Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Disappearing Earth

Chilly and a fragile stillness like Fargo, but with more emotional development and attachment to characters. Every chapter is a different character's POV, exploring the lives of so many people tangentially related to the backdrop of the missing girls. Some are just related by existing in the same town. This makes the world feel peopled and deeply real, not just about who matters to specific storyline but acknowledging all the storylines that exist concurrently and tangle up and affect each other. This book also closely intertwines peninsular culture and politics and sense of place, which I appreciated as someone who has not read much Russian literature (either author or setting).

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hmatt's review against another edition

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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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lottiegasp's review

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dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I found this novel quite slow and grim throughout. I was expecting more of a traditional whodunit with a bit more intrigue and action. Instead it begins with the disappearance of two girls and then is mainly a slice of life of various people in the community who are affected by the disappearance over the following year. Many of the characters were living in a rut, many in an unhappy relationship and mostly do nothing to change their lives by the end of the chapter which I found quite depressing. About 2 thirds through the book I was not really enjoying it, but I did think the last 2 chapters tied it together in a satisfying way.

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scifi_rat's review

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reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

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massivepizzacrust's review

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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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lilifane's review against another edition

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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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iellv's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

4.8

Gripping from start to finish if you love knowing other people’s business. No, but seriously this is absolutely worth the read. But note that not all the stories converge directly—there is no grand ending, but the payoff was still utterly devastating. At the beginning, the book feels like watching the ground shift beneath your feet like oil on still water. And as you go through the rest of the book it feels like drowning, and then you’re overcome completely by a brief crash. And then, silence. Helpppppp im never reading this again probably. I’m currently recovering from a stomach flu as I write this and I gotta tell you the last chapters rlly aggravated my tummy lmao.

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knkoch's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a true mix between slow burning literary fiction and a faster-paced mystery or thriller. Really unusual and intriguing to me, as it’s not quite like others of its kind.

Overall, I quite liked this. I knew nothing about Kamchatka before reading, and any fiction that draws attention to an overlooked or undiscussed part of the world is rewarding to me. It was a great sense of place novel, examining many different lives in a post-Soviet world, from white Russians to several Native communities, all living together on this isolated peninsula.

This is structured as a series of interconnected vignettes, each from a different character’s perspective, over the period of one year. Sometimes it was hard to see how chapters connected, so fans of typical thrillers would struggle. I know it’s time to buckle in whenever a book starts with a list of characters (I would have been lost if I’d listened to the audiobook). And it was often bleak! But ultimately, a very valuable and cathartic look at a place and people I’ve not encountered.

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