I am still recovering from the bookseller’s conference last week — it was a fire hose of bookselling information. But now at least I feel equipped to tackle things like cash flow! Inventory management! Publisher accounts! Mainly, I’m super excited about the two boxes of upcoming releases (galleys) that I mailed myself. Can’t wait to start reading. I’m sure there’s more to share but my mind is mush.
I finished Creation Lake on the plane down (and Tell Me Everything on the plane home which was WONDERFUL — I’ll talk about it in next week’s newsletter). Today I’m going to try to wrap my head around Creation Lake.
From the achingly cool, erudite Rachel Kushner about an unruly, unbound female narrator, I picked up Creation Lake thinking check, check, check. Angsty, anarchic energy? Searching, probing questions about where we’ve come from as a species and where we’re going?
Sadie Smith, a spy-for-hire, is a complicated, compelling character. She makes a living embedding in radical organizations and then snitching to the authorities. I was super intrigued by a woman who uses her sexuality to get her way, which made the other female characters distrust her and a certain breed of men look down upon her.
Creation Lake felt so smart — sometimes too smart. I ended up underlining plenty of passages and turning to Andrew to tell him all the things I was learning… like how Neanderthals were enormously overlooked (every other chapter featured an email thread from a recluse, Bruno, who had abandoned society and lived in a cave). A review that made me laugh out loud said, thanks to this book, Neanderthals were finally able to stand erectus and take a bow. Delightful.
But, ultimately, I never connected to Sadie (or any of the other characters) and, for a spy thriller, it didn’t feel particularly thrilling. Sadie is constantly reminding the reader that everyone’s a phony and nothing is real. That life is hollow. But I kept wondering where Rachel Kushner was going to take those ideas and they simply never developed. Then suddenly the book was over and I was left thinking, huh. I guess I’m just not cool enough to get it.
Have you read it?? I’m dying to hear what you think because I’ve read so many rave reviews. I must be missing something.
I love the idea of this worry stone pendant on an extra long gold chain to help ward off the fears of a duplicitous life. To be worn as a talisman.
A flirty little dress that folds up into nothing — perfect for seducing your next mark at the locale’s local bar.
One of the men living in the commune wears a pair of thin, worn espadrilles. These are on elevated take on the kind you find at the grocery store in France (even though Castañer is a Spanish brand, just go with me here).
I love a Breton stripe and I love a polo so this might be my perfect shirt. Designed by stylist Jamie Mizrahi for Minnow (makers of truly excellent swimsuits for kids), this feels very much like something Sadie would wear in a size too big, sipping inexpensive wine at a Carrefour on her way to the next assignment.
Sadie drinks a few beers, pops a Xanax, maybe an Ambien and calls it a night. She’d have a fridge full of Kronenbourg 1664.
Everyone needs a good pair of travel pants, especially Sadie who spends days driving across France. Enter my beloved Donni kick flares in a brand new rust color that I have to have.
Sadie uses her sexuality unabashedly to get close to her target — though duty and desire are two very different things. An incredibly gorgeous bra is sure to be in her arsenal.
A sexy, touchable mohair sweater in a very sophisticated shade of blue.
Sadie is absolutely wearing a pair of classic, sexy, no nonsense jeans every single day.
Not big on self care, Sadie is just young enough to fall into bed without washing her face, but a little spritz of this thermal spring water with a cult following would perk her right up in the morning.