Disappearing Earth

Discuss the singular structure of the novel. What does this structure allow Phillips to achieve? What constraints does it place on the narrative?

Phillips blends a number of literary genres to create a unique novel that is as much about place as it is about two missing girls. Discuss the ways in which the novel blurs traditional categories and the impact this has on Phillips’s storytelling.

Discuss the ways in which Phillips turns the trope of the missing girl on its head.

How and why is captivity central to the book?

How does Kamchatka’s shift from a place of isolation to one of global interest play out in the novel? Discuss the ways in which different characters grapple with this shift.

Address Phillips’s portrayal of power as it relates to race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation.

Discuss how violent experiences overlap, connect, and resonate with the women of Kamchatka.

How does Phillips interweave grief, loss, and longing into her narrative?

The novel presents the indigenous Even people as outsiders, despite the fact that they occupied the land first. Discuss the parallels between their plight and that of other marginalized groups in the novel.