Thank you Libro.fm/PRH Audio for the ALC and Knopf, #partner, for the finished copy of The Antidote in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Knopf / Random House Audio
Published: March 11, 2025
Summary:
From Pulitzer finalist, MacArthur Fellowship recipient, and bestselling author of Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove. A gripping Dust Bowl epic about five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their small Nebraskan town
The Antidote opens on Black Sunday, as a historic dust storm ravages the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. But Uz is already collapsing—not just under the weight of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl drought, but beneath its own violent histories. The Antidote follows a “Prairie Witch,” whose body serves as a bank vault for peoples’ memories and secrets; a Polish wheat farmer who learns how quickly a hoarded blessing can become a curse; his orphan niece, a basketball star and witch’s apprentice in furious flight from her grief; a voluble scarecrow; and a New Deal photographer whose time-traveling camera threatens to reveal both the town’s secrets and its fate.
Russell’s novel is above all a reckoning with a nation’s forgetting—enacting the settler amnesia and willful omissions passed down from generation to generation, and unearthing not only horrors but shimmering possibilities. The Antidote echoes with urgent warnings for our own climate emergency, challenging readers with a vision of what might have been—and what still could be.
My thoughts:
This wasn’t on my radar until just recently but I was fortunate to have my request granted and am so glad…I absolutely loved it! This historical fiction mash-up set during the Dust Bowl was everything I hoped it would be and then some. If I had to pick a word to describe it, I’d say mesmerizing. That’s how I felt as I made my way through this epic novel. While not always a fan of magical realism, I think this part might have been one of my favorite parts. The Prairie Witch captivated me from the moment I met her and I wanted more of her. I loved what she represented…the idea of being a vault for memories – but I also found this part to be so thought-provoking.
What initially drew me to this novel, besides it being set during a time period I rarely read about, is that it also addressed climate fiction and that is a sub-genre I have really gravitated towards over the last few years. The way Russell addresses it here, in conjunction with memory and history is so impressive.
I could go on and on about this book…but I’m going to stop here and just say read it. Or listen to it – it’s narrated by a full cast and performed brilliantly. This is one of those books that I am glad I have a hard copy of because I know I’ll be revisiting one day again soon.
Audio thoughts:
I alternated between the print and audio, listening to the majority of the book. As I already mentioned, it’s a full-cast narration and each narrator has such a unique voice that it’s easy to keep track of who is who. I did love the print version for the occasional photos that were included.
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