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There are currently 26 member reviews
for Ghost Season
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Stephanie K. (Glendale, AZ)
Heartbreaker That Goes Soul Deep
Ghost Season will grab you immediately with its five main sympathetic characters, four of them Black and one white, who eke out their lives in Sudan. I loved it for its raw honesty and grit in relating how each, though very different, intersects with the others in a dance of both hatred and love. The conclusion was unexpected and jarring, yet it was a fitting finale for these humble but shining characters. This book provides complete immersion with its unique setting and unusual cast.
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Beverly J. (Hoover, AL)
A sober story told with warmth and understanding.
A sober story told with warmth and understanding.
When a burnt corpse is found outside of a NGO compound at a remote Sudanese border town where the current uneasy peace of the civil unrest always seems on the brink of collapse, the five people living/working inside the compound wonder what the future holds for them.
The strength of this book is the incisively and vividly written characters who are essentially strangers to each other but through events beyond their control will have to cross more borders than imposed national borders to survive a catastrophic event.
I appreciated how Sudanese history was beautifully woven in to the storyline providing for a strong sense of place which I enjoy in a historical storyline as the past is never far from the present.
This poignant story informs of the plight on the Sudanese people from the effects of colonialism, civil wars, and climate changes.
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Tracy B. (Pittsboro, NC)
Ghost season
One is drawn into the intense situation of the South Sudanese translator, the American film maker and the locals. This is a true to life story involving the plight of the people in this explosive territory. The false sense of being safe in the NGO compound is confronted by a mysterious find at the start of this book. Then confusion, love, fear, compassion takes you to an unexpected place.
The friendships, individual personalities, rescue and terror was very real to me as a reader.
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Mary B. (Laguna Woods, CA)
Life in Sudan during Civil War
I found this story of five very different people at an NGO compound in Sudan very interesting. The characters are well developed and sympathetic. The descriptive writing made me feel the heat, dust, and dirt of the area and the fear of the militiamen. I felt the ending was abrupt and disappointing, otherwise I would have given it 5 stars.
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Lynn D. (Kingston, NY)
Heroes amid conflict in Sudan
Ghost Season gives us five distinct and sympathetic characters living in an NGO compound on the border between North and South Sudan. I was quickly drawn into the story as their relationships develop and they face political uncertainty and societal differences in their village and country. As chaos reigns around them and upends their lives, they overcome their cultural and personal differences to form lasting bonds and care for each other. I also learned a lot about recent history and culture of Sudan. Book clubs will find many topics to discuss.
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Dianne Y. (Stuart, FL)
Well written, character-driven novel
Ghost Season by Fatin Abbas is a well written, character-driven novel set in the Sudan. Abbas carefully describes each of the main characters, while also weaving their back story throughout to make for a more complete picture of each one. The novel explores a group of five diverse characters focusing on their interactions, conflicts, tensions and how each one grows and changes to overcome conflict and reduce tensions.
If you generally prefer an action-packed plot driven novel vs. a character driven one, I recommend giving this novel a chance. Stay with it until the end, and I believe you will find it worth the journey.
As a book club member, myself, I believe Ghost Season could be an interesting book club selection. A stimulating discussion could ensue of how differences and divisiveness can cause unfortunate results and how a group of very dissimilar people can form a cohesive team in the time of strife and danger. The discussion could also move onto how mistrust and misunderstandings can cause unnecessary conflict and even tragic violence.
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Sonia F. (Freehold, NJ)
Nomads and Nilotes
Historical fiction fans will be drawn to this intriguing debut novel that takes place in Sudan late 1990's to 2000, and will come away with enlightening moments of what is now North and South Sudan.
The narrative is centered around five strangers on a non-government organization compound. Amongst them are a filmmaker, one to update the maps of the district, a translator who is from South Sudan and a twelve year old who will do anything to get out of poverty. These characters' mission is thwarted and disrupted by a looming civil war.
I have my pros and cons about the rating on which I assigned to The Ghost Season. I love the imagery of the topography of the country ranges; desert in the north and the white nile basin drainage to the south. Hence the reason for South Sudan population undertaking agriculture and pastoralism as livelihood activities. I clearly understand how these strategic locations became flash points and the "red line" in the civil war and how the people in the north were looked upon from those in the south as stealing their land and livelihoods. The inhabitants are very territorial to the point of discussing a corpse at the beginning of the novel as to whether the corpse was nomad or Nilote and what burial rites and ablutions should be given. This was definitely a harbinger and indeed it was.
I thought the character Dena, who is supposed to be a filmmaker, was very weak. I felt like she was not developed and considering her role, there was a naïveté about her that diminished her position. I appreciated Alex position at the end when he wrote his final report about his project. It was nice to have the love story with William and Layla, but it was too contrived . I needed more narrative about the politics, history and how Sudan came to be split apart into North and South.
However this was certainly a sampler of this East African country to a neophyte and I would absolutely recommend in getting an insight into Sudan and its people and how different they are culturally.
Beautifully told in storytelling prose from this debut author- Ghost Season is worth looking at.
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