Disappearing Earth (Phillips) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Superb…. Brilliant…. Phillips's deep examination of loss and longing… is a testament to the novel's power.
New York Times Book Review


Immensely moving.
Wall Street Journal


Absorbing and extraordinarily well crafted.… It is a many-stranded crime story. It is also a complex portrait of clashing cultures.
Boston Globe


Unshakeable…. Disappearing Earth has the makings of a lurid thriller, but first-time novelist Julia Phillips does something more sophisticated than that…. It’s so specific, and yet so universal. These are stories of women the world over.
USA Today
 

Riveting, deeply rewarding….  As each succeeding story of Disappearing Earth takes us another month away from hope that Sophia and Alyona will be found alive, it becomes apparent that the book is not about the sisters but about a place so remote and unfriendly that it only takes a couple of months for a tragedy to become a dark fairy tale the characters tell one another.… Beautifully written.
Minneapolis Star Tribune


Stunning…. Beautifully delineated scenes…. The situations remain strange in their specificities and universal in their familiarity… The mystery is worth reading until the very end.
NPR
 

Invigoratingly hard to classify…. [Phillips] ingeniously dismantl[es]… convention[s]…. The ending of Disappearing Earth ignites an immediate desire to reread the chapters leading up to it.
New Yorker


Thrilling…. This mystery takes you to a scrappy ice-bound town in Russia's frozen north. Rumors and rivalries, secrets and lies, all add up to a compelling portrayal of a community under siege.
People


Mesmerizing.…. It's the strength of Phillips's writing, her careful attention to character and tone, that will grip you right up until the final heart-stopping pages.
Vanity Fair


Elegant, ingeniously interwoven…. As a series of character studies, it’s brilliant…. But Phillips never stops tracing Disappearing Earth’s arc, tilting her tapestry toward a singularly satisfying ending.
Entertainment Weekly
 

[E]xceptional and suspenseful…. Phillips’s exquisite descriptions of the desolate landscape… are masterful throughout, as is her skill at crafting a complex and genuinely addictive whodunit. This novel signals the arrival of a mighty talent.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review) Cinematic…. A knockout novel that combines literary heft with a propulsive plot…. Phillips imagines a cold, desolate climate inhabited by characters who exude warmth and strength…. Dazzlingly original. —Sally Bissell, formerly with Lee Cty. Lib. Syst., Fort Myers, FL
Library Journal


(Starred review) Accomplished and gripping…. Phillips’ spellbinding prose is saturated with… emotional intensity, as she subtly traces the shadows of Russia’s past and illuminates today’s daunting complexities of gender and identity, expectations and longing.
Booklist


[I]mmersive, impressive, and strikingly original…. An unusual, cleverly constructed thriller that is also a deep dive into the culture of a place many Americans have probably never heard of.
Kirkus Reviews