‘Creation Lake’ review: Rachel Kushner’s Booker Prize-nominated climate fiction at its finest

Creation Lake
Rachel Kushner (Jonathan Cape (UK, September 5th), Scribner (US, September 3rd))

Creation Lake The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim by Rachel Kushner is part thriller, part spy, part comedy, and a poetic portrayal of human history stretching back to the dawn of humanity. Homo sapiensWe shared the earth with the Neanderthals. A sensationally entertaining novel, it was rightly shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

The story is narrated by our anti-hero, Sadie Smith (not her real name), an undercover US agent working for a shady employer who is sent to France to infiltrate and ultimately destroy Le Moulin, an environmental activist group whose members are known as the Moulinarts.

Sadie sets out on her mission in thoroughly amoral fashion, first seducing a man named Lucien who has ties to activists. A few months later, she secures a job with the Moulinard family and travels to Lucien’s convenient family home in the Guyenne region of southwestern France, where Le Moulin is based.

Though the roof leaks, the house itself is the perfect place to spy on prey, a job made easier by a pair of high-powered military binoculars and a case full of high-tech gear.

The novel is beautifully structured. We follow Sadie as she infiltrates the understandably paranoid Mrinal community. We also trace her life back to her past operations and the deep-rooted resentment she feels towards those who (rightfully) seek to expose her. We gradually realize that this seemingly ultra-professional operative is taking unnecessary and dangerous risks. Is she in fact a naked and defenseless young woman, or a grenade with the pin pulled? Or both?

These two plot lines, moving forward and backward, are equally fascinating, each feeding into the other with perfect dramatic timing, but it’s the third plot line, involving the e-mails of a much older man, that is the heart of the book.

Sadie has hacked into Le Moulin’s group email account, giving her the ability to read all messages sent by a certain Bruno Lacombe. He’s the group’s mentor and inspiration, so it makes sense that she’ll pay special attention to his emails.

In the message, Bruno spoke of the superiority of Neanderthals, Homo sapiens He talks about his life living alone in a Neanderthal cave and also lectures the Mulinards on the history of Guyenne.

As a plot device, these emails don’t work, of course. But we soon learn to read them as avidly as Sadie does. Soon we realize that Sadie’s relationship with Bruno (albeit one only she knows about) is at the emotional heart of the novel.

She is more interested in him and what he has to say than anyone else in the Mulinar household. Will she happen to meet him before her operation in France is over?

I found Bruno’s thoughts on Neanderthals particularly interesting, albeit biased and unscientific, perhaps because I read it while traveling. New Scientist A tour of the prehistoric art of Northern Spain – the oldest works of art found there are thought to be by Neanderthals – and Bruno’s passion for how different they were to us (or could be) is impressively expressed.

I can’t say much more because it would spoil this exciting story. As for Sadie, does she deserve our sympathy? And what kind of person do the events of this book position her as? I can’t wait to re-read this book and find out.

Emily also recommends…

Ministry of the Future
Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)

Creation Lake Climate fiction, maybe. But if you want to read the ultimate climate fiction, Ministry of the Future. The book paints a scenario that is coming at us as the world heats up, and its construction of fictional eyewitness accounts is bold and ruthlessly brilliant..