Disappearing Earth
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 Review
One 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.
One 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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Community Reviews
The American-born Writer Julia Phillips's novel Disappearing Earth was published in 2019. The setting of the Kamchatka Peninsula, which is a region of Russia, is a character in a novel. As the back of the novel says, the readers “are transported to vistas of rugged beauty-open expanses of tundra, soaring volcanoes, dense forests, the glassy seas that border Japan and Alaska.” The setting of the Kamchatka Peninsula was a very atmospheric part of the novel. I enjoyed the setting of the novel. Phillips wrote the novel Disappearing Earth using research she gathered while being funded. the United States Fulbright program. Each chapter, except for the last one, is told from the point of view of a new female character. Each chapter is also a new month of the year. I enjoyed novels that have the perspective of many different characters. The novel begins with the kidnapping of two young girls in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky near a beach. Many of the characters are from the town of Esso, which is on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The book includes a map and a list of characters at the beginning. I thought Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips was a well-done novel. The novel was well-written and engaging. I found the interview with Julia Phillips on her novel Disappearing Earth with Jeffrey Brown of the PBS Newshour helpful in writing this ‘review.’
Works Cited:
Brown, Jeffrey & Vinopal, Courtney. 2020. “‘Disappearing Earth’ author Julia Phillips answers your questions,” Public Broadcasting System Newshour, April 29, Retrieved: October 11, 2022. (‘Disappearing Earth’ author Julia Phillips answers your questions | PBS NewsHour)
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