This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Although this sounds like a thriller, triggered by the snatching of two young girls in the first chapter, it actually unfolds slowly over the course of the year after that seminal event. In interwoven chapters that almost seem like individual short stories, the impact of this crime touches many diverse lives. The ending when it comes did feel rushed, but my mind keeps returning to the various characters and the far eastern Russian setting on the Kamchatka Peninsula, where natives and Russians are trying to figure out life in a post-Soviet world.

Disappearing Earth reads like a short story compilation with stories tied together by region and by the connection of two missing girls. Most of the character's stories revolve around loss and are compelling to read. I highly recommend this book.

I was so ready for a novel set in Kamchatka about two girls who disappear into the tundra. "Disappearing Earth" does not seem to be that book. The many different points of view did not support the premise of the story, and I lost interest and couldn't finish.

After this title popped up on so many "best of" lists, I tried again. Same.

Third time should be the charm, but it wasn't. A novel should be about something, and I couldn't find out what that was with this book. DNF.

2.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It centers around a mystery -- who took the sisters? Where did they go? -- but the urgency to answer those questions waxes and wanes as the story moves on. We watch how the crime affects families around Kamchatka Peninsula, so I guess it makes sense that that pressing need to solve the crime would ebb and flow.

The final chapters, however, were perfectly intense. There is a part of me that really enjoys open-ended conclusions, so I think I would've preferred the book to end with Marina's chapter, rather than Alyona. The Lilia storyline was an interesting inclusion; I don't know if I liked how it played out.

A fascinating mosaic, chapters related but different, portraying lives in the isolated Kamchatka area of Russia, after the disappearance of two young girls, Sophia and Alyona. The women portrayed in the novel represent different experiences, each chapter covering the months after the disappearance and its impact on neighbors, witnesses, police, and others. With a strong sense of place and interesting characters, this novel has impact on how you see the role of women. Recommended for its uniqueness and approach.

An amazing book about a relatively unexplored part of the world. The stories and characters, while interwoven, remain distinct, and the gender/ethnic complexities of the world the characters live in is explored from multiple vantage points without judgment. This book does have a thriller premise, but stands as an example of superb literary fiction. Wonderful!

Okay, so I feel like this should be more of a 3.5 because I went into expecting a "whodunnit" mystery but got a completely different story. The disappearance of two young girls sends ripples into the local community of a small Russian town and this story explores how it effects and connects people. It was a unique book but I can't say that I was solidly into this book until about page 150.

However, I absolutely loved how this book went into the indigenous cultures of Russia and showed an extremely unique perspective that I have never read before. Big kudos to the author for that!

Julia Phillips describes the emotional and topographical landscape of what happens to a family, a village when children go missing. So beautifully written that it felt like a dream.

***I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

This book was so devastating. Disappearing Earth begins with two little girls going missing from their city on the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia. Each chapter that follows is about a different character somehow connected to the case. The characters are grappling with life in an isolated place, with wanting better lives but not knowing how to get out of their current circumstances, and often settling for what they have. There is also a lot of interesting tension with the idea that things have changed - fear of immigrants and a changing society and for some, a longing for the (Soviet) past - as well as tension between indigenous people and white Russians who don't think the natives belong. Phillips writes beautifully, and I was immediately drawn into this world and its people. This is one of the best books I've read in a while. Highly, highly recommended.

I should create a shelf for books that (literally) put me too sleep. This story is mad slow for me. It starts with the disappearance of the girls and then goes on to something completely different: the ordinary lives of a bunch of characters that want something different to what they have.

I am pretty sure a connection will be made between these otherwise nobodies and the disappeared girls but the plot is not strong enough to keep me engaged and find out.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this title.

I enjoyed this novel, but found it a challenge to really sink into. The premise is intriguing and I loved that each chapter involved interwoven characters in various parts of life. It is well written. But something was missing for me that I cannot quite pin down. I ended up skimming some parts. I don’t know if it was something to do with the plot or something to do with the amount of characters, but I had a hard time sticking this one out.