Member Review
Review by
Stephen D, Educator
'The Antidote' is a superb novel - hugely imaginative, original, gripping, moving and profound.
Set in 1930s Nebraska during the Dust Bowl, the novel introduces us to an unusual ensemble of characters in the town of Uz who take it in turns to narrate. The eponymous Antidote of Uz is a 'prairie witch' who acts as a 'Vault' with whom locals are able 'deposit' memories which remain forgotten until they are 'withdrawn', all the while remaining secret from the Antidote herself who operates under a trance. However, on Black Sunday, she discovers that she has gone 'bankrupt' and no longer has access to all the memories she is meant to be storing, so has to resort to desperate measures.
Meanwhile, curmudgeonly and devoutly religious farmer Harp Oletsky has recently taken in his wild and spirited niece Asphodel following the murder of her mother, Lada. Sheriff Vick Iscoe is adamant he has caught the man behind the Lada's murder and that of other women, but not everyone is convinced. Asphodel is also trying to lead her local girls' basketball team to regional victory, while Harp is wondering why his crops are flourishing and his land. uniquely, seems to have avoided the effects of Black Sunday. And African-American photographer Cleo Allfrey has been dispatched from Washington DC by the Resettlement Administration to capture life in the Great Plains States as a way of gaining support for President Roosevelt's New Deal.
As circumstances throw the Antidote, Harp, Asphodel and Cleo together, they learn more about each other, their own pasts and the history of the land on which they are standing, a history full of violence and oppression. They hatch a bold plan to share the truth with the rest of Uz, but there are plenty who have no desire to be undeceived.
This is such a clever and enjoyable novel, beautifully plotted and engagingly written. It engages seriously and thoughtfully with America's past, particularly the treatment of America's indigenous peoples by early pioneers, challenging the myth of 'terra nullius' (empty land) and exploring how this forms part of a cycle of displacement. White supremacy is interrogated in other ways - for instance the fact that Cleo is specifically tasked with obtaining photos of white Americans in poverty as their suffering is deemed more noteworthy and undeserved. The whole concept of 'vaults' becomes an ingenious way of thinking about memory and the role that cultural amnesia has played in America's history.
I think this is close to my platonic ideal of a novel due to the brilliance of its plotting, characterisation and writing and the seriousness of the themes it considers. It deserves to be one of the most garlanded books of 2025. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.
Set in 1930s Nebraska during the Dust Bowl, the novel introduces us to an unusual ensemble of characters in the town of Uz who take it in turns to narrate. The eponymous Antidote of Uz is a 'prairie witch' who acts as a 'Vault' with whom locals are able 'deposit' memories which remain forgotten until they are 'withdrawn', all the while remaining secret from the Antidote herself who operates under a trance. However, on Black Sunday, she discovers that she has gone 'bankrupt' and no longer has access to all the memories she is meant to be storing, so has to resort to desperate measures.
Meanwhile, curmudgeonly and devoutly religious farmer Harp Oletsky has recently taken in his wild and spirited niece Asphodel following the murder of her mother, Lada. Sheriff Vick Iscoe is adamant he has caught the man behind the Lada's murder and that of other women, but not everyone is convinced. Asphodel is also trying to lead her local girls' basketball team to regional victory, while Harp is wondering why his crops are flourishing and his land. uniquely, seems to have avoided the effects of Black Sunday. And African-American photographer Cleo Allfrey has been dispatched from Washington DC by the Resettlement Administration to capture life in the Great Plains States as a way of gaining support for President Roosevelt's New Deal.
As circumstances throw the Antidote, Harp, Asphodel and Cleo together, they learn more about each other, their own pasts and the history of the land on which they are standing, a history full of violence and oppression. They hatch a bold plan to share the truth with the rest of Uz, but there are plenty who have no desire to be undeceived.
This is such a clever and enjoyable novel, beautifully plotted and engagingly written. It engages seriously and thoughtfully with America's past, particularly the treatment of America's indigenous peoples by early pioneers, challenging the myth of 'terra nullius' (empty land) and exploring how this forms part of a cycle of displacement. White supremacy is interrogated in other ways - for instance the fact that Cleo is specifically tasked with obtaining photos of white Americans in poverty as their suffering is deemed more noteworthy and undeserved. The whole concept of 'vaults' becomes an ingenious way of thinking about memory and the role that cultural amnesia has played in America's history.
I think this is close to my platonic ideal of a novel due to the brilliance of its plotting, characterisation and writing and the seriousness of the themes it considers. It deserves to be one of the most garlanded books of 2025. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.
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