MAY /JUNE 2025
THE GREYTON POST
23
Book Review: Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner – Anarchy, agriculture, and prehistory in a spy thriller that makes you think
Sadie isn’t working toward a greater good—only for the highest bidder.
Bridget Impey
“Currently, he said, we are headed toward extinction in a shiny, driverless car, and the question is: How do we exit this car?” A merican Sadie Smith (not her real name) is in France to infiltrate a radical farming commune, The Moulinards. Fired after a failed assignment, she’s now ex-FBI and working freelance. Her mission this time: to push the group toward committing more heinous crimes. Sadie gains access to the group ‘accidentally’ through Lucien, who becomes her lover. She uses him in every way possible, installing sophisticated surveillance equipment in his remote family mansion. Through Lucien, she becomes the commune’s translator and gains insight into their inner workings. Sadie is immune to the group’s ideals— they’re fighting a moral war against Big Agri and environmental destruction, but she’s there strictly for the paycheck. Tough, sexy, hard-drinking, and skilled,
The Moulinards take inspiration from 1960s
revolutionary Bruno Lacombe, who now lives in a cave and believes humanity’s answers lie with the Neanderthals and an ancient way of life. As Sadie hacks into Bruno’s intelligent and philosophical emails, she begins to fall under his spell. There are many characters in the commune, and I sometimes found it hard to keep track of them all. But what I loved most was watching Sadie unravel as Bruno’s musings start to affect her—she begins to feel more human. There’s dark humour throughout, and probably quite a bit that went over my head. But as a 2024 Booker shortlisted, it’s beautifully written, clever, and thought- provoking.
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