Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

On one hand, I like that the author attempted something rather big -- tackling communes and modern political, ecological, and just all-around savvy takes on all of the above in a way that goes a bit deeper than the surface. Indeed, the way she pulls it off, by way of archeological thinking, really should have sparked all my interest. The IDEA of it is pretty great.

On the other hand, it was a bit dry, inauthentic-seeming, slightly-agendized, and ... boring.
Nothing much happens, and when I enjoyed the commentary about how the neanderthals were done dirty, the sex scenes were anything but dirty.

As a sci-fi, it was pretty bland, almost LitSF in blandness. As a mainstream, well, I guess I don't really care. Maybe it would hold up well for readers who forever-profess they'd never read SF, but wind up doing the milquetoast version that all their buddies insist is "real" literature. You know the type. They get raved about in circles to dry to swallow.

Anyway. I'll be looking forward to something else, now.

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