Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

37 reviews

bomenvernietiger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

"In unison, they set about tearing up the plants that had been growing around their house until now, in order to plant others that they'd bought at a shop. It was hard to tell what logic was driving them."

"Deep inside their anthill, the Ants cling to each other in a large ball and sleep like that until spring. I only wish people had the same sort of confidence in each other."

'"Why are you crying?" I asked.
"You're so kind..."
"I know," I replied.
"What about you? Why are you crying?" he said.
That I didn't know.'

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Chronic illness, Gore, Religious bigotry, Blood, Bullying, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Alcoholism, Ableism, and Addiction

chloeam3103's review

dark informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, and Blood

jstilts's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I didn't know what genre this book was, and I really highly recommend going into this thoughtful, funny, slightly unhinged book without even reading the back cover - nor in fact any more of my review!

The book follows Duszejko - an elderly Polish lady - living remotely enough that in winter she only has two neighbours, and makes an income from keeping watch on and maintaining the houses of those that can't stand to live there in the colder seasons. She spends her time looking after the local wildlife, railing against hunters and poachers, translating Blake into Polish, and researching the horoscope in all sorts of unusual ways.

One morning one of her two neighbours discovers the other dead, and as they tend to the corpse Duszejko becomes convinced he was murdered by the very animals he hunted.

This surprising book reads almost as a stream-of-conciousness from a narrator that is not so much unreliable as mildly out of touch with reality. 

Her worldview is disarmingly cosy and endearing, sometimes heartbreaking, and it's so wonderful to follow her unusual trains of thought - not just of her life but the very mechanics of existence itself - that it's easy to forget that Duszejko's state of mind is probably unhealthy, especially as she rarely if ever seems to be in anything approaching peril.

At once both relaxing and compelling, I honestly didn't want this book to end - but the terrible truths being laid out were done so with such verve it had me laughing in glee at the audaciousness of the author.
Highly recommended!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Grief, Murder, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Animal death, and Death

liesbethvv's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This book had been on my TBR for so long and I’m happy BOB bookclub finally made me pick it up. It read like a gloomy thriller with an

unreliable narrator

and a big focus on the main characters loathing of hunting and killing animals. 
The set-up was predictable (to me) yet executed in an entertaining way. 
I could have done without the lengthy rants about astrology, though they did feel like part of the main character’s eccentricities. If you’d like to read something of 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Murder, and Animal death

Moderate: Blood and Chronic illness

rusina's review

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Violence, Sexism, Chronic illness, and Death

Minor: Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, and Blood

chris_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Grief, Confinement, and Gore

Minor: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, Medical content, and Vomit

lifepath7's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Chronic illness

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Death

Minor: Murder and Gaslighting

willow_thewisp's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, and Murder

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Grief

cryfest's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism, Chronic illness, Grief, Murder, and Sexism

wellreadandhalfdead's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is essentially a character study of the protagonist, Janina. While there is an element of murder mystery, you can not get away from the fact that this is literary fiction. If you don't like literary fiction, you will not like this! 

I found Janina charming. She's unlike any other main character I've read in books, with her very strong opinions and strict worldview. Her deep philosophical thoughts about death and who should be allowed to kill as well as the book's discussion of revenge were constantly churning in my mind as I read this. I really liked the ending and was satisfied with my reading experience as a whole.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Murder

Moderate: Animal death