Try our new book recommendation quiz to get recommendations tailored to your preferences.

BookBrowse Reviews Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reviews |  Beyond the book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

Creation Lake

A Novel

by Rachel Kushner
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • First Published:
  • Sep 3, 2024, 416 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About This Book

Reviews

BookBrowse:


A secret agent infiltrates an environmentalist commune in France, becoming immersed in the philosophies and personalities she encounters as she gathers intelligence.

In Bernardo Bertolucci's movie The Dreamers (2003), three people are holed up inside a Parisian apartment during the student riots of 1968. A brick suddenly smashes through the window. "The outside has come to the inside," proclaims the female lead. As the glass shatters, so do their illusions that they can extricate themselves from crisis. Rachel Kushner's Creation Lake is that brick going through the glass, though it takes place in the present, amidst eco-anxiety, late-stage capitalism, and Covid-19. And did I mention it's a wry spy novel, told by a narrator whose moral compass is by far the most broken out of all the characters?

The central plot of the novel is that the protagonist, code-named Sadie, is hired to infiltrate Le Moulin, a radical farming collective in a small, fictional French town. She has heard that the members are planning a big direct action and has been sent, by someone, to gather information. The author strategically gives readers breadcrumbs about the nature of the event and what Sadie's role will be, providing a steady undercurrent of suspense.

At first, I was perplexed that the people of Le Moulin were meant to be radicals, given they spent so much time not doing anything except discussing their de facto leader's email missives about cave art and the identification of stars. That leader, Bruno, is perhaps a little senile — he lives in a cave and uses a shortwave radio to (he claims) contact earlier civilizations. He is the perfect embodiment of collapsed idealism, heartbroken by capitalist excess and the increasing privatization of natural resources (as in France's megabasins of water storage). Bruno romanticizes Neanderthals, whom he believes would be better suited than homo sapiens for modern life due to their sturdy bodies and large skulls, which he assumes held large brains.

Even though I didn't know how seriously to take him, I knew how he felt: who hasn't been so exhausted by events of recent years that they've found themselves embracing unusual ideas? Bruno is the perfect counterpoint for Sadie, who reads his correspondence after hacking into his email. Even as we learn about some of the terrible things she's done, it's hard to hate a narrator this funny. Regarding a popular author, for instance, she says, "[H]e had the sexual energy of a grandmother with bone density issues. His fragile and depleted air would be his unique strategy as a cocksman." She also shares her life principles: "My rule is that the older the Frenchman, and the more rural his location, the higher his pants will be belted."

From reading other contemporary espionage novels, I knew to expect two things: first, that wildly disparate plot elements would come together somehow, and second, that the book would leave plenty of questions unanswered. Both expectations were met and, though I wanted more closure, I was still satisfied by Creation Lake.

I really enjoyed the conversations and characters, but I wasn't fully sure what I was reading at times. The plot is slow and mostly light on the action, and I didn't know how I felt about the narrator. This is one of those books where everything clicks into place an hour after finishing. (This interview with the author was helpful.) Only then did I see the staggering layers of character development, the unruly threads of modern living, and what it means to be in constant conversation with the past. Once I gave up on Creation Lake being any certain kind of novel, I was wowed that it wasn't a particular type at all so much as a rupture of one.

Reviewed by Erin Lyndal Martin

This review first ran in the September 18, 2024 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.

This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access become a member today.
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Creation Lake, try these:

  • Ilium jacket

    Ilium

    by Lea Carpenter

    Published 2024

    About This book

    More by this author

    Set in the dark world of international espionage, from London to Mallorca, Croatia, Paris, and Cap Ferret: the gripping and suspenseful story of a young woman who unwittingly becomes a perfect asset in the long overdue finale of a covert special op

  • A Woman of Intelligence jacket

    A Woman of Intelligence

    by Karin Tanabe

    Published 2022

    About This book

    More by this author

    From "a master of historical fiction" (NPR), Karin Tanabe's A Woman of Intelligence is an exhilarating tale of post-war New York City, and one remarkable woman's journey from the United Nations, to the cloistered drawing rooms of Manhattan society, to the secretive ranks of the FBI.

We have 4 read-alikes for Creation Lake, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Rachel Kushner
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Model Home
    Model Home
    by Rivers Solomon
    Rivers Solomon's novel Model Home opens with a chilling and mesmerizing line: "Maybe my mother is ...
  • Book Jacket: The Mighty Red
    The Mighty Red
    by Louise Erdrich
    Permit me to break the fourth wall. Like any good reviewer, I aim to analyze a book dispassionately,...
  • Book Jacket: The Palace of Eros
    The Palace of Eros
    by Caro De Robertis
    When male suitors intended for her older sisters spread a rumor that Psyche's beauty surpasses that ...
  • Book Jacket: Rejection
    Rejection
    by Tony Tulathimutte
    A young man identifying as a feminist tumbles down the incel rabbit hole after a lifetime of sexual ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    The Bog Wife
    by Kay Chronister

    Five West Virginia siblings unearth secrets after the rupture of a supernatural bargain tying their fate to their land.

  • Book Jacket

    In the Garden of Monsters
    by Crystal King

    A woman with no past, a man who knows her, and a monstrous garden that separates their worlds.

Book Club Giveaway!
Win Let Us Descend

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

Jesmyn Ward imagines the life of an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War in this instant classic.

Enter

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

J O the B

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.