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Creation Lake

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Creation Lake

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

Brought to you by Penguin.

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024**

Seductive and cunning American spy-for-hire Sadie Smith has been sent by her mysterious but powerful employers to a remote corner of France.

Her mission: to infiltrate a commune of radical eco-activists influenced by the beliefs of an enigmatic elder, Bruno Lacombe, who has rejected civilisation, lives in a Neanderthal cave, and believes the path to enlightenment is a return to primitivism.

Sadie casts her cynical eye over this region of ancient farms and sleepy villages, and finds Bruno’s idealism laughable, but just as she 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.

Beneath this a taut, dazzling story of espionage and intrigue lies one of a woman caught in the crossfire between the past and the future, and a profound treatise on human history.

'The most exciting writer of her generation' BRET EASTON ELLIS

'Reinvents the spy novel in one cool, erudite gesture' HERNAN DIAZ

'Compulsively readable... Kill Bill written by John le Carré' OBSERVER

©2024 Rachel Kushner (P)2024 Penguin Audio Espionage Genre Fiction International Mystery & Crime Literary Fiction Mystery Small Town & Rural Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Witty
All stars
Most relevant  
It’s brilliantly written and I found the character of Sadie interesting and well drawn. But overall it felt more like a demonstration of research than a novel so I learned stuff but didn’t feel or care much.
This fit the character but, on top of the very detailed, slow story, made for near boredom on occasion.
I also had very mixed feelings about the narration.

Admirable and impressive but hard to care about

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Great story and characters. Funny and moving. Love to hear Rachel reading too. Can’t wait to read and listen to her next book.

Wonderful

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I guess the author should be able to narrate their work but this was almost impossible to listen to. So monotonous and no differentiation between the voices of different characters. I can see why the book has been critically acclaimed but I wish I’d read it instead of listened.

Interesting book terrible narration

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I found this very difficult and wasn’t keen on the narrator/author. There’s no doubt the writing is brilliant but I don’t think it transfers well to audible. I will read the book some time. This could win the Booker 2024

Creative writing

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Although the story was engaging, the flat, monotone of the narration made it difficult to stay engaged. This may have been deliberate as the character was detached from life, people, her own history and feelings but for me it was too much of a distraction.

Monotone reading

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The author on this occasion would in my opinion have been better to delegate narration to an actor. I felt there was a bewildering cast of characters.

Original idea

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I DNFd this. I kept waiting for something to happen and got so bored, I couldn’t give it the time or patience any longer. A very frustrating read.

Not for me

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Why is this book so hyped up? I loved the mars room but this no thanks. Im surprised it’s short listed

I don’t get it

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Highly annoying protagonist who has little depth and little character development. Some clever ploys but all in all she has written much better books and with a town out there to read, why waste your time.

Thin cliches and stereotypes

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The writing and concepts are interesting, but I don’t think I can get past the first couple of hours because of the delivery. It’s such a monotone drawl that I presumed it was AI generated, but I think recent AI would make a much better job. Please listen the sample first.

Don’t get the audible version

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