I am not the reader for this book. The premise drew me immediately but FAR too contemplative for my taste. The main characters are unfazed to the point that they feel they lack heart but I'm not sure if that's a cultural thing, the author's style, or an intentional way to show how the Disappearances take from the island's inhabitants despite their attempts to carry on like everything is fine. The final nail in the coffin for me was being forced to read excerpts from the main character's tedious romance novel every so often. Authors should be banned from writing authors. I wanted to stay for the mystery, tried to get into the mindset to appreciate slow, thoughtful prose, but the novel-within-a-novel defeated me. Blasphemous as it is, I was praying each time her work was mentioned that novels would Disappear next.