Russell constructed a novel underpinned by an elaborate embroidery of social, geological, historical, and environmental research on the impact of American Western expansion ... She effortlessly weaves in other characters whose unique gifts shed light on the lacunae of history ... If this sounds like a dense novel, you’re only halfway right. The book is threaded with more subplots and histories as well as characters than I can elaborate upon here. However, her sharp narrative grasp guides the reader from character to character as the book unfolds. Russell’s vivid characters retain an element of mystery, which speaks to the novel’s larger point.
The most salient quality of The Antidote is the beauty and power of Russell’s writing, especially in documenting horrors ... Clearly the work of a writer with prodigious gifts. But every novelist with a long enough career will ultimately produce a book where they’ve bitten off more than they can chew, or chewed and swallowed something they should have spat out. Despite The Antidote’s laudable ambitions and interesting conception, I’m afraid, for Russell, this is that book.
A deeply imagined blend of gritty realism and alluring fantasy about the American Midwest in the Dust Bowl era, will amply reward readers for their patience ... Russell has created both a tender story of how our memories sustain us in the face of significant loss and a frank reckoning with a painful period of American history.
