Engrossing ... With great care and attention to place and character, [Abbas] writes into the eye of a perilous storm, panning from one orange-hued image to another on the page like a filmmaker ... Abbas is in no rush to have this all play out, sometimes at the risk of testing the reader's patience for sentimental love (William and Layla's) and for unabating terror ... By closing the novel with Layla's deeply inspiring story — that of a young nomadic woman, dogged by patriarchy and tragedy, who tastes sweet freedom for the first time — Abbas makes her authorial priorities poignantly clear.
While the book begins slowly, it picks up halfway through, when Sudan’s complexities are realized through the stories of those living in the compound, and the author’s rich imagination comes to life ... The book portrays the cyclical nature of violence and the psychological scars it leaves on ordinary people from all sides, highlighting how life persists despite the damage ... The author attempts to paint Alex here as an accidental hero, but a hero nonetheless. Thankfully, the novel is more affecting when it offers vivid accounts of what it feels like to live in a border area trapped between two warring factions. The prose can be expository at times, but the stories of civilians in the grip of uncertainty make for a haunting account and a daring debut.
Abbas has drawn a rich and believable cast of characters, and we feel sympathy and involvement with them all. William’s gentle love story across race and religion with Layla is both charming and apparently doomed as the war creeps closer. Mustafa is unforgettable, an eleven year old fighting for a life in a world of largely hostile adults—sleeping in a tree to avoid petty thieves and pedophiles. Alex and Dena start with an almost disdainful outsider’s view of Saraaya, but they too become sucked into the fate of the local people as the tensions flare ... Abbas adds just the right amount of sense of place to paint the scene and the cultures without letting it get in the way of her characters and their stories. Ghost Season is a wonderful debut from a truly talented writer. This is an author to watch and, above all, to read.
Disturbing ... The burgeoning love between Layla and Matthew creates an atmosphere of joy that the author tempers with the discovery of a burned corpse near the compound, a harbinger of looming disaster ... Hopeful and despairing in equal measure, Abbas takes readers on an emotional roller coaster, employing her protagonists as metaphor for Sudan’s possibilities if it was not mired in poverty, hunger, and tribal rivalries. A propulsive read.
Abbas’ first novel gets an A for its evocation of setting and a B for its execution and generally successful characterization. However, individual readers will have to decide for themselves what grade to give the hurriedly abrupt ending.
Impressive ... Abbas skillfully navigates boundaries between the disparate players and builds a fine drama out of their negotiations and bonds. Readers will be captivated by this immersive novel.
