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soried's review against another edition
5.0
Disappearing Earth starts with the abduction of two young girls. After the abduction, the author takes us into the lives of other families in and around the town from which the girls were abducted. We get a glimpse into these family’s everyday lives and find that somehow all have ties to either the victims or the kidnapper.
The stories are always told from the view point of a woman. Although this book is set in Russia, the situations and family dynamics are familiar. Women in abusive, controlling relationships. Women who blame the girl’s mother for the abduction, because she worked and was not home. Women in loveless relationship that do not leave for financial or emotional reasons, or because they are just doing what is expected of a woman. A new stay at home mother who feels isolated and intellectual bored. Women who dumb themselves down to protect the pride of their partner. A homosexual woman who has been rejected by her parents and must fear arrest for her sexual orientation. A woman who loses her second husband, and a second loving relationship.
There are other girls and woman that have disappeared but were not searched for as extensively because they were ethnic or considered to be head strong or of loose morals. It was their fault they were missing, just as it was the mother's fault that the girls were abducted. Or they were considered worthless, not valuable, not socially connected.
Several book critics and customers seemed to believe that they were reviewing a book about a mystery and an abduction. I think they missed the whole point of the book. This book is about the lives and struggles of women and how in 2019 “things haven’t changed all the much”.
The stories are always told from the view point of a woman. Although this book is set in Russia, the situations and family dynamics are familiar. Women in abusive, controlling relationships. Women who blame the girl’s mother for the abduction, because she worked and was not home. Women in loveless relationship that do not leave for financial or emotional reasons, or because they are just doing what is expected of a woman. A new stay at home mother who feels isolated and intellectual bored. Women who dumb themselves down to protect the pride of their partner. A homosexual woman who has been rejected by her parents and must fear arrest for her sexual orientation. A woman who loses her second husband, and a second loving relationship.
There are other girls and woman that have disappeared but were not searched for as extensively because they were ethnic or considered to be head strong or of loose morals. It was their fault they were missing, just as it was the mother's fault that the girls were abducted. Or they were considered worthless, not valuable, not socially connected.
Several book critics and customers seemed to believe that they were reviewing a book about a mystery and an abduction. I think they missed the whole point of the book. This book is about the lives and struggles of women and how in 2019 “things haven’t changed all the much”.
jfizzle80's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Well-written prose but read more like separate short stories that didn't all come together in the end
cydbee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
jenhurst's review against another edition
3.0
When two young girls get abducted on the Kamchatka peninsula in Northeastern Russia and the police search can't turn up nothing, the community must grapple with the loss. One chapter is one month for the year after the abduction. It connects four characters who's lives are forever changed by the abudction, a mother, detective, witness and a neighbour. There is some racial tensions and the landscape is very well described.
This book is okay to me. I loved the Russian landscape, but I expected more of a mystery. Instead I got a contemporary with a slight mystery. It gave me vibes to "Everything I Never Told You" by Celeste Ng, in that a tragedy rocks the family/group of people but the story isn't about what happened it's about how it affects them. I think that novel did it better, but that could be because I prefer Celeste Ng's writings and knew I was getting a contemporary and not a thriller.
I don't know much about Russia and it's culture, so reading about the landscape and culture was fascinating to me. It made it stand out to me and was so beautifully done. The cover is also one of the most beautiful that I've seen in a long time. It's slow-burning and a well done character study. It's a perfect length and definitely worth picking up.
3.5/5 stars.
I'd recommend it to fans of character study novels and want to read a mystery that is not Westernized. It's really good and I'd be interested in picking up the next novel that the author comes out with. It didn't feel like a debut novel for me.
This book is okay to me. I loved the Russian landscape, but I expected more of a mystery. Instead I got a contemporary with a slight mystery. It gave me vibes to "Everything I Never Told You" by Celeste Ng, in that a tragedy rocks the family/group of people but the story isn't about what happened it's about how it affects them. I think that novel did it better, but that could be because I prefer Celeste Ng's writings and knew I was getting a contemporary and not a thriller.
I don't know much about Russia and it's culture, so reading about the landscape and culture was fascinating to me. It made it stand out to me and was so beautifully done. The cover is also one of the most beautiful that I've seen in a long time. It's slow-burning and a well done character study. It's a perfect length and definitely worth picking up.
3.5/5 stars.
I'd recommend it to fans of character study novels and want to read a mystery that is not Westernized. It's really good and I'd be interested in picking up the next novel that the author comes out with. It didn't feel like a debut novel for me.
elviebird's review
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Beautifully written, but disjointed. I feel like several of the chapters could have been cut out but she needed 12 to make a whole year. If this had been a book of short stories centered around Kamchatka without the kidnapping subplot, it still would have been missing something…. The female “mains” were flat, one note, and mostly unlikeable. I felt no connection to any of them with the possible exception of Marina (the mom). The kidnapping basically frames the stories and keeps the reader invested.
purplepierogi's review
4.0
really good !! ah! like a bunch short story focusing on different women in a Siberian peninsula, including indigenous women, some more engaging than others but all written really beautifully
melodys_library's review
4.0
The story sets off with a bang, right into the disappearance. However, the remainder of the book is much less about the disappearance of the girls and more about how the disappearance affected the young women in the surrounding Russian peninsula. The author paints vivid pictures of the landscape and lives of the women in Kamchatka, including social and race relations. I appreciated the ending, which brought closure to the disappearance.
dokidoki's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
143colleen's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25