Creation Lake
A Novel
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3.6 • 351 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 BOOKER PRIZE*
*LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD*
*LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 PEN FAULKNER AWARD FOR FICTION*
*AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*
*NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2024 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE ATLANTIC, VULTURE, VOGUE, THE WASHINGTON POST, KIRKUS REVIEWS, NPR, THE ECONOMIST, THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY, VOX, and more*
From Rachel Kushner, two-time finalist for both the Booker Prize and National Book Award, a “vital” (The Washington Post) and “wickedly entertaining” (The Guardian) novel about a seductive and cunning American woman who infiltrates an anarchist collective in France—a propulsive page-turner filled with dark humor.
Creation Lake is a novel about a secret agent, a thirty-four-year-old American woman of ruthless tactics and clean beauty who is sent to do dirty work in France. “Sadie Smith” is how the narrator introduces herself to the rural commune of French subversives on whom she is keeping tabs, and to her lover, Lucien, a young and well-born Parisian she has met by “cold bump”—making him believe the encounter was accidental. Like everyone she targets, Lucien is useful to her and used by her. Sadie operates by strategy and dissimulation, based on what her “contacts”—shadowy figures in business and government—instruct. First, these contacts want her to incite provocation. Then they want more.
In this region of old farms and prehistoric caves, Sadie becomes entranced by a mysterious figure named Bruno Lacombe, a mentor to the young activists who believes that the path to emancipation is not revolt but a return to the ancient past. Just as Sadie is certain she’s the seductress and puppet master of those she surveils, Bruno is seducing her with his ingenious counter-histories, his artful laments, his own tragic story.
Written in short, vaulting sections, Rachel Kushner’s rendition of “noir” is taut and dazzling. Creation Lake is Kushner’s finest achievement yet—a work of high art, high comedy, and unforgettable pleasure.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Rachel Kushner has created either a spy thriller posing as a philosophical novel of ideas or a philosophical novel of ideas posing as a spy thriller, but either way, we love it. “Sadie” is a disgraced former FBI agent turned mercenary tasked with infiltrating a commune of French eco-activists who might be plotting acts of terrorism. Bruno, the group’s spiritual leader who hasn’t been seen in decades, now lives in the caves of southern France, surfacing only long enough to send lengthy emails to his followers about how the Neanderthals should have prevailed over Homo sapiens. As Sadie intercepts Bruno’s missives, she becomes increasingly fascinated by his theories…or is she just getting deeper into character? As in Kushner’s previous novels The Flamethrowers and The Mars Room, Creation Lake is filled with fascinating characters so ethically and morally complex that our sympathies shift from one page to the next. Witty, thought-provoking, and tense, this is a book that stays with you.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An undercover agent embeds with radical French environmentalists in this scintillating story of activism and espionage from Kushner (The Mars Room). Sadie Smith, a former FBI agent who lost her job after she was accused of entrapment, takes an assignment from unidentified contacts in the private sector. Her mission is to infiltrate the subversive commune Le Moulin, which is led by activist Pascal Balmy and is suspected of having destroyed a set of excavators at a reservoir construction site. Le Moulin's ideas derive from their elderly mentor, Bruno Lacombe, who has spent the past 12 years living in caves. Bruno emerges from time to time to communicate with the group by email, but none of the characters see him in person. In Paris, Sadie seduces a filmmaker friend of Pascal's to secure an introduction to him. Kushner intersperses Sadie's tale with Bruno's colorful claims, such as the alleged superiority of the Neanderthals (their square jaw was a "sunk cost") and the existence of mythological creatures like Bigfoot ("We are not alone"). Eventually, Sadie learns of the group's plans to protest a local fair, and she approaches the conclusion of her assignment with alarming amorality. Most of the narrative is dedicated to the activists' philosophizing and Sadie's gimlet-eyed observations, which Kushner magically weaves together ("People tell themselves, strenuously, that they believe in this or that political position," Sadie muses. "But the deeper motivation for their rhetoric... is to shore up their own identity"). Readers will be captivated.
Customer Reviews
A different kind of crime drama
Pretty interesting. Some wonderful writing. I got a little tired of Bruno.
let down
from the praise this book received i was expecting a fantastic read. Not so. Wannabe John Irving but falling really and utterly short. A waste of my time.
Fantastic
Really engaging and thoughtful. I loved every bit of it, and I carried the story with me in my daily life as I read it. Definitely recommend.