Disappearing Earth
Books | Fiction / Women
4
(341)
Julia Phillips
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A propulsive, emotionally engaging debut novel about the intricate bonds of family and community, in a Russia unlike any we have seen before.“Superb.... Brilliant.... Phillips's deep examination of loss and longing ... is a testament to the novel's power.” —The New York Times Book ReviewOne August afternoon, two sisters—Sophia, eight, and Alyona, eleven—go missing from a beach on the far-flung Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia. Taking us through the year that follows, Disappearing Earth enters the lives of women and girls in this tightly knit community who are connected by the crime: a witness, a neighbor, a detective, a mother. We are transported to vistas of rugged beauty—open expanses of tundra, soaring volcanoes, dense forests, the glassy seas that border Japan and Alaska—and into a region as complex as it is alluring, where social and ethnic tensions have long simmered, and where outsiders are often the first to be accused.
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More Details:
Author
Julia Phillips
Pages
272
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published Date
2019-05-14
ISBN
0525520422 9780525520429
Community ReviewsSee all
"This a beautifully written haunting tale of a small community on the eastern edge of rural Russia. Two girls go missing and the author weaves a number of separate stories together to solve the mystery. It really gives you a feel for what life is like living in that community."
Merry
"Mari Ryan reco"
Tricia Montgomery
"Two girls are missing in one small town. How does their fate ripple through the lives of so many? "
Lisa Pence
"One of the best books I've read in along time. I stopped breathing during the first chapter, and read voraciously through the carefully constructed layers that led to the end. Highly recommend! "
Leann Harms
"Wow. I stayed up late finishing this book last night, my heart racing throughout the final section, and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. What an incredibly beautiful and completely satisfying novel - I absolutely loved it. <br/><br/>At the beginning this felt more like a set of short stories, but as the book progresses and characters find their ways into multiple stories (sometimes in the most subtle ways), the puzzle comes together so perfectly. Some of the chapters felt more necessary to the full story than others, but I still enjoyed each woman's nuances and relatable thoughts and unique experiences - every one of them felt real and worth getting to know. (THANK YOU to the author for not pretentiously asking her readers' to keep all of these characters straight and including the list at the beginning!) <br/><br/>I was so impressed with the way the story unfolded and I appreciated having to think and flip back to discover "Oh, that was ....!" and put the pieces together myself. This was the ultimate "show, don't tell" writing, right down to the fantastic end. I also enjoyed being exposed to a completely new-to-me setting and culture which only added to the experience. (Thanks too for the map!)<br/><br/>I sometimes feel that I'm too critical of so much bestseller fiction that others love until I stumble on a book like this and am reminded that THIS is the type of slow-burn and thoughtful fiction that I love and admire. I can't wait for the author's next book."
G N
Gretchen Nord
"This book is a great culturally-immersive mystery! It shows a number of different perspectives within a small community, and is one of those stories where everything makes sense at the end. Don’t just buy this book for the stunning cover - the inside is great too!"
Ashton Shaul
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