Karen Russell’s ‘The Antidote’ has good ideas but poor execution

Karen Russell’s ‘The Antidote’ has good ideas but poor execution

There’s no way around it: The lasting impact you’ll receive from reading “The Antidote” is simply an overwhelming desire to reread “The Grapes of Wrath.” On this note, I have identified an “ideal reader” of Karen Russell’s new novel. This book can be heartily recommended to people who have either not read “The Grapes of Wrath,” as the quality of that novel destroys any goodwill towards a largely inferior one about the same historical period; peo…