovered that he was part of a larger hunting party who continued with illegal activities and abondoned all pretense that they were doing it for the good of community (I.e. protecting other domesticated animals from rabies). As a result, after one accidental death, others in the hunting party started to reach their demise via murder, but who in the neighborhood would do such a horrible thing to these pillars of the community? Janinia visits the police with her suspicions, writes letters to the newspapers, and even assembles her closest neighbors to figure it out all the while bodies are still being discovered by the local authorities. Without revealing more, it isn't until towards the end that the police finally take heed of all the warnings of the 'crazy old woman of a hermit' and take appropriate action. It's a very tedious mystery, but the novel gets an extra star for the descriptions of a fleeting mind and coming face to face with our own immortality despite feeling the need to finish one last duty to our loyal companions. When you complete the book, you'll understand what I mean.

Is there a Nobel Prize for narration?

Every word in this imaginative, disturbing and wryly funny novel was selected carefully and placed on the page. Narrated flawlessly by Beata Pozniak.

Hang in there. I had to play this at 1.5

Just to get past the slow narration but in the end the book is very rewarding

Wonderful and captivating

I enjoyed this audiobook's slow and introspective pace. Such a wonderful glimpse into a world of desolation, friendships, and deep grudges. The writing was slow placed and delicious.

Slow burn. Worth it.

The narrator’s voice was key to placing me in the Polish village. It took a while to get into this, but once I did I really enjoyed meeting all the characters in the woman’s life, so different from my own. The details about astrology were also compelling to hear. And the ending was chefs kiss!