it's my 2nd time visiting Sudan( through reading)
with this book. the first time was last year when i read What Is The What by Dave Eggers and Valentino Achak Deng. in the begining, this book feels different from the Sudan that i've read from Achak's autobiographic novel.
Ghost Season is written in 3rd person, and following 5 different characters.William the translator, Dena the documentarist,Alex ,the mapper,Layla the cook and Mustafa the errand boy. they all lived in an NGO compound doing humanitarian work.
the book navigates through the story of the said 5 characters after a burnt corpse was discovered between North and South Sudan.
in my opinion, the book was a great debut novel.
just like other novels about war, there were a lot of moving moments and heart-breaking scenarios in the novel. in my opinion, the book presented a huge question about morality that delved into the lives of the five characters - in the middle of an ongoing war, how can you question one's morals when all your lives are at risk?

This is a beautiful story well written. It is about a place I know nothing about, but the book brings it alive. The descriptions paint vivid pictures without over describing. The ramifications of working through a civil war are well described without lecturing. The chaos and futility of it all could descend into a chaotic narrative, but the writing skills of Fatin Abbas keeps the story telling simple and powerful. A moving book that will stay with me a while.

A book about five people living on the Sudanese border. The discovery of a burnt corpse forces these strangers to make bonds.

My biggest problem here was that there was no real clear shift/indicator of when it switched perspective. Even a decorative border or something would’ve been helpful, although I think the name in bold would be most effective with five different narrators.