What readers think of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, plus links to write your own review.

I went back and forth between 4 or 5 stars but decided on 5 as I have never quite read anything like this. It is comedic, tragic, mysterious, weird but very engrossing and beautifully written. I totally did not see the ending coming as I was so caught up in the magical and astronomical aspects of the book. Janina is a truly memorable character.

3 stars Thanks to Edelweiss and Riverhead Books Publishing for the chance to read this ARC. Published August 13, 2019. This is a translated book. Originally written in Polish.
This book was so confusing for me. There were parts that I really liked and parts that frankly bored me. There were times I was happy with this book, and times I was unhappy with it. I often wonder what, if anything, gets lost in a translated book. There were no big gaps or quick turn-arounds in this book, as would be expected if the translation was not going well, so I guess it was just the varying ideas that the author put together. This book is billed as a ‘thriller cum fairy tale’. To me, that statement is confusing enough!

Another thing that I noticed early on in the book was that just from out of nowhere a word mid-sentence would be capitalized. At first that bothered me, then I just accepted it as bad editing (or poor translating) and ignored it. Sometime thereafter that practice stopped.

Janine loved astrology. (this is one place that I thought the author delved too deeply). It was obvious that Janine was a much bigger lover of animals than she was of humans. She also was the caretaker for some summer houses just outside Warsaw Poland. (‘summer houses’ being very kind – they sounded like shacks). She did however have a few permanent neighbors, who stayed year-round, that she renamed – Oddball, Dizzy and Big Foot – to match their appearances. Soon her neighbors start turning up dead and this strange little woman, who mostly keeps to herself, has a problem with getting anyone to listen to her. So, she becomes her own investigator, judge, jury and prosecutor.

I have never read this author before and am uncertain about reading another of her books. This story just seemed to come across as a poor monologue. Like it was being presented without inflection just a monotone, no change in pitch or tone. She struck one note and carried it throughout the whole book. Again, maybe a translation issue? This author is a highly regarded author in Poland and has been awarded for her translated books, so take my review with a grain of salt.