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58 pages 1 hour read

Rachel Kushner

Creation Lake

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024

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Parts 3-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 3: “Joan Crawford’s Face” - Part 4: “Lemon Incest”

Part 3, Chapter 25 Summary

Sadie continues to read Bruno’s emails, and as she does so, she learns more about the Neanderthals, Homo erectus, Homo habilis, and Homo sapiens. In one of the emails, Bruno details a recently discovered skull that had features from both Homo erectus and the Neanderthals. This, he argues, proves that the species comingled and that evolution happened in fits and starts. There is much, he writes, that we do not yet understand about the history of the planet.

Part 3, Chapter 26 Summary

Sadie wakes up to a text from Vito. The two exchange a series of messages while she sets up her new router. It is much stronger than her old one, and she hopes to spend some time that morning figuring out where exactly Bruno lives. She knows that his property is in a rural area and contains an old, converted barn. Years ago, one of his children died there in a tragic accident, and afterward, his wife and the remaining two children moved away. Now grown, the surviving children seem to be living with Bruno. The property also contains a vast network of caves, which Bruno has spent years exploring. He laments that humans no longer live in caves. His network of caves contains several springs, and studying them, Bruno notes, has led him to better understand the region’s water table and cemented his anti-industrial position: Draining the water table to support industrialized agriculture will disturb the area’s delicate ecological balance. Bruno also claims to have heard voices in the caves, speaking both French and other, older tongues.

Part 3, Chapter 27 Summary

Sadie contemplates Bruno’s emails. She decides that he is both unhinged and grief-stricken: His desire to explore and live in caves as a way to re-connect with Neanderthals, coupled with the voices he claims to hear in his caves, strike her as an obvious manifestation of unresolved grief over the death of his daughter. She locks the house and explores the property, trying to shake the feeling that she always gets when in the woods—that someone is nearby, lying in wait.

Part 3, Chapter 28 Summary

Sadie further explores the area around Lucien’s family home. It is remote, but she cannot shake the feeling that she is not alone.

Part 3, Chapter 29 Summary

Bruno writes about the Cagots, a historical minority group within the region who, having been long oppressed by the majority population, revolted in 1594. Noteworthy about their revolt was that local peasants, who had been encouraged by the nobility to discriminate against the Cagots, joined them in their fight against the gentry. “Divide and conquer” was the tactic that the wealthy had used to suppress both Cagot and peasant opposition, and by joining together, the two groups managed to do much damage and even behead a number of the nobility. Their rebellion was crushed by the king, and eventually, the Cagots were absorbed into greater French society. Few people now, Bruno notes, claim Cagot heritage. Still, he feels that Cagot genetics are, for some, a source of secret pride and zeal.

Part 3, Chapter 30 Summary

Sadie’s peace at the house is disturbed by a white Citroën panel truck coming up the long driveway. The driver introduces himself as Robert, Agathe’s husband. He tells Sadie that the family is worried about Lucien because their relationship has moved so quickly. Someone in the family attempted to learn more about Sadie online, but little information was available. Then, Robert received an email saying that Sadie is not who she says she is. Unruffled, Sadie tells Robert that she, too, has done some digging: Robert (who was either Agathe’s landscaper or gardener) took out a hefty insurance policy on Agathe after learning that she has a heart condition. Sadie tells Robert that he is to return to Agathe and tell her that there is nothing to worry about. If he does this, Sadie will not reveal his secret.

Part 4, Chapter 31 Summary

Later, on her way to meet Pascal, Sadie encounters multiple white Citroën panel trucks. Each time, she worries that it is Robert, but it never is. Sadie reminds herself that this vehicle is the most common utility truck in France.

Part 4, Chapter 32 Summary

Sadie arrives in Ventôme. At the café where she is to meet Pascal, she waits. She notices a couple, perhaps in their fifties, carrying heavy backpacks. They are too old to be backpacking across Europe, she thinks, and then she realizes that they are also there to meet Pascal. He arrives, ignores the couple, and heads straight to Sadie’s table.

Part 4, Chapter 33 Summary

There are few photographs available online of Pascal. One, published after he and his group (perhaps; it was never proven) bombed a military recruitment center in Times Square, is actually of someone else with the same name but unrelated to Pascal.

Part 4, Chapter 34 Summary

Pascal was once betrayed by an anarchist named Marc Cutler, who turned out to be a law enforcement officer undercover. Lucien shared with Sadie that the discovery of Marc’s real identity shook Pascal to the core and rendered him less trusting of newcomers.

Part 4, Chapter 35 Summary

Pascal immediately asks Sadie about Lucien. She recalls that although Pascal’s and Lucien’s paths have diverged, the two are still close. They both were the children of affluent, professional parents; grew up in the same part of Paris; and shared a youthful affinity for film. Pascal now regards film as “bourgeois trash,” but knowing his past, Sadie reflects, helps her better understand the man that he became. He has brought Le Moulin’s book to translate, as well as Bruno’s for reference because Le Moulin’s text refers to it. Sadie feigns ignorance about Bruno, and Pascal explains who he is and how he serves as a mentor to their group. He explains more about Bruno, telling Sadie that Bruno no longer feels the need to be a public figure. He is working on a unified theory of “everything” but shares his wisdom with Le Moulin rather than publishing it. Bruno’s daughter, Sadie learns, is their waitress. She and her brother, Pascal tells Sadie, are uninvolved in the movement. As they sit talking, a few people approach Pascal. They are would-be members of Le Moulin. Many such people make the trek to join Pascal’s movement, but he turns most of them away. He is leery of strangers, and their work is difficult. Not everyone is suited to the life of a revolutionary.

Part 4, Chapter 36 Summary

Pascal speaks in aphorisms, which Sadie appreciates. It makes it easier for her to understand his motivations and worldview since he has already distilled his ideas down for her, expressing them in their most basic form. His views are, as she already knows, largely anti-civilization and anti-capitalism. He is in the countryside to farm and live simply but also to escape society. She learns that Bruno does not see people (he stopped right after his daughter’s death, 25 years ago) and that all the correspondence between Pascal and Bruno has happened via email. She learns that one of Pascal’s cows recently became ill and that he didn’t have the heart to shoot it. His neighbor did so instead. Sophie mulls this over: Perhaps Pascal is not as important as her contacts have led her to believe. She wonders how such a soft-hearted man could be a revolutionary.

Part 4, Chapter 37 Summary

Pascal and Sadie leave the café, walking through the town together. Pascal will not admit to anything about interfering with local efforts to use the area’s water supply for commercialized agriculture, but he talks to Sadie about plans for regional growth and water management. He tells her more about the commune, noting the presence of many local people and one scandal involving a very young teacher who was impregnated by her 11-year-old student. His parents asked to raise the child, and the teacher left for Corsica after giving birth. No one has heard from her since.

Part 4, Chapter 38 Summary

Vito recommends a documentary about a young Italian boy named Franck. In it, Franck (who is only nine) recounts “making love” to his friend, a nine-year-old girl. Although the subject is outré and alarming, Sadie is struck by Franck’s vitality. She looks him up on Facebook. Now grown, he is ordinary.

Part 4, Chapter 39 Summary

Walking along a dirt road, Sadie and Pascal see an approaching car. It pulls up next to them, and its driver, a woman, begins to scream at Pascal. Sadie learns that her name is Nadia Derain. She came down from Nantes to join Pascal’s movement, but she was not a good fit and was voted out. She refuses to leave the area and has been harassing Pascal relentlessly.

Parts 3-4 Analysis

Bruno is a key focal point during Parts 3 and 4, and it is again through his emails that some of the novel’s thematic structure is constructed. In the set of emails that Sadie reads at the beginning of Part 3, she learns more about agricultural and environmental issues in the region. Bruno, once active in intellectual circles, now “feels no need for a public role” and lives mostly in the large network of caves on his property (159). Bruno chose to move into the caves to pursue his goal of living like a Neanderthal, a group whose social organization he finds healthier than that of Homo sapiens. As he spends more time in the caves, which include underground streams and springs, he begins to understand more about the way the Guyenne’s water table works and how underground water supports life above ground. The government’s plan for the region is a shift toward industrialized agriculture, including the draining of much of the water table. Bruno realizes how disastrous this will be, even for species like grass, squirrels, and other small flora and fauna. Bruno’s interdisciplinary study of the ecology and social organization of the Guyenne forms the basis for the novel’s exploration of The Impact of Industrialized Agriculture, showing how industrialized agriculture imperils the environment, culture, and economy of this region.

This section also contains a lengthy description of the history of the Cagots, a historically oppressed group who once staged a rebellion in the region. Although the Cagots were not successful and have no true living descendants, their story is important within the context of the narrative: They are another group who, like the French Left, tried to fight existing power structures and throw off the mantle of class and ethnicity-based oppression. This novel is deeply concerned with how industrial capitalist models of economic production impact the lives of working people. Bruno, with his hermetic, literally underground existence and his rejection of civilization itself, represents one model of resistance to the oppressions that come with industrial capitalism. Pascal’s Moulinards represent another. Both these models are fundamentally flawed, and they don’t fully align with each other, but they share a common goal: to find a more equitable way of arranging economic life.

Despite this commonality between Bruno and Pascal, this set of chapters elucidates the differences between the two men. This is another important component of the narrative: Kushner provides a nuanced, multi-faceted view of 20th-century French intellectual and activist movements. Rather than lumping multiple groups together under the banner of “leftist” or “Marxist,” she shows the fissures that exist between different factions and discusses varying, and often divergent, responses to capitalist oppression. Pascal, whose eco-terrorism and activist work are key parts of his characterization, is still very invested in fighting capitalism, industrialization, and modernity. He still believes that he can overthrow the state. Bruno, by contrast, has concluded that it is no longer possible to find an alternative to capitalism. He believes that “[t]he world ruled by capital w[ill] not be dismantled. Instead, it ha[s] to be left behind” (109). Bruno has left that world behind. He has retreated from society and communicates only via email, never in person.

The Ethics of Espionage also continues to be a focal point. Lucien’s uncle Robert is introduced, and Sadie’s interactions with him are markedly manipulative. He has somehow gleaned that Sadie is not who she says she is, so Sadie threatens him. She has researched Lucien’s family and knows that Robert has secrets of his own. Sadie neutralizes the threat that Robert poses to her, but she does so by essentially blackmailing him. Just as she is willing to use entrapment to apprehend her targets, Sadie is comfortable using other quasi-legal tactics to protect herself. As this portion of the plot unfolds, Sadie continues to ruminate on past cases, noting as each memory pops up that she has no remorse for the way that she treated people. Again, this lack of remorse complicates straightforward readings of Sadie as a protagonist—as a spy who serves powerful, monied interests but ultimately cares only for her own personal interest, she is best understood as an anti-hero. Kushner is interested in the complexities of female identity, and many of her novels feature problematic female figures. Sadie’s characterization is an important point of connection with Kushner’s other titles and adds richness and depth to her work.

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