Julia Phillips (3) (1989–)

I have a lot of feelings about this book – I went in presuming what this book would be like/be about, and I was quite surprised.

Disappearing Earth is at its simplest, a story of missing girls. Young sisters Alyona and Sophia disappear without a trace one August afternoon. The city of Petropavlovsk and the surrounding communities are shaken by the incident, yet the police turn up no leads, and the case quickly goes cold. But the people most affected by the disappearance are the women of this isolated place, and it is they who become the focus of the story.

When I read the description of this book, about “the kidnapping of two small girls,” I thought I knew exactly what to expect from this book. Yet in truth, the girls themselves, and their mother, play a small part in the story – the focus is instead largely on women who are either tied to the case in some way, or who are emotionally affected by it.

Each chapter follows a different woman’s (or girl’s) perspective. Each of them is going through something different, yet each has had their daily lives affected by the disappearance. But as a reader, more is gained from each woman’s perspective than, “how they are affected” – it goes into themes of misogyny, dissatisfaction with life, and feelings of entrapment.

At times, some of the characters’ perspectives are extremely detached from the girls’ disappearance – in the sense they aren’t acquainted with it at all beyond news reports. Yet, all the perspectives tied together to further the plot, in ways that surprised me.

Despite how interesting it was to read a story told over so many different perspectives, I felt at times it was also the novel’s biggest weakness. Namely, there are just so many perspectives and characters, it was difficult to keep track of who’s who – especially when some of the characters reappeared in other chapters. Something that also bothered me, was that each chapter leaves its character’s story open-ended – you are left almost with a cliffhanger for every character’s situation. (This may be more of a personal-preference thing, however, because I generally prefer more closure in stories.)

This drama plays out over a setting that was unique and fascinating in and of itself – the remote Kamchatka Peninusula in Eastern Russia. This previously was an area I knew nothing about. Judging from her acknowledgements, the author has meticulously researched and studied first-hand what life is like in this remote and isolated area. I was particularly enlightened by the indigenous experience in this area, and the dichotomy that plays out between the novel’s indigenous and Russian peoples added a deeper layer to the story.

Overall, this was a haunting, suspenseful, and beautifully written novel that subverted the traditional kidnapping-mystery format. A solid, strong debut. This was a 4.5 star read for me, and I’d highly recommend it
… (mais)

Setting the scene with a kidnapping of two young girls, this book has an ominous beginning and the suspense of the story grows as months pass and the story jumps to the perspective of many girls and women's stories across the Kamchatka peninsula.
This story sucks you in from the start and then kind of leaves you questioning as it cycles through a variety of perspectives and stories that can on surface seem almost unrelated. When the kidnapper appears in the book it's obvious, even though it's not directly acknowledged, but it doesn't take away from the suspense of the story as that is driven through trying to connect how all these women's stories are interwoven and connected to this crime.
This book accomplishes something rarely seen in crime dramas in taking the focus away from the perpetrator to the point of irrelevance and instead focusing on how it effects those left behind and the community. It also does an excellent job of portraying this heartbreaking story without ever being dark or descriptively traumatic, allowing the reader to fill it in for themselves or avoid it if that's too much for them.
Really interesting tactic of writing for this type of story and I quite enjoyed it, easily recommended.… (mais)