Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

6 reviews

hmatt's review against another edition

reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really like how this story is framed. It's sort of about two kidnapped sisters, and that plot line is tied up, but in the meantime we get one vignette per month that the sisters are gone about the lives of the people in the orbit of that mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Kidnapping

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Classism

scifi_rat's review

reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Child abuse, Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Ableism, Infertility, Lesbophobia, Domestic abuse, Xenophobia, Death, and Infidelity

massivepizzacrust's review

reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Kidnapping

lilifane's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I can't believe I only read this book because I needed one with "earth" in the title that was preferably short and had a blue cover. Because it is now one of my favorite reads this year, for sure.

I loved this. The setting on the Kamchatka peninsula with its nature and weather descriptions, the short insights into different girls' and women's lives, the common thread of two missing girls connecting every story/POV in one way or another, the other common thread of loss in general, the beautiful writing. I could go on like this forever. It's my favorite kind of novel. 

I loved all chapters (except one, which had a trigger for me, so I just skimmed it) and obviously wished they were longer and had more answers. I got attached to so many characters that were mostly never mentioned again. But the way the book was constructed worked perfectly well for me, so I made up my own head canon for the details we never got. And then the last two chapters made an emotional wreck of me. So, in conclusion, this was a perfect book for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Kidnapping, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Colonisation and Mental illness

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, and Cancer

theasdertt's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexism, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty

talasterism's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

the beauty of the writing captivated me alright. it's visual - blue bleeding up to heaven; the bay snuck up to swallow her toes; the blue-lit black of nights, the afternoon was crisp on her skin; time at the edge of the sea; - and evoking just enough pleased sighs to keep going.
but overall, the book for me always, from the first chapter, was borderline uncomofrtable, walking the thin like of i dont wanna put this away and the implied / off-screen uncertainties make something unpleasant under my skin crawl. some chapters i hated, the one from the teacher's slice of life, nothing but itching discomfort. some i loved - the one with olya was my favourite, the realness of bitter happiness and the beauty of relishing in aloneness. (even if it all happened, olya wouldnt tell them how the colours changed here. she would share nothing. they would never find out they missed the most beautiful day of autumn, where olya, alone, had been in its very centre. how good olya would feel to keep this secret. how safe it was inside ehrself) with so many characters, i have expected a more satisfying tie-in with each other at the end of the story, and to a degree it did happen, but by far not as thrilling as desired. also a fun aspect were the chapters through the months. also the ending 

is surprisngly optimistic. i really did not excpect to have a resolution, OR a happy ending, but it was a pleasant surprise.

 that quick breath, promising to adore her / her body was cold with late-arrived fear; his mouth was hot / the desire that contninued to knot them together / the cold garbber her lungs in two fists / an ache that was native / sweet grit in her throat / in one minute she was lvoely, and in the next she was a ghost / she was a beast. this was her hallow; inisde her was white and smooth, a frozen landscape, solid bone; carrying their hearts in each other's chests; a little love, a little rage, a lot of ocean water / two or three hours, and after, an eternity- are some of the lines that could be straight up of a poem. and at good times, it what it felt like. a beautifully visual poem, a tragedy of fear, an ode to dwinlding hope. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Kidnapping, and Racism

Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Cancer, and Child abuse

Minor: Animal death, Pedophilia, and Torture