Creation Lake Audiobook By Rachel Kushner cover art

Creation Lake

A Novel

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Creation Lake

By: Rachel Kushner
Narrated by: Rachel Kushner
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About this listen

2024 AUDIOFILE MAGAZINE EARPHONES AWARD WINNER!

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 BOOKER PRIZE*
*LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD*
*AN INSTANT
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

From Booker Prize finalist and two-time National Book Award finalist Rachel Kushner, a “vital” (
The Washington Post) and “wickedly entertaining” (The Guardian) novel about a seductive and cunning American woman who infiltrates an anarchist collective in France—a propulsive listen filled with dark humor.

A thirty-four-year-old American woman—a secret agent—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.

©2024 Rachel Kushner (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio
Crime Fiction Espionage Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Noir Psychological Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense France Witty

Critic reviews

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by LitHub, The Millions, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, The Guardian, and Publishers Weekly

What listeners say about Creation Lake

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Not What I expected.

Apparently Rachel Kushner is a big name in the literature world so it got lots of press. When this book came out it was touted as part espionage and suspense. There is little of either with lots of meandering conversations about neanderthal man, etc etc. Great book if you like that sort of thing. Not my cup of tea.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A podium for philosophies

This was not a thriller, as advertised, but the simple story arch that served as a vector for the author to explore quasi anthropological musings. Not a lot of depth of character. Not event a ton of plot.

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1 person found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Story was better than the narrator

The narrator was a little monotone. The story was slow and never really got exciting. I kept waiting for something to happen and it never really did.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not a Favorite

Too much meandering prose with half-baked philosophical commentary that seemed like filler, not connected in a meaningful way to the actual story. Not sure that author was well-served by also being the audiobook narrator.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

What could have been

Lovely prose but an aimless story with dull, uninteresting characters across the board. Started in the middle and ended slightly further into the middle.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I wish the author wasn’t the narrator

It was a difficult listen. With a different narrator I think it might have been an enjoyable one.

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9 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Had to force it

The book ended well… But it was hard to connect with the protagonist and a bunch of other characters that you didn’t care for. It was really hard to understand what was happening at the outset as well… Just generally did not enjoy.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Tone deaf performance

The book is read by the author who reads every line as if it’s poetry, not noir. She has poor insight into what a reader wants when they pick up a book about a femme fatale and even less about how we she sounds when she speaks. The narrator should be matter of fact and hard-boiled. She should read the book in a voice that is cold, not dreamy.

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1 person found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Boring

I don’t get the hype. It is described as “taut” and “funny” but I didn’t hear anything funny or exciting.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not her best book…

Although the narrator was purportedly a polyglot who spoke French, the narration showed someone who had not the slightest idea of how to pronounce even the most basic of French words. I cringed every time I heard these miss pronounced words, which probably had a large effect on me, not enjoying the book.

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