I have read Russel (Pulitzer nominated) before and jumped at the chance to read and review The Antidote. Set in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s Nebraska, five characters are drawn together in the dying town of Uz after the dust storm of Black Sunday. A first generation Polish bachelor farmer, his fierce basketball star niece, a Black New Deal photographer, a scarecrow, and a Prairie Witch/Vault; with occasional representation from a cat. Sounds bizarre, but it works in this storyline. The witch/vault concept is intriguing and thought provoking; people pay the vault to listen to listen to and bank their memories, good or bad, and they have ability to leave the memory or withdraw it later. This sounds wonderful at first, but think about the intended and unintended consequences, is it? Very good story line and resolutions, well written dialog and character development, and well researched factual background. Make sure to read the Land Lost Acknowledgement and Author’s Note in the back of the book.

Well researched and well written this historical fantasy was not for me. I never quite engaged with the characters or the town of UZ Nebraska. Set in the 1930's during the catastrophic dust storm Black Sunday and the Depression the times are grim. The author follows the lives of five characters, the most interesting being the Prairie Witch one of many women who make their living storing secrets and memories of towns people around the country. The pace of The Antidote felt slow and somber, I struggled to finish, but for fans of Karen Russell this could be a winner.
Many Thanks to Netgalley for an Advanced copy to read and review.

This was a thinker, it needs to be read slow and purposefully because there is a lot of subtext if you choose to read it that way. The characters were well written, their stories unfolding at the right pace. The anthropomorphizing of the cat and the scarecrow were well done.

The Antidote was a great book to finish off 2024. It defies classification: it is both historical fiction and fantasy. It is political commentary, sweeping saga, intimate personal stories. It is devastating and hopeful, tense but not without humor. It's set in one of the most notable times of this country's history but addresses concerns that span the centuries. And it's set in a fictional small town in Nebraska, but it's packed with real places, the real history of the state, and real photographs taken by those sent to record that time.
"Black Sunday began as a gash in the western sky, growing wider and wider and spilling down dirt instead of blood. Sometimes I imagine the glee of those journalists in the New York City papers - typing up the story of our worst day in their fancy language. Adjusting the margins and pushing our tragedy into a skinny column, just like old Marvin at the funeral home shoving a tall corpse into a tight suit."
"Imagine every ghost rising up to hurl their cemetery earth at the living. That was the sound we heard last Sunday afternoon. At 3:00 p.m the sun was murdered in cold blood, in full view of every woman and child. The sun sank into black cloud. Buried alive, at a shocking altitude, but the duster to end all dusters."
We get the story primarily from The Prairie Witch, Asphodel Oletsky, Harp Oletsky, and Cleo Allfrey whose names will change as chapter headings as the books progresses. But we also get chapters from the points of view of a cat and a scarecrow, chapters that are The Antidote's history, and one of Harp's "deposits." In less skilled hands, all of this shifting could be confusing; but Russell skillfully blends all of these points of view at the same time she is moving the story forward while giving us the backstory of the land and the people. The characters are fully realized, their travails their own but their concerns and hopes universal. While the full story is slow to develop, it's never drags and it's well worth the time spent when everything comes to a conclusion with a second cataclysmic (and real) event.
"The Republican River became a four-mile-wide whitewater monster, thrashing its long tail from eastern Colorado to Oxford, Nebraska. Twenty-four inches of rain fell in twenty-four house! Bridges split and splintered apart. Hundreds of miles of road got washed out. The river poured forward with enough force to carry cars and rooftops. Walls floated away. Friends became cadavers in outfits we recognized, floating beside tractors and drowned cattle. Bodies were seen riding on the crest through the middle of towns, their shy faces staring underwater even as we screamed their names."
At a time when I was really struggling to focus on any book, this one grabbed me and kept me reading. The concepts, the history, the characters, the writing, the pacing, the creativity all worked to make this book that will stay with me a long time. As much as it is set in the past, it is filled with lessons to be learned, not the least of which are to see how history is repeating itself and how human nature remains unchanged. Russell leaves us with hope - we see that there is an opportunity to learn from the past and to change our future. If only we will listen.

One final note, if you read this book, make sure you read the Land Lost Acknowledgment and the Author's Note at the end.

This is a beautifully written historical/magical realism novel set in the 1930's during the Dust Bowl and Depression. Told primarily from four points of view, the main characters include a lonely older bachelor farmer, his orphaned teenage niece, a Black WPA photographer, and a prairie witch, the Antidote, who is able to absorb her customers' memories so they can forget them. A few chapters are in the voice of a scarecrow and a cat, who become surprisingly important. The setting of rural Nebraska in the 30's is a major character on its own, and readers will become immersed in the hardships of the state and its people. As I read, I kept encountering words to hold on to: "Remembering someone you've lost can feel like drinking mist." "People string catgut over a hole and send music pouring into the atmosphere. Maybe I can restring myself, and learn how to make music from my hollow place."

I loved the concept of this book from the time that I heard it. I’m thrilled to say my instincts were correct. This book was beautifully written, intriguing, has wonderful characters, and a slower but well-paced plot. Overall, this was a joy to read.

The rich historical setting is the main attraction here. Lots of research obviously went into its writing, and it pays off. The novel follows several different characters and their stories, some of which are not as compelling as others, and while they do all come together in the end, it isn't as satisfying as it should be. The fantastical elements, usually Russell's strength, sometimes feel forced and out of place. Fans of historical fiction will enjoy this more than fans of Russell's creepier work.

It's almost impossible to write a synopsis of Karen Russell's "The Antidote" in just a few sentences, there's just so much going on. I'd rather write about the emotional and mind-blowing aspect of this extraordinary novel of small town Nebraska during the Dust Bowl era of the 1930's.
Replete with magical realism, and mystical characters–including a witch that can "bank" your memories, an observant and meddling scarecrow, a photographer whose images are other-worldly or not what they seem, and a cat who narrates a small portion of the story. These, and other characters recount a story both historical and fantastical. One that by the time it was finished, it made me feel completely wrung out. It's a rare and talented writer who has that ability.
Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the early digital copy of this incredible book!

Karen Russel's excellent prose and uniquely creative mind quickly brings you deep into the dustbowl era in Nebraska with expected and unexpected characters. The "prairie witch" concept is wonderfully exposed and raises internal questions that would typically not be asked. Great writing, great characters.

Set in dust bowl Nebraska in the Great Depression, the Antidote is a story of good overcoming evil, of perseverance when the deck is stacked against you, and of family, both blood and chosen family.

The Antidote is the “prairie witch” local to Uz, Nebraska. She is the cure to what ails the townspeople - they can give her memories and she stores them in her “vault” so they don’t have to be burdened by them. When the Black Sunday dust storm comes through and destroys the crops, it also wipes out the “vault” and the Antidote has no more memories to restore to the citizens of Uz. She bands together with Uzians Asphodel Oletsky and Harp Oletsky, along with government photographer Cleo Allfrey to alert the citizens of Uz to their corrupt sheriff, who has pinned a string of murders on an innocent man.

It is really hard to describe this novel - so much happens! This story has so much history interwoven with magical realism, making for a truly gripping read. It was a bit hard to get into, but once I had all of the characters down it was a story I enjoyed diving into.

My favorite storyline came towards the end, when we got the perspective of Harp Oletsky’s father, who fled Poland for fear of colonizing forces, and moves out to Nebraska. His understanding of colonizing the west and taking the land of the Native Americans and excluding Black Americans was an interesting reflection, though one I’m not sure any real-life settlers would have had such clear insights.

Thanks to NetGalley, Knopf, and Karen Russell for an advanced copy of this highly anticipated novel!

RIYL: American fables inspired by The Wizard of Oz, magical realist short stories, American history

Karen Russell is one of my favorite purveyors of the “magical realist/weird short stories” genre. Her collection Vampires in the Lemon Grove is one of my favorite short stories collections I’ve ever read, and I really enjoyed her latest collection, Orange World. She’s an automatic-buy writer for me, so I came into this new novel of hers with high expectations. Did it live up to my hopes?

The Antidote is set in the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska, a hardscrabble farming town in the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. This setting feels more grounded to a specific historical moment than Russell’s past work - and more obviously intended to speak to our current era, but more on that later - but it thankfully doesn’t abandon her signature magic. In this version of history, there are a handful of people known as Vaults; women who can remove memories from people without knowledge of what the memory entails, and then one day return them.

Our main protagonist, a Vault who goes by the eponymous title of The Antidote, makes her living holding onto memories that the townsfolk wish to forget or to preserve in amber, especially those of the many people the town’s evil sheriff drags in. Near the start of the story, a particularly bad dust storm devastates the town, with the inexplicable side-effect of erasing all of The Antidote’s held memories, which bodes ill when the terrified townsfolk make a run on her to gather their memories before fleeing the dying town.

Our other main characters include Harp, a quiet farmer blessed/cursed with the only flourishing crop in town, Dell, Harp’s precocious basketball-loving niece who’s moved in with him after the murder of her mother, Cleo, a Black photographer for the New Deal project tasked with taking inspiring pictures of hardworking white farmers who discovers something strange in her photos, and…a scarecrow, slowly coming into consciousness. Like many novels with multiple point of view characters, The Antidote tells the story of how these disparate people end up profoundly entangled in each others’ lives. While I found that the ultimate story wraps up satisfyingly, the heart of the book is not in its plot or its mysteries, but in these characters and how they choose to grapple with questions of memory and responsibility.

I’ve always found it interesting to read novels by authors primarily known for their short fiction; it’s fascinating to see how they adapt their strengths to this new medium. Perhaps unsurprisingly, The Antidote is at its strongest when diving into its characters’ memories or focusing on one discrete event in their lives - essentially telling short-stories within the larger context of the novel. It’s a beautifully-written book, one that never sacrifices character on the altar of prose, even if it maybe strains against its underlying mystery plot to be so caught up in thoughts and memories. I liked all of its main characters, but was especially drawn to Dell, as I have a soft spot for precocious teens grappling with loss and thrust into inexplicable historic and supernatural events.

It would be disingenuous to say that Russell’s work never touched on politics before - much of her work has dealt with issues of women’s rights and the plights of the often-overlooked poor residents of places like Florida, for example. But The Antidote is clearly preoccupied with its political message to a much larger degree, one that simultaneously gives it an urgent anger and propulsive moral backbone that I appreciated, while also pushing its 1930s characters to sometimes speak and act like 2020s people in a way that didn’t quite work for me. The central metaphor of the Vaults reflecting America’s intentional forgetting of great sins - the genocide of Native Americans, the slave trade, violent policing, and control of women’s bodies to name a few - works really well, especially in the book’s climactic ending. We can’t literally pluck our worst memories out of our heads and give them to the disenfranchised to shoulder, but we’ve essentially done it throughout our entire history. Right now we’re seeing the backlash to a cultural moment and movement dedicated to forcing America to look at itself in the mirror, to remember the litany of abuses that led to its creation and continue to sustain it, and The Antidote serves as a brilliant parable to reflect our times.

But I also found something a little grating about its obviousness. Its main characters feel quite modern in a way that makes them all wonderful to read about but strains credulity, even given the book’s sideways steps away from mundane reality. This isn’t to say that people at the time weren’t queer, or critical of racism, or guilty about what was done to the Native Americans; but the way the main characters speak about these issues feels incongruous with what ideas were acceptable to even conceive of in their social spheres.

There’s a fair argument to be made that subtly in fiction is overrated or not desirable, especially in our current era. I tend to agree that writers should be willing to wear their views and their politics on their sleeves, and focus on taking a clear stand. The Antidote clearly answers that call, and stands as Russell’s more elaborate story and thematically focused piece of writing. But it also turns the story more into fable or allegory, much like its obvious influence The Wizard of Oz. Maybe that’s entirely Russell’s intent, but I found myself hoping for a little more separation between its core lessons and its construction. Still, it’s a great book, one written with a lyrical voice and featuring a cast of heartfelt and fascinating characters.

Rating: ****

The Antidote is set to publish on March 11, 2025.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts expressed are my own.

What can memories, photography, rabbits, a witch, a scarecrow, and a cat teach us about the strange inner workings of fate? This novel is a quirky mix of historical fiction and magical realism. Set during the drought and famine of the Dust Bowl years, this Midwestern tale features the devastating effects of over-farming, which left the once fruitful prairie lands tattered and barren. With threads of poverty, racism, corruption, and the suppression of women—I felt that this author found a new and interesting way to confront big issues from our past; and some that plague us still. Thought-provoking reads often make for good book club picks.

I thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of The Antidote for my unbiased evaluation.  3.5 stars

A small mid-western town that is facing the Great Depression along with as facing horrific dust storms . This together with a :prairies witch" who collects people's memories and banks them. This book wasn't for me and I stopped reading after several chapters. However, my thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of Karen Russell’s short stories (Orange World is one of my favorite collections). So I had very high expectations of The Antidote.

The eponymous Antidote is a witch, who has the ability to absorb people’s memories from them, and return the memories upon demand. Unfortunately, The Antidote wakes up one morning with that particular skill gone. And given that a local corrupt sheriff somewhat relies on The Antidote to cover up some of his wrongdoing, this proves to be a problem.

Then along comes Asphodel Oletsky, a willing apprentice to The Antidote, as she wants to gain funds for her basketball team. And we also encounter Cleo Allfrey, a photographer with a camera that can take pictures of what isn’t there.

This is a sprawling novel, with a lot of references to American history that went over my British-raised head. A lot of my enjoyment came from the characters, and the elements of magical realism.

I’m sure a lot of people will love The Antidote, but for me, it was just missing some of the bite of Russell’s shorter fiction.

Karen Russell, Pulitzer finalist and bestselling author, sets her third novel "The Antidote" in a small Nebraskan town ravaged by the "Black Sunday" Dust Bowl disaster of 1935. With a large cast of characters, a few of them narrating in alternating chapters, Russell segues from the 1930s Great Plains to Bismark’s Germany to the American frontier, mass migration, settlers, Manifest Destiny, farmers who brutally massacre rabbits, and other ugly facets of human history that we never knew about or didn’t want to, or we forget, or we sugar-coat and rewrite. It’s a very long and very busy novel, packed full of assorted and diverse laments. Russell shows us the best and worst of Americans, but mostly, we see the worst. From every injustice inflicted on the Natives, to babies being stolen from unwed mothers, to witch burnings and murderous law enforcers who’d frame an innocent to die in their place, not to mention racism and misogyny, pretty much all our sins are on display. Not so much do redemption and atonement have a place in this frantic narrative.

Every voice sounds mostly like the author herself. Would a Polish peasant really wax lyrical, the way – and his father do? Midwest farm folk, a witch, a teenage girl, a black woman photographer (rare in that time period), even a scarecrow andyes, even a cat, get to narrate their own chapters, almost all of them laden with metaphor and descriptive detail.


Photographs with black holes made no sense at first but gradually we learn whassup with that–a censorial boss who’s racist and misogynst ruins negatives by punching holes into them.

I spent a lot of time highlighting passages in this book. Thinking about the injustices, the horrors, and the many good people who managed to survive them.

So many loose ends are left untied in this book.
Our protagonist keeps addressing her son, taken from her at birth. She's told he's dead, but a lot of those single moms were told that lie.
Page after page, I kept anticipating the great scene where they would meet again, at last.
Nope.
In a novel filled with so much heartbreak, the resolution of this one just left me angry that I bothered to read this at all.

Ok the history lessons are worthy. But how many pages of sorrow must we endure before the message sinks in?

I was enjoying the mystery of the scarecrow, but the good luck ended for our endearing farmer who alone had crops after Black Sunday.

And the identity of the scarecrow....

Sorry, I wanted to write a long and thoughtful review, but this tale is too fully of outrage and injustice and sadness. Yes, there are some positive and uplifting notes. Justice does get served to the bad sheriff. There are some triumphs.

Maybe I'll go revisit Harry Potter. I need some fantasy and escapism.

This novel was very different from "Swamplandia!" which I remember as being very dark. This is also unsettling, but in a different way: "The Antidote" is historical fiction mixed with magical realism, and deals with very stark topics of racism, bodily autonomy and the criminal justice system, among others. But you're also treated to fun things, like the point-of-view of a scarecrow. Although, those chapters were too short for me, even if they were kept that way for the sake of mystery. He had a head full of straw, after all.

I loved the concept of a “Vault,” meaning a witch that you can go to and tell her a painful memory that you want to forget, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” style. Only this time you are able to return years later with a receipt and get the memory back, if you choose to. The witches serve as a sort of memory bank. (Though they themselves blackout during the sessions and have no recollection of what information they’re holding onto.) What a cool idea! My favorite character in the book was "The Antidote," herself. But the chapters detailing her backstory at the home for unwed mothers were really tough to get through and reminded me a lot of Grady Hendrix’s “Witchcraft For Wayward Girls.” I know that stories about women and girls being horribly abused are frightfully relevant, but frankly I need a break from them right now. 

This story is full of rich, multi-dimensional, vivid characters. (The villain in this story, holy shit. What a scumbag.) I also really liked Cleo Allfrey, the photographer. The way she represented optimism in the face of hopelessness, and the possibility of a brighter future. My biggest joy in reading this was discovering how the various people involved in the plot would end up running into each other. I loved their interactions and I did end up caring about their fates. The last third of the book had me so stressed out! The journey was a rewarding one, in the end. I’ve gotten used to reading quickly and this is the sort of book that requires you to slow down and focus. It feels a lot like Faulkner. One of my favorite required reads for school was “As I Lay Dying” and this reminded me of that. This sort of book is not my typical genre; I don't really go for anything with a historical feel to it. But I trusted the author and I do love magical realism. It turned out to be a good choice! The character work alone was admirable, and so was the prose.

If you are inclined towards audiobooks, I think "The Antidote" would likely be a great listen. The language felt so lyrical, like the various narrators were really telling their stories. 

I do want to emphasize that it can be an emotional read, so heed the trigger warnings. The animal stuff especially was upsetting. This book is both bad and good for cat lovers! Also, a nitpick: There is an important chapter about a confession or “deposit” made to a witch that goes on forever and I couldn’t believe that even with magic a person would be able to store something that lengthy and detailed in her subconscious.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

3.5 rounded up to a 4!

Biggest TW: Animal harm/death, Misogyny, Suicide, Racism, Domestic abuse, Sexual Assault, Mention of child death/Miscarriage, Lengthy chapter about the Holocaust and murder of Native Americans

A story of the Dust Bowl on the Historic Black Sunday in Nebraska. It is a good story, but also part fantasy.

This book feels both timely and timeless. Much like Cleo’s camera, it draws the reader into a rich interplay between the weight of the past and the hope of the future, presented through a cascade of stories, vivid images, and poignant memories. It leaves you eager to delve deeper, and thankfully, the author has included a thorough list of references at the end for further historical exploration.

I'm sort of stuck on how to write this review. Karen Russell's genius is not only captivating, but it is mesmerizing; something that resides inside me that is not a word place. However, I will give it a try.

This novel takes place during the dust bowl and the Great Depression, in the 1930's. Despite it being historical, it is relevant today. The issues it deals with are front and center for our world: poverty, racism;, corruption, powerful demigogues, mysogeny, the erasing of history. This is a book that I couldn't read quickly. I really had to think - and that is a good thing. The gist of this novel spoke to my deepest core.

Don't fear the fantastical or magical realism. you will encounter. It is all meaningful and not just thrown in.. The Prairie Witches hear our secrets and relieve us of our memories, keeping them in their bodily Vaults. Basically, a Prairie Witch is there to harbor our secrets, those painful, embarrassing, harmful or regrettable aspects of our life. When, or if, you want your secrets back, you just go to the Prairie Witch and ask her to remove them from her vault.

Dell is the protagonist of this novel and her two passions are her basketball team and her apprenticeship as a Prairie Witch. She is a teenager but can see injustices all around her. She lives in Uz, Nebraska, a dustbowl community in middle America. Most of the people have left Uz, looking for a better life somewhere else.

Miraculously, there is a plat of green, growing wheat in her uncle's farm in an otherwise desolate community. Why him, not others? Who is blessed and why? Why is corruption tolerated and utilized by those in power to keep others down? The Antidote will address these questions, and more.

The novel is told in several parts, each addressing one or more of the issues in Uz and the world today.

I can only recommend that you read this marvelous book, stay with it for a while and question, question, question the status quo; what is considered normal and information as it comes to you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for providing me with an early review copy of this book.

Quirky and thought provoking … thanks for the ARC! Karen Russell is an auto read author for me and I think many people will enjoy this book.