Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych by Olga Tokarczuk

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"[...] I think that the purpose of human mind is to defend us from seeing the truth. [...] The mind is our defense system [... otherwise] we would not be able to bear the knowledge. Because every particle of the world, even the smallest one, consists of suffering." (my own translation)

Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych (Run Your Plow Through the Bones of the Dead, as Google translates the title) is a 2009 novel by one of the most prominent Polish writers, Olga Tokarczuk. Although Ms. Tokarczuk's books have been widely translated into many languages, English version of this novel has not yet appeared; I am sure it is just a matter of time. I am writing this review in English as a recommendation for future readers.

This is a unique work in Ms. Tokarczuk's literary opus generally perceived as "serious and heavy" as it usually deals with topics such as the cultural and national identity. This novel is written in a detective story convention and can be considered a murder mystery: a "morality thriller," screams a blurb on the cover. Of course the mystery is the least important aspect of the novel.

Janina, a retired civil engineer and teacher, lives in a mountain valley in southwestern Poland. She fills her retirement taking care of neighbors houses in their absence and has two major hobbies: astrology with which her preoccupation borders on insanity (e.g., she ruminates how the configuration of planets influences schedule of TV programs) and translating poems by William Blake, where she is more mainstream, and successful too.

But her main trait is the respect and care for our "lesser brothers and sisters" - the animals. In a touching stylistic device the author uses capitalization when talking about the Animals so we have Hares, Badgers, and Deer. Janina greatly suffers when she sees the Animals suffering and dying. When several mysterious deaths occur among local hunters and poachers she is convinced that the Animals are exacting their revenge on people who torment, torture, and kill them.

To me killing animals for fun and entertainment is also an outrage and I find the fascination with guns and killing one of the basest (hu)man instincts; in the so-called grown-up men it is a relic of infantile mentality and a sign of insecurity. What fun do these men - and sometimes even women, the givers of life - find in killing defenseless animals with high-precision rifles and sophisticated mechanical traps? I share the author's repulsion at killing animals as a social ritual, a barbaric relic of the past. The author viciously ridicules the participation of Catholic clergy in blessing of hunters. I would like to remind the words of Pope Francis from Laudato Si':

"[...] we must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures.”

A wonderful book but certainly not for everybody. Despite the dark and heavy themes the novel contains some hilarious passages: after the rating I am enclosing two quotes - in Polish as I do not have the talent to provide an adequate translation - that illustrate the author's sense of humor.

Four and a quarter stars.

"W nazwie 'myśliwy' jest zawarte słowo myśl, co oznacza, że swoje powołanie dbania o ten dar boży, jakim jest przyroda, myśliwi realizują świadomie, rozumnie i roztropnie."

"Zwierzęta powinny rozpierdolić to wszystko w piździec.
- Właśnie tak. Rozjebać w pierdoloną nicość - podchwyciłam, a mężczyźni spojrzeli na mnie ze ździwieniem i szacunkiem."




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