Reviews - The Antidote | The StoryGraph

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809 reviews for:

The Antidote

Karen Russell

4.15 AVERAGE

taffybirb's review

4.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

What a book! It's not a book you can breeze through--it's a book that makes you consider each word in each line. The prose itself is a journey separate from the story. I love a book that I really need to sink my teeth into, to focus on.

The story itself could probably have been told in 200-300 pages, but then you wouldn't have had the lyrical writing and the vastness of it all.

I liked all the characters, I liked that the Bad Guy likely got what he deserved, I loved each main character's journey and thoughts and revelations. And despite the dark themes, it still ends with a feeling of hope.

scott_wilson_kc's review against another edition

5.0

Not just because the audio version gives you the full-cast treatment does this remind me of George Saunders' Lincoln in the Bardo. Russell's novel (vocalized brilliantly by several performers) takes for granted the reality of certain spectral magics; she spends her time building character and setting rather than working to convince you of anything phantasmagorical. She then marbles our distressing American history into those people and places, in naturalistic prose that changes key just right as the story bounces from character to character, point of view to point of view. This could be distracting or confusing but is instead propulsive, rich and haunting.

jenslc's review

5.0

challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

saralup's review against another edition

4.25

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

bookiebear's review

4.5

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

the build up did take a while but once it started rolling i really enjoyed it! the mystical parts of it was a really interesting way to tie together everyone’s stories and bring all the homies together

ericaswan's review

4.0

I enjoyed the first 5/6 of this book and felt the ending was a little rushed, despite having good messages and themes tied up. This is a part of the US and history that I knew basically nothing about and it was interesting to learn more through this lens. Themes of collective loss, memory, and forgetting were super interesting and still relevant 100+ years later. I appreciated that the author included more Pawnee history at the end and pointed toward resources to address this “unknowing” of the past

whatsbookinjenni's review

3.0

challenging reflective slow-paced

I found the driving metaphors of this book (the concept of prairie witches and the New Deal camera both acting as ways of obscuring or revealing memory) to be both too opaque and simultaneously too on the nose. I did like the setting and the messaging at a high level, and for a little while the plot genuinely became a bit interesting, but as a whole this was not super cohesive!