"Disappearing Earth," Julia Phillips' debut novel, is hard to describe. It starts out with a pair of pre-pubescent sisters, Aloya and Sylvia, living in a remote Russian peninsula, being abducted by a sicko. The time span of the novel is a year, wherein the reader is given investigatory updates, insights into other characters, and the social mores of the community, and social class differences. Did you know, girls, that deer herders are looked down on, here? Can you believe it? Hmmm...if the went further north, and worked for Santa, they would be treated differently.
It takes the reader awhile to realize what Phillips is doing. At first, the chapter months seem to be a collection of short stories, with references to the abduction, Eventually another abductor's story, Lilia, a teen aged girl, is introduced, and things come together, and get going, especially in the last 100 pages.
This novel aims high, and succeeds. Some people I know were disappointed with this book, but, darlings, I just loved it.
It's no beach read. It challenges and stimulates.
What more could one want, dolls?????????????????
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