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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
dark
hopeful
informative
tense
slow-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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-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:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
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:
Complicated
This book opened up ideas that were really novel while playing within the magical realism genre.
It was slow getting going without a real sense of how things worked... But this was slowly revealed and did built some compelling stories for each of the characters as each took turns narrating.
It was also a lot. And it felt like it wrapped up oddly and too quickly after such a slow build.
I'm glad I read it, and it's been hanging on to me. It was an interesting way to introduce modern concerns into a historical setting by flashing between possible future and reality of the day.
I would say read it if you like magical realism and interesting stories about each character.
It was slow getting going without a real sense of how things worked... But this was slowly revealed and did built some compelling stories for each of the characters as each took turns narrating.
It was also a lot. And it felt like it wrapped up oddly and too quickly after such a slow build.
I'm glad I read it, and it's been hanging on to me. It was an interesting way to introduce modern concerns into a historical setting by flashing between possible future and reality of the day.
I would say read it if you like magical realism and interesting stories about each character.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The Antidote seemed like it would really align with my preference for dark, reflective moods and themes like memory, grief, and historical reckonings. Add to that some magical realism and Dust Bowl-era Americana and I was ready to READ.
The Antidote is a slow, mythic exploration of collective memory and how the stories we tell ourselves often become our truths. The story follows a "Prairie Witch," whose body serves as a bank vault for peoples’ memories and secrets, which the can deposit or withdraw from her at any time. But when a massive dust storm blows through town, the local prairie witch loses all the memories that have been stored within her. Desperate not to let her secret become known, she begins implanting false memories when people come to collect their deposits. This leads to her uncovering a murder and doing her best to bring the murderer to justice.
Alongside the prairie witch comes a woman with a camera that can take photos through time. Visions from both the past and future illuminate her camera lens.
These characters and more are thrust together in the heart of the dust bowl, and collectively bring a town to reckon with the nation’s forgetting.
While this was a powerful story about the power of memory and our ability to shape our own past, I found the pacing to be too slow for me. Some characters were far more interesting than others and the parts told from their POV flew past while other POVs dragged. I think I would have liked just the prairie witch’s POV, personally.
I haven't had the chance to read the author’s previous book, Swamplandia, so I'm not sure how this compares. Do I think I'll be picking it up after reading The Antidote? Probably not. I'm generally drawn more to horror and psychological thrillers and while I do love magical realism, this book just didn't tick enough of my boxes to make it a favorite.
**Special thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Knopf for providing me with a digital review copy of The Antidote.
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
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:
Yes
A fantastical, pastoral telling of an opportunity found by one family to exhume the crimes their idealized lives we're built on and find a new way.
Such great themes like feminism, community, race, faith, and love.
Such great themes like feminism, community, race, faith, and love.
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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