Rachel Kushner, the acclaimed author, recently released her new novel “Creation Lake”, that has successfully managed to secure a spot on the Booker Prize longlist. The story throws the spotlight on Sadie Smith, a 34-year-old American mercenary, employed by an influential, anonymous person. Her mission is to penetrate Le Moulin, a radical subsistence farming collective in an old river valley in provincial France.
Smith is tasked with ensuring the smooth proceedings of a rather contentious government-led venture that aims to divert underground water to massive surface basins – a move set to benefit large scale monocrop farming. The co-operative is abuzz with eco-activists scheming ways to scupper the project.
In this captivating story, Kushner crafts Smith as an intriguing character – a somewhat disenchanted, compromising spy, who employs the eco-activists for her murky motivations. She comes equipped with dossiers on the group, a safe house brimming with state-of-the-art equipment, numerous beer six-packs, and a dry sense of humour.
Bruno Lacombe, a hermit-like guide who disseminates his ideals to Le Moulin via email, is from where Smith gathers her background intel. She initially dismisses Lacombe’s thoughts on human prehistory, but his philosophies, anthropological observations, and ominous forecasts come to impact her in profound ways.
In true noir-spy style, the narrative unravels with Kushner at the helm, revealing the story through her protagonist’s thrill-seeking exploits, only to abruptly expose us to her “4am truths.” These truths explore the deeper motives behind rebellion and viewpoints, the unpredictable nature of civilisation, and the absurdities prevalent in our technologically dependent world.
While “Creation Lake” is indeed a gripping read, Kushner’s novel surpasses the ordinary thriller in terms of urgent relevance. The novel brings to fore pressing issues of the day making it an equally entertaining and enlightening read.
In the midst of an alcohol-soaked journey to her target location, Smith pulls over to answer nature’s call. The narrative pivots from her observation of a pair of luridly coloured underwear caught in the underbrush to contemplating the authentic Europe. This isn’t the elitist interpretation of Europe, but the Europe populated by invisible labourers mired in a disposable, throw-away culture. She muses, “The undergarments swinging from a shrub in full view would barely strain a €5 note for a package of three at Carrefour. They are akin to facial tissues. They absorb sweat, leaks, or blood before being discarded in a bush, discarded as waste, or even flushed–ensconced in the plumbing of another, ideally.” In her novel, Kushner masterfully navigates between deep insights, wit, and snapshots of mankind’s march towards environmental catastrophe, creating a read that is enjoyable and distressing simultaneously —deviating from the standard spy thriller’s intensity.