Creation Lake (2024) by Rachel Kushner

 Audiobook Review

Creation Lake (2024)

by Rachel Kushner

  I've been looking forward to Creation Lake, Rachel Kushner's new novel since I finished her last novel, The Mars Room, back in 2017.  Kushner is exactly the type of author I'm looking for:  A woman who doesn't write about women who are wives and moms.  Rather, her protagonists are women on the fringes of society, i.e. interesting subjects, and her books sparkle with life.   In Flamethrowers, the subject was biker gangs.  In The Mars Room, it was a woman doing life for murder.  Here the narrator and protagonist is "Sadie Smith"(a nom de spy), an American woman with a graduate degree in literature (or something like that) who has eschewed a life of academic stiving for work as, first, an undercover informant for the FBI (we call them "CI's" or confidential informant, in the biz) and then as a spy-for-hire.

  Creation Lake takes place during one of her gigs- an assignment to infiltrate a commune of rural eco-radicals who are "led" by Bruno Lacombe, a mysterious intellectual who lives in a cave.  Sadie is an interesting lady:  She's smart and funny and ruthlessly immoral. In quiet moments during the activities of this book, she reflects wryly on the case that got her booted out of the FBI CI program (she set up a young man and his older mentor in an eco-terrorism bust, only to see them both acquitted at trial on the grounds of entrapment).  She also enjoys reading the lengthy email missives from Bruno to his followers which have a distinctly Knaussgardian flair.  

  Equally at the center of Creation Lake is the French region of Guyenne- which is in the south-west of the country, with a rich tradition of Neanderthal cave artwork and rural despair.  Through the medium of Bruno's emails, Smith learns about the Cagot, a poorly understood caste of outcasts from the region.  Her contemplation of Bruno's emails and her own trips around the area in pursuit of her goal elevate Guyenne to supporting character status. 

  If this wasn't a Rachel Kushner novel, I would have been waiting for Sadie to develop a conscience but that doesn't happen.  Rather, Smith becomes determined to see the plan out and we are invited to watch the proceedings unfold.  Creation Lake isn't a spy novel exactly, but it does provide those pleasures in addition to introducing a character who could possibly establish some kind of IP franchise. I checked out the Audiobook because it was read by the author, and I thought she did a great job. Creation Lake deserves the Booker shortlist and it could possibly win that award.