Sarah O'Connor

I received this book from Simon and Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review.

“But if it was all of us on planet Earth inside this shiny, driverless car, then what would we be exiting, besides reality? What would we tumble into, if not a void?” (Kushner 25).

Former FBI and now rogue secret agent Sadie Smith, as she introduces herself to readers and to everyone around her, is assigned by an unknown figure to incite provocation in a rural French eco-commune. To do this she begins a relationship with Lucien and makes him believe their love is more than just convenient for her. As Sadie entrenches herself with the members of the commune she hacks into the emails of Bruno Lacombe, an unseen mentor to the activists who calls for them to return to the ancient past and say goodbye to modernity. As Sadie’s employers ask for her to escalate things in the commune, Sadie finds herself seduced by Bruno’s ideas and history.

I was not the right reader for Creation Lake. The book is slow, and there are so many characters that I had a hard time remembering who was who and where they belonged and why they were important. It was confusing, but well-researched. There was just such an onslaught of information on such a variety of topics that I struggled to put all the pieces together on why it was relevant. I suppose this means I’d never make a good FBI agent, or even a secret privately hired agent, which is probably for the best.

Despite this Kushner is a talented writer, I enjoyed reading for readings sake because Kushner’s prose is that good and Sadie is a fascinating protagonist. Cold, detached, funny. One reviewer called Kushner “cool girl” writer which really is the perfect way to describe Sadie. I couldn’t help but think of Gillian Flynn’s “cool girl” monologue from Gone Girl when thinking of Sadie and how she manipulates those around her to complete her job in the novel. I also loved the subtle way that Sadie became entranced by Bruno’s words and her development throughout the book. I really enjoyed the last part because I felt it was when readers really got a chance to know Sadie even though she ultimately remains unknowable.

While I wasn’t the right reader for Creation Lake, there’s no doubt it’s a good book. I’m definitely going to check out Kushner’s other works because it’s a delight to read her writing, but I hope the others are a bit easier for me to follow.

Publication: September 3 2024
Publisher: Scribner
Pages: 416 pages (Paperback ARC)
Source: Simon and Schuster
Genre: Fiction, Literary, Thriller
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤
Summary:

Creation Lake is a novel about a secret agent, a thirty-four-year-old American woman of ruthless tactics, bold opinions, and clean beauty, who is sent to do dirty work in France. “Sadie Smith” is how the narrator introduces herself to her lover, to the rural commune of French subversives on whom she is keeping tabs, and to the reader. Sadie has met her love, Lucien, a young and well-born Parisian, by “cold bump”—making him believe the encounter was accidental. Like everyone Sadie 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 centuries-old farms and ancient caves, Sadie becomes entranced by a mysterious figure named Bruno Lacombe, a mentor to the young activists who communicates only by email. Bruno believes that the path to emancipation from what ails modern life 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 Lacombe 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 as a novelist, a work of high art, high comedy, and unforgettable pleasure.