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*
*LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 PEN FAULKNER AWARD FOR FICTION*
*AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*
*NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2024 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE ATLANTIC, VULTURE, VOGUE, THE WASHINGTON POST, KIRKUS REVIEWS, NPR, THE ECONOMIST, THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY, VOX, and more*

From Rachel Kushner, two-time finalist for both the Booker Prize and National Book Award, 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 page-turner filled with dark humor.


Creation Lake is a novel about a secret agent, a thirty-four-year-old American woman of ruthless tactics and clean beauty who is sent to do dirty work in France. “Sadie Smith” is how the narrator introduces herself to the rural commune of French subversives on whom she is keeping tabs, and to her lover, Lucien, a young and well-born Parisian she has met by “cold bump”—making him believe the encounter was accidental. Like everyone she 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 old farms and prehistoric caves, Sadie becomes entranced by a mysterious figure named Bruno Lacombe, a mentor to the young activists who believes that the path to emancipation 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 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—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
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What listeners say about Creation Lake

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

Tedious plot line, I kept thinking it would pick up pace but never did.

A truly narcissistic unlikable main character who seemed unable to have emotional attachment to any others in her life could have been interesting but just wasn’t. It made me feel despondent.

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6 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Why Author's Shouldn't Narrate Their Own Novels

Regardless of how well written a novel is, a miscast narrator can ruin it. Assuming that because one writes it they will be good at narrating it is a misstep in my opinion. It requires a trained actor to avoid it being an annoying snoozefest. Could not get past the monotony of this author's reading style to enjoy the book.

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5 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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The superficiality of the characters.

Just a bunch of characters that enable Kushner to essay ad nauseous, and not one of them inspires empathy.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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the philosophical elements were beautiful

could not care about the protagonist, all remained in the head. nothing touched the heart.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Such a BORING reader

May be a really good book - I’m not sure bc the reading is POOR. so sad because I think it has a decent storyline.

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