I had a hard time caring about the characters at first. It was a very slow build to what was marketed as a eco spy novel. But I felt that it built to a nice finish.

dnf @40%
I gave this one a solid try but I was so bored that my brain wasn't retaining the words on the page. Kushner's writing is great and I can see why she's such a lauded author, but the story itself was not my thing and moved so slowly. I loved the concept of infiltrating this cult but it took forever to get anywhere.

I have never read Kushner before despite most of her books being on one TBR list or another. I was honestly shocked by how much I liked this given the mixed reviews I saw everywhere for it. I was so invested in every part of the story and even reading about Sadie remembering various emails felt propulsive in a way I hadn't expected.

Complex, thought-provoking, wry and intelligent....I admire Kushner's creativity and the way she links topics across literally tens of thousands of years, the way she changes voices from discussing a high-brow topic lyrically to dissing French cheese, in one sentence.

I think that Kushner's ability to link disparate themes is perhaps the takeaway from this book: that even if we withhold ourselves from the world (as Bruno does, as Sadie does), the world creeps in, and we are all part of the story and affected by what's come before.

I can't say that I liked this book (the plot moves slowwww), but I did appreciate it and am glad I read it.

I loved Rachel Kushner's book The Flamethrowers when I read it many years go, so I was very excited to receive an early copy of her new one.

Sadie is a spy, on a new job in France when she moves in with one of the men she is there to spy on. There is also quite a bit of discussion about prehistoric communities, neanderthals, and human life.

I love books about spies -- I find it all very fascinating and really enjoyed those parts of this book,

Rachel Kushner's writing is very descriptive and I could picture all of the locations so distinctly. This book definitely made me want to check out her backlist that I have yet to read, and check out what she does next! She is very good at setting a mood and getting under your skin.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

CREATION LAKE was really cool, the way a French person sitting in American coffee shop might appear. This book is coolly smoking a cigarette in the corner.

While I didn’t find it propulsive, I enjoyed Kirshner’s voice, namely how funny she is. The plot and characters were interesting, then add in the philosophy and humor (and French history). And I really enjoyed this. Would certainly recommend to the right reader.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Scribner for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on September 3, 2024.

This is a difficult one to review. I certainly enjoyed reading it, although on reflection I'm having a bit of a "what the hell did I just read" moment. It's well-written and compelling and original.

Creation Lake was a wild ride! I really enjoyed the philosophical part of considering progress, harm to the environment, and what our true purpose is (what our "salt" is). The protagonist was an unlikeable character but I think Kushner did an excellent job writing her.

Propulsive, jaunty, and surprisingly contemplative novel of big ideas. The marketing team (and by extension, the Booker jury) labeling this as a "spy thriller" does the book a major disservice. Anyone expecting some sort of John le Carré work will be rightfully disappointed, and I could have been one of those people. That isn't normally a genre I would ever touch, but the premise of this novel (and riffing on climate change) intrigued me so much that I couldn't resist. What I'd argue instead: if you're a fan of Emma Cline or Rachel Cusk, and uber-messy female protagonists are your thing, then run (don't walk) to this gem immediately. "Sadie Smith" is a cipher heroine for the ages, and one that I won't soon forget in all of her double-dealing and mysterious allure. I never thought that I needed extended treatises on Neanderthals (or "Thals," as they're glowingly nicknamed here), but I stand corrected. I would have been satisfied with a separate novel detailing Bruno Lacombe's musings on the world's history and the many iterations of his eventful life. These sorts of ruminative detours on science, history, and human destiny might inhibit enjoyment of the novel to some readers, as well as Sadie's questionable decision-making throughout. (I'd say that inexplicable luck has aided her far more than genuine professional skill as a "spy.") Sadie doesn't always win out in the end, which is refreshing, and the cast of characters surrounding her are vivid and specific. I'd only give a minor quibble for the book running a tad too long, but overall, I felt very taken care of as a reader in Rachel Kushner's capable hands. In light of that, I'll seek out more content from the author in the future and sing this book's praises whenever I possibly can.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for eARC access.

Congratulations to Rachel Kushner, author of Creation Lake, for being shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and longlisted for the National Book Award.

Her latest novel opens with an as-yet unnamed narrator summarizing emails from cave-dweller Bruno Lascombe to someone named Pascal, emails about Neanderthals and human history that the narrator somehow secretly reads. Gradually, readers come to know these characters and a broad assortment of others associated with them. The narrator, a spy hired by someone whose identity even she does not know, has been assigned to infiltrate a remote French agricultural commune. Led by Pascal Balmy, commune members are believed to have destroyed digging equipment employed in the building of megabasins to supply water to huge agribusinesses threatening to take over the region, forcing small-scale traditional farmers out of business.

Divided into eight parts, each consisting of several short sections, the story alternates between the spy narrator’s activities and her summaries of items in Bruno Lascombe’s email Sent box, which she has hacked in hopes of gaining insights into the commune’s activities. Little by little, Kushner identifies characters, revealing their backgrounds as well as the American narrator’s. Currently operating under the name Sadie Smith, an identity that changes for each job. the narrator schemes her way into an affair with Pascal’s best childhood friend—a French filmmaker named Lucien--in order to infiltrate the commune as a trusted “insider.” From section to section, Sadie recalls past assignments in which she used similar tactics to entrap those she has been assigned to infiltrate, including an assignment during her time as an FBI agent that forced her to flee her home country to work as a private agent throughout Europe. Thinking she had successfully escaped, she comes to realize her past might catch up with her.

Although some readers have criticized the slow development resulting from the inclusion of Bruno Lascomb’s meandering anthropological and philosophical emails, those same emails and Sadie’s developing attitudes toward their writer come to play an important role. This is a spy novel, yes, but it is much more, and readers wanting an action-packed, fast-paced thriller should choose a different book. Readers who enjoy literary fiction and can appreciate the slow, piece-by-piece development leading up to the book’s climax, as well as the author’s humor and surprises, should find Creation Lake creative, thought-provoking, quirky, entertaining, and an admirable accomplishment.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

This might be my favorite of her novels, though I would need to reread The Flamethrowers to be sure. I like the tone, the pace, the build-up. I will be rooting for her through award season.

It is easy to see why this was selected for the Booker long list. It was difficult at first for me to get into this book, but I enjoyed the back and forth narrative and quirky main character. This was definitely not what I thought it would be, but brilliant in it's own way. I will definitely be keeping an eye on Kushner's future work.

nothing much of anything happened in this book, which is a compliment. i plodded through it and felt immersed in a world of surveillance and clumsy dual motivations, unglamorous rural life and glamorous-on-paper jobs. this is the kind of book that is full of things you google instead of action, which is my preference. my first rachel kushner but it won't be my last!

Unfortunately this book really didn't hit for me. The writing itself is fine, but the characters, premise, and setting didn't grip me at all. The book's description sounds interesting on paper, however, it took a long time to reach the payoff. The book is described as a spy thriller, but the first 50% is extremely detailed background information that had me nodding off.
It might be that I'm not smart enough for this.
Thank you Scribner and Netgalley for the eARC!

If Birnam Wood had a baby with Foucault by way of Kushner's own striking prose, this would be the result. I have not met a narrator I've hated more in a long time, but I felt like many of the passages in this book were written directly to me and my francophile tendencies. I kept outlining passages that felt like direct attacks on me and my ideas, and it sometimes read like I was back in grad school arguing with my professors. Four stars for brilliance and aggravation and spending time in the South of France in the hands of an artist- even when she made me actively annoyed. I think that was in part the point!

Another excellent novel from Rachel Kushner, with another complicated, flawed, bad ass main character. I hope she keeps them coming!

The second half of this story about A provocateur for hire was really good. Its like I finally got it. The first half was learning all of the characters and their roles. Some of it felt like it was over my head but I learned this is best savored rather than being a fast read. A French eco group infiltrated by an American to instigate illegal activity, like even murder. The main character is interesting on many levels as she navigates the penetration of the group's inner circle. A good read.

Copy provided by the publisher and Netgalley

We only ever know her as Sadie, but that’s not her real name. She has been hired by an unnamed party to infiltrate Le Moulin, a French climate activist collective led by a charismatic man named Pascal. He has been strongly influenced by and remains in correspondence with Bruno Lacombe, an ex-revolutionary who has turned increasingly philosophical in his old age, now waxing on about the traces of Neanderthal man he finds in the caves near his hiding place and the ways that they may have been superior to Homo sapiens.

Le Moulin is up in arms over the French government’s plans to construct megabasins that would provide water to large corporate farms at the expense of the nearby countryside and is rumored to be planning some kind of action in protest. Sadie’s primary goal is to learn what that action might be and to try and find a way to take down the group with little concern for ethics.

Sadie is an interesting character who is simultaneously a pretty terrible person and also fun to hang out with. She isn’t an unreliable narrator; it’s safe to take what she tells us at face value even as she infiltrates the group under a false identity. But she operates within her own cynical, borderline-nihilist moral code, never thinking about the trail of destruction her missions leave in their wake. She has a witty and dry sense of humor though, and her acid-tongued observations about the world around her prove wryly amusing.

Bruno’s extended digressions into the history and potential superiority of the Neanderthal sometimes bring the already slow plot to a screeching halt, but they do contain some fascinating ideas. As he uses his discoveries to try to bring Pascal around to his increasingly serene way of thinking he is unknowingly influencing Sadie, who has hacked into and is reading his emails. Bruno and Sadie are both able to reexamine their beliefs and question the way they’ve been living, while Pascal remains steadfast, enjoying the respect of his followers.

The exact plot and what Sadie will do about it are gradually doled out across the novel, allowing for some suspense to develop, especially towards the end, but this is not a thriller. Instead, it is a call for us to learn from our collective pasts, to take the best parts of them and merge them with new ideas to find a way to move forward, and to try to recognize that in an era of seemingly limitless information we actually know very little.

Unfortunately this didn’t land for me (and I was so looking forward to it!). The writing is fine, but the story/characters/setting - nothing gripped me.

Maybe a case of right book, wrong time - I don’t know. Either way, I’m a bit bummed. The cover is fantastic though 🙌🏻

Thank you Scribner and Netgalley!