I’ve previously enjoyed reading Karen Russell’s short stories, and was really eager to pick up The Antidote, Russell’s first novel in nearly 15 years. The novel loosely follows a collection of characters living in the fictional Nebraskan town of Uz, each grappling with their Depression-era surroundings in distinct ways. The collection of lives laid out here for the reader results in an interesting exploration of the interactions between climate, society, generational memory and guilt, family, and what it means to create a future without forgetting the sins of the past.

The Antidote is a well-crafted piece of writing, but it never really succeeded in gripping me in the way that I wanted it to. Russell tries to accomplish so many things in its pages, and in some ways this causes the novel to lose some of its focus. There are so many thematic and narrative threads weaving through the story, but they never really converge in a way that feels climactic, and many questions remain unanswered or unaddressed to the point that it’s unsatisfying rather than open-ended in that thought-provoking way that some literary fiction really nails.

I felt this most acutely when it comes to the way that Russell integrates historical detail into the novel. There’s clearly a lot of research that went into the writing of this book, which I appreciate and respect. But I don’t feel like it was perfectly integrated—some of the chapters read like sections out of a history book, while others exist in an almost anachronistic or context-less space that doesn’t really engage with the historical themes. This comes to a head at the end of the book, where one of the main characters is meant to serve as both the resolution to the main town-specific conflict of the book and also to the more expansive issue of white settlers displacing pre-existing Pawnee nations and then scratching that action from the record. But these two lines of the book don’t intersect in a way that makes this conclusion feel anything but disjointed, and there’s a very clunky transition between how these two disparate resolutions are handled.

I will say that I was much more drawn to the themes of the novel than I was to its particular historical context. There are so many echoes of the Great Depression—politically, culturally, financially—in the present day, so it was a smart way to sort of chain together contemporary commentary with a specific moment in history. But I grew up in Nebraska, and I think having been surrounded by the ideas that Russell is probing here has maybe made them lose some of their intrigue. If there’s a void in your mind when you try to picture Nebraska, particularly during the homestead era, or if you’re generally drawn to historical fiction with a sort of Steinbeck-esque backdrop, you might get more out of this than I did.

Karen Russell has a lovely writing style—straightforward, and yet poetic right in the moments that it needs to be. While I don’t feel like every theme managed to really stick the landing in the end, The Antidote was still overall a pretty enjoyable reading experience, possibly perfect for a specific audience that just, unfortunately, doesn’t include me.

Thank you to the publisher for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Give me more epic wild west fiction with a dash of magical realism please! This is becoming my new favorite genre, you guys.

The Antidote takes place during the 1935 dust storm known as Black Sunday and in it, we meet a prairie witch named Antonina who makes a living absorbing people's memories. A local outcast, our witch is suddenly fearful of her life. The dust storm seems to have emptied her of the memories she's taken and the residents of Uz, Nebraska will be murderously upset when they come to make a withdrawal and find she's lost the things they are desperate to collect. But Dell, a thick skinned orphan girl who has an ear for the local town gossip, has decided to become Antonina's apprentice and devises a way for her create new memories for those who come knocking.

Meanwhile, there's a dirty sheriff doing dirty sheriff things; a visiting photographer whose pawn shop camera can only take photos of what once was or may come to be; and Dell's uncle, the one farmer whose land strangely seems to be thriving after the dust storm while everyone else's is suffering for it. Not to mention the odd scarecrow that's staked out in his field that seems to be untouched by the weird weather and a pregnant tabby cat with revenge on its mind.

It also addresses topics such as the unjust treatment of Native Americans, white privilege, and how, even back then, mother earth takes her revenge when we abuse her lands.

This book! It's a chunkster, and it takes a while for all of the storylines to fully pull together so you have to be patient with some of the back story stuff but oh my gosh it's so worth it and that ending. Ugh! My heart!

It's magical, and powerful, and really uniquely done!

I cried "Uncle" at 64% because I just don't care anymore.
<blockquote>I hadn't meant to sound so angry. Nothing about their calm faces in my uncle's kitchen made any sense.</blockquote>
I read that, thought, "I couldn't agree more," and put the book down. I had steadily lost interest, which was a sadness since I really wanted this read to thrill and delight me. It *sounds* great!

Knopf thinks $14.99 is right and proper. I say use the library.

Set in rural Nebraska during the Dust Bowl, Karen Russell’s The Anecdote took me by surprise time and time again. Although historical fiction to an extent, it proved to be so much more.

The novel opens with a prologue--the earliest memory of Harp Oletsky, a boy who should be celebrating his sixth birthday but instead is caught up in a jack rabbit roundup as local farmers and their sons slaughter hundreds of rabbits threatening their crops.

Harp Oletsky, now a middle-aged Polish American farmer, becomes one of several narrators. Others are Asphodel “Dell” Oletsky, a basketball-playing teenage niece, who has lived with Harp since her mother’s murder; a Prairie Witch, who calls herself “The Antidote; Cleo Allfrey, a black photographer sent to Nebraska by one of the New Deal projects to capture local Depression Era life; a Scarecrow that miraculously survives the Black Sunday dust storm that took both human and animal life; and a cat, belonging to the local sheriff’s family.

As points of view alternate and other characters enter the story through their memories or current events, readers gradually learn the narrators’ backstories and the area’s local history. What begins as almost nightmarish realism of hardscrabble lives morphs into magical realism in which Prairie Witches, also called “Vaults” can deposit haunting memories, allowing clients to walk blissfully away and in which a photographer’s negatives and prints take on lives of their own.

This is a story of personal loss, sorrow and longing, natural losses, murder, mass slaughter, corruption, deception, self-justification, dreams and haunting memories, suffering and miracles, of taking risks, facing dangers, listening to the heart, and finding love and family.
Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for an advance reader egalley of Karen Russell’s highly recommended, genre-bending new novel. As a mix of historical fiction, climate fiction, and crime fiction, of realism, magical realism, and social justice, The Antidote will appeal to diverse readers.

Overall really enjoyed this read though I will say that it felt like a slog in the beginning. As such it did kind of feel like the book could have been edited down a bit more. Lots of what felt like pointless filler at times. But the story itself was original and interesting. The mixed perspectives I was iffy on at first but by the end found them very enjoyable with the plot.

I've loved Ms Russell's prior books so was excited when I saw the plot of this one. There's been a few epic sagas lately about the dust bowls in the US during the great depression, and how devastating they are to the people and land they farm. This story blends magical realism with 4 characters' experiences in the town of Uz, Nebraska. Each character tells their story through a different perspective. There's the witch who stores memories, the wheat farmer whose farm is miraculously untouched by the storm, his niece, the orphaned basketball star, a scarecrow, and a New Deal photographer so is determined to get to the bottom of what is really happening in Uz, as his camera is somehow predicting the future. It's beautifully written and you'll fall in love with these quirky characters as they navigate this new landscape. It's a tale of hope, despair, and an ominous warning of the dangers of climate change.

The Antidote is a magical realism set in the 1930s Dust Bowl of America. The book had multipoint of views. The book was detailed to say the least.

This book was a lot. It was covering a lot. It was hard to get into and hard I felt like I was struggling to finish it. The photos seemed random at first but the reasons are slowly revealed. Magical realism is not really my kind of thing. Also I'm not really a history buff.

Fantastic historical story that borders on sorrow from loss of family , property and spirit during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression in Nebraska. Chapters alternate between a prairie witch who acts like a secret bank for the townspeople; a farmer and his niece who plays basketball to forget but becomes an apprentice to the prairie witch. Despair gives way to unusual connections. Masterful and powerful writing that ties history to what could be our tragic future. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Karen Russell is so good at weaving magical/fantastical elements into the worlds she creates. I liked some of what the book had to say about grief, living with loss, and learning to live with loss. I also learned things about causes of the dust bowl that are relevant to our current world. But, the conceit of White settlers erasing memories was too heavy-handed for me. It felt too simple, given all we know about US history and what the message of the book seemed to be. Given the glowing blurbs from so many interesting authors, I look forward to reading other opinions. Thank you to the publisher for the free ARC.

This ambitious book is set in a small town in Nebraska in 1935. Sprinkled with magical realism, the book starts during a historic dust storm. The story is told through 5 narrators: a farmer, his basketball-playing teenage niece, a "Prairie Witch", a WPA photographer, and a scarecrow. Through the narrators, readers are able to glimpse the past injustices that come from people settling land that did not belong to them as well as see the future and the effects of climate change.

Historical fiction infused with magical realism told by a farmer, his niece, a photographer, a "prairie witch", a scarecrow, and, yes, a cat. Set in Uz, Nebraska during the duststorms, this gives off strong Oz vibes to start and then moves past that. It's dominated by the Antidote, the prairie witch, who for a fee listens to people unburden themselves. And these are terrible burdens, most notably surrounding the actions of a corrupt and horrible Sheriff. Del, the orphaned niece of the farmer, whose life is somehow improving as the lives of others get worse, serves as an apprentice to the Antidote. Cleo, the photographer, buys a camera in a pawn shop which can see the future. These people are bound to one another. This is dense and there are sections which felt superfluous (the girls basketball games) and just when you might feel you've had enough, it takes an interesting turn to, for example, the Antidote's back story. Know that there are gruesome scenes as well as murder and abuse, with few spots of light. It's not a pretty look at history, especially vis a vis Native Americans. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Don't miss the afterword. A worthy read.

Honestly an astounding work. It's not often that I end up preordering a physical copy of a book after reading a NetGalley ARC, and rarer still when I pause my reading midway through to slap that preorder link like it owes me money -- in fact, this might be the first one. What a gorgeous, haunting, painful, hopeful, allegorical, fantastical tale. I want to buy dozens of copies and press them into the hands of my loved ones, my enemies, and strangers on the street. You need this book, I will tell them. We all need this book.

I believe we have a choice in all this. There should be a word that means both “blessed” and “cursed,” I have often thought. Maybe that word is “freedom.” Maybe that word is “us.” from The Antidote by Karen Russell

In 1930s Dust Bowl Kansas, four people learn dark secrets. With the story shifting between these characters and their past and present, dark secrets unfold.

There is the farmer dwelling on the legacy of his inheritance. his immigrant ancestor settling on Native American land. His orphaned niece, a teenage basketball star whose mother was murdered. The woman called the Prairie Witch who takes men’s deepest secrets into her vault. A photographer with a magical camera that shows what has been or will be.

The farmer has been spared by the black cloud of dust that had decimated Uz, his field still green under blue skies. His niece and her team survived the storm en route to the championship game. The Prairie Witch lost her power to retreat into the Vault, and the WPA photographer can’t take a photograph to satisfy her boss.

The town sheriff has provided a suspect for a series of murders, ensuring his reelection. One of the victims was the farmer’s sister and niece’s mother. He fears the Vault for the secrets he has given her to lock away. When the photographer develops photographs of the secrets, the women and the farmer decide to confront the town.

An original blend of historical fiction and magical realism, the novel questions if we can tolerate the truth of our past, accept our contribution to the problems we have created. For these characters it is the degradation of the land, the genocide of Native Americans, murders to cover up a crime. The story is a mirror, making us aware that we have our own legacy for which we must take responsibility.

“Are these photographs of what did happen? What will happen?” “I don’t know myself,” she said. […] But I’ll tell you this much: I suspect we have more choices than we know.” from The Antidote by Karen Russell

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.

4.25 stars

The Antidote is historical fiction set in a fictional town, Uz, Nebraska. The story takes place around 1935 between two major events: the Dust Bowl and the flooding of the Republican River. There's a touch of magical realism, and even though this can be hit or miss for me, in this instance, it was a hit! It's heavy on the themes of colonialism, racism, and memory. This book is hard to describe and it has a lot going on, but each aspect packed its own punch. I doubt my review will do this one justice...

I really loved the characters in this one. We have a "Prairie Witch" (aka The Vault) who collects people bad memories and stores them until they are later collected (or never retrieved), a young girl obsessed with basketball, the uncle who takes care of her, a New Deal photographer whose camera sees things that haven't happened yet, a scarecrow with human thoughts, and a cat intent on revenge.

The chapter that saved this book for me came later - around the 70% mark - and the absolute brilliance of what Russell was doing with the Prairie Witch and our collective amnesia was such an incredible reveal! Truly, this chapter (though long) was so good - in its execution, its uniqueness, and its message. When I finished the book, I returned to it and read it again, and it truly was such a moment!

My biggest complaint about this book is that it took me so long to read (11 days when it usually takes me 2-3 days to complete a book of this length). Granted, I'm am in a super busy time of my life, but even though I felt compelled by the writing and the story, there was just something there that really slowed this one down. The middle felt like a total slog, and maybe a tighter edit would help the pacing.

Overall, this is a memorable read. From the setting, to the writing, to the great reveal; I came to feel like I was in this story. I can't help but wonder how differently this could have hit had I been in a slower time in my personal life. I also think a book club/buddy read would help the reader digest all that Russell is trying to accomplish here and would give the reader a greater understanding and appreciation for the story.

3.5 stars, rounding down. Historical fiction with several intriguing fantastical (or magical realist, perhaps) hooks and/or structural flourishes (periodic fragmentary chapters from the perspective of a scarecrow, anyone?) that ultimately didn't quite all come together into something that worked as well as I had initially hoped. The fantastic elements were never really explained in any way, which can work sometimes, but in this case, in my opinion, didn't.

I think my problems with the book lie largely with the fantastical elements. So we have a sub rosa industry of "prairie witches" or "Vaults" -- women (it seems to be all women, for no articulated reason) who serve as a sort of literal memory bank for people, going into a trance state during which a second person may tell them a memory, whereupon the memory leaves the teller's head and is stored unconsciously in the mind of the Vault until the depositor reads back their deposit number to the Vault and she re-tells it to them and restores the experience to their memory. This is a phenomenon that is said to be exclusive to the American Plains, and is used for good (e.g. offloading a happy memory in the hopes of recalling it in pristine condition late in life when one's memory is failing) and (more commonly) ill (e.g. removing knowledge of crimes up to and including the great social/racial/imperialistical wrongdoings one might expect of a book set in the late 19th- and early 20th-century American West). It's a weird sort of literalizing of what a modern sensibility might think of as the willful ignorance of white American settlers regarding the horrific treatment of Native Americans and other racial minorities on the Frontier, but it struck a bit of a weird note for me. It sets up a dynamic of, white settlers knew they were doing the Wrong Thing but were able to live with themselves by literally forgetting their actions or complicit inaction, but it seems more meaningful to remember that either white settlers knew they were doing the Wrong Thing but were able to non-magically forget or ignore that; knew they were doing things that were terrible, but genuinely thought that in the long run it would be in the best interest of Native Americans; or genuinely had no reason to try to forget or ignore their actions because they genuinely thought that white supremacy was the Right Thing. That is important! Having a magical amnesia profession feels to me like it kind of lets these people off the hook.

Then as far as the actual plot goes there's some dust storms that make the Vaults all go "bankrupt" (i.e., no longer be able to surface any memories that were deposited with them) for some reason, and also we have a magic camera that shows either the history or future of the subject of the photograph (sometimes numerous different outcomes even from different developments of the same negative). Again, fantastical but unexplained, and in service of plot threads that I could never really engage in for a variety of reasons. The bones of the historical setting and the writing related to the historical-fiction side of the book (as far as it could be disentangled from the story downstream of the Vault/camera elements) were quite interesting. It was just a shame that the genre elements (which I am usually in the bag for!) didn't measure up, for me.

I am just not the right reader/audience for THE ANTIDOTE. The style of writing and the opaqueness of the story and characters left me to only experience the dystopian features of the tale; and it was bleak. I couldn’t embrace any of the characters and I was deeply uncomfortable with scenes that described killing animals. I’ve seen other, clearly positive, reviews of this book. The right readers will find this book based on the author’s popularity. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

“ At 3:00 pm 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, by the duster to end all dusters”

It’s been six years since Karen Russell’s last book was published, and man was it worth the wait as she spins an epic story of four people whose lives come together after a monumental dust storm devastates their town in Uz, Nebraska.

Russell’s characters include a young girl sent to live with her Uncle after her single mother is murdered, the Uncle, a farmer who is about to discover a miracle in the destruction, a government photographer with a camera that holds its own secrets, and the title character, a prairie witch whose talent lies in removing whatever unwanted memories are trapped in your mind, an “antidote” to what ails you.

Like in her other books Russell liberally plays with magical realism, which totally worked for me personally, the witch in particular underscoring her idea of memory both individually and collectively, and the price we can pay for choosing to forget. But it’s also about our history, about colonialism and the way the indigenous people were systematically wiped out for a parcel of land. It’s about politics and power, and the corruption that embraces both those things. With poetic lyrical prose, and a cast of unforgettable characters, It’s a truly exceptional book and one I’m certain will be on my list of best of the year. Thanks to @knopf and @netgalley for the ARC. #TheAntidote comes out 3/11/25

The Antidote was everything you want in a Karen Russell book, but also a perfect entryway for those who haven’t read her work before. Gripping from the very first page. Entrancing. I loved it.

*The Antidote* blends historical fiction with magical realism, set in 1935 Nebraska between the devastating Black Sunday dust storm and a massive flood. Told through four alternating perspectives, the novel explores survival in an unforgiving landscape.

Russell’s prose is stunning, particularly in her vivid depictions of nature’s power, making Uz, Nebraska feel hauntingly real. However, the four narrators lack distinct voices, which dulls their impact. The magical realism elements are highly imaginative and seamlessly woven into the plot. While the novel’s strong social justice themes are important, their heavy-handedness adds weight to an already slow-paced story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC which I read in exchange for my honest review.

THE ANTIDOTE follows the people of the small, ailing prairie town of Uz, Nebraska in the wake of a historic dust storm during the Great Depression. Through the eyes of a “Prairie Witch,” a teenage basketball star who has lost her mother, her Polish uncle whose fields are mysteriously green and fertile, a scarecrow in his field, and a Black New Deal photographer, we experience the struggle to survive in this small community.

This novel is gorgeously written, with Karen Russell’s particular way of bringing places and communities alive. Through the “Prairie Witch,” whose power is to take on people’s memories–and with it, the emotional and mental weight of those memories–she explores what it meant for the United States to build a national identity around the settling the frontier while erasing the atrocities that were visited upon the Native Americans who were there first. At the same time, this is not just a novel of ideas. The characters are vivid, physical, and alive. And, wrapped within this novel of place and community, memory and identity, is a corrupt sheriff and series of unsolved murders.

This is a powerful novel. It felt slow at times, but when I stayed with it, I ultimately found myself carried along by the beauty and insight of the writing. Worth a read.