Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

 

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🌊 Book Review (With Spoilers!): Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

⭐️ 2 out of 5 stars | Genre: Literary Spy Thriller / Eco-Philosophy
Full spoiler alert! If you plan to read this and want to go in blind — run, don’t walk, away from this post.

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📍 Creation Lake — I Tried, Y’all

Okay, I’m just going to say it: I knew what I was getting into.
➡ Neanderthals? Not my thing.
➡ Espionage? Meh, I’ve seen Mission Impossible; I’m good.

But sometimes I like to challenge myself with books outside my interests, because once in a while they surprise me! This one?
Well… let’s just say it was a mix of “Maybe I’ll learn something!” and “Why did I do this to myself?”

That said — I finished it. I learned a little. And I definitely have thoughts.

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🧵 Creation Lake — The Detailed Plot (Spoilers Inside!)

🕵️ Part I: The Setup

We meet Sadie Smith (not her real name — because, of course, spy stuff).
She’s a former FBI agent with some questionable ethics, sent to France to infiltrate Le Moulin, an eco-commune accused of eco-terrorism.

Sadie’s mission?
➡ Get close to the leader, Pascal Balmy.
➡ Feed intel back to the shadowy group that hired her.
➡ Stay under the radar while farming and pretending to care about sustainability.

She uses Lucien, a filmmaker who hangs around the commune, as her entry point.

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📧 Enter Bruno and the Neanderthal Philosophies

Through hacked emails and translations, Sadie discovers Bruno Lacombe — a philosopher living in a cave (because of course).
Bruno’s emails are a mix of:

• Anti-civilization manifestos

• Romanticizing Neanderthals

• Rants about capitalism destroying the world

Spoiler: This is where the book leans hard into philosophy — and where I, personally, started tuning out.

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🔥 Escalation

The commune’s activities intensify:
✔️ Burning corporate equipment
✔️ Sabotaging megabasin construction
✔️ Plotting a massive demonstration at the regional agricultural fair

Sadie’s handlers want her to provoke violence or at least gather evidence that Le Moulin = eco-terrorists.
Meanwhile, she’s starting to (kinda) feel bad about being a mole — especially as she grows closer to Lucien.

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🚨 The Big Event

At the agricultural fair, everything blows up (not literally — but almost):

• The commune stages their protest.

• The authorities crack down hard.

• Sadie is complicit in pushing things too far.

Sheriff Hardy (yes, he’s in on the corruption) swoops in. The commune members are arrested or scattered.

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🤯 The Aftermath

Sadie’s cover frays. Lucien feels betrayed.
Bruno disappears — no one knows if he’s dead, hiding, or just vibing in his Neanderthal cave.

Sadie walks away from the mission changed, but not really redeemed.
The novel ends ambiguously — no neat wrap-up, no big hero moment. Just moral murk and reflection.

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🧠 What Worked — And What Didn’t

✔️ Rachel Kushner’s writing is beautiful. You can’t argue with that. The prose is sharp, the ideas big.

✔️ The author narrates the audiobook, which I always appreciate. It shows they care — and in this case, she does a solid job.

✔️ The audiobook pacing feels smoother. When a book is slow, it helps when you can just let it play while folding laundry.

❌ The subject matter? Not for me. I gave it a shot, but Neanderthals and philosophical spy games just don’t thrill me.

❌ The pacing is slowwww. If you’re looking for tension or action, this isn’t it.

❌ The plot can be confusing. Between the emails, the spy stuff, and the philosophical tangents, I sometimes felt like I needed a flowchart.

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✨ Final Thoughts

I’m glad I read it — because now I know what Creation Lake is about — but I probably won’t revisit it.

If you love:
✔️ Eco-philosophy
✔️ Espionage with a literary twist
✔️ Books that ponder deeply

...this could be your jam.

If you, like me, need a little more action or clarity, maybe try something else!

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📚 If You Liked This, Try:

🌲 The Overstory by Richard Powers — philosophical, slow, eco-focused
🕵️ American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson — espionage with more action
📜 The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner — same author, but faster-paced

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🛒 Grab Creation Lake Here

👉 Buy on Amazon (affiliate link)

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💬 Let’s Chat!

Have you read Creation Lake? Were you into the Neanderthal stuff? Or did you also feel like you fell into a philosophical rabbit hole? Drop a comment — I want to know!