At the end of the book, however, the author returns to the primary mystery and ties the chapters and characters together. With its multiple viewpoints and wide cast of characters, the novel reads more like a series of loosely related vignettes rather than a cohesive, linear narrative. Rather than telling one story, then, it tells many stories. Rather than focusing on the search for the two missing girls, it progresses month by month in the year they vanish, with each chapter shifting the perspective from one Kamchatkan woman to another. The novel has an unconventional narrative structure. Phillips writes from a third person free indirect point of view, providing a common voice that guides readers through Kamchatka and the lives of its inhabitants. The book contains 13 chapters, all but one of which is titled after a month of the year (Chapter 6, “New Year’s”). It also alludes to two key aspects of the book: the disappearance of two young sisters, Alyona and Sophia Golosovskaya, which occurs at the outset of the novel, and the strong sense of place the author creates in subsequent chapters. The title, Disappearing Earth, comes from a story related in the opening and closing chapters about a seaside village that a tsunami suddenly washes away.
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