Review: 'Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead'

 by Phoebe Clark

Over the summer, my friend gave me a pile of books to read, all of which I loved just as much as she had. The final one from that pile was a book called ‘Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead’ by Olga Tokarczuk, a Polish writer that won the Nobel literature prize, who also won the international Man Booker prize in 2018 for her 2007 novel ‘Flights’, and I completely understand why. The book caused a genuine political and societal uproar in Poland with it’s politics of vegetarianism; perception of madness; hypocrisy of traditional religion and injustice against marginalised people, all wrapped up in an unconventional murder mystery, that ends with a perfect twist that encapsulates everything that Tokarczuk set out to do. 

This existential thriller is an insight into the life of an eccentric, secluded Polish woman, both geographically and socially, dismissed by society because of her compassion and connection to nature and the animals that live in the countryside surrounding her home. She is passionate and knowledgeable about astrology and can give an explanation of any event by the stars in the sky, another way that she is seen as ‘mad’ by the people in the town. The book resonated with me because I believe in the same morals strongly, however in Poland the values the book presents are abnormal to everyday people, such as not hunting animals continuously, and feminism. The journey the book took me one was filled with pain, shock, and deeper contemplation. Olga Tokarczuk presents her ideas in such a beautiful and poetic way, one can’t help but be persuaded to believe in the power that lies with animals and nature, and the inescapable finality of karma. 

This book should be read by anyone who wants to understand the culture and societal norms of rural Poland but, more importantly, anyone who wants a book that makes them think rigorously about the belief in predestination; their impact on the world around them and the omnipresent, omnipotent current impacting our every move and driving the world around us, because it certainly did just that for me which allowed me to reflect on my life and all the relevancies this book has, and how I can use the literature, which is a paean to William Blake, to better my relationship with animals and nature and think of other people in dissimilar situations to my own. Conclusively, this book has earnt the many academic prizes it’s won, but much more importantly the title of being my favourite book I have ever read and the book that has had the biggest impact on me and the way I think.