Hayat Newspaper (London): Review by Lebanese critic Salman Zainuddin
...With such a story, mode of address and language, Bishtawi has produced a great novel wherein he traced the movements of his hero and heroine, measured their passions and inner thoughts, dug deep into their souls, analysed their characters and attitudes, emerged from the private to the public, and succeeded in recording an entire epoch of history. For all that, he has assumed a distinguished status among the Arab novelists and made Times of Death and Roses the times of enjoyable reading. More...

Sahra Newspaper (Casablanca): Review by Moroccan critic Mohammed Alloutt
...A passionate, extremely romantic love story evolving on the backdrop of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the novel poses problematic questions: can love and life exist in times of destruction and death? Could a rose blossom in a soil infected by mines? Could the angels spread their white wings in an age of air bombing, demons, and senseless killing? More...

Sharq Awsat Newspaper (London): Review by Iraqi critic Ismael Zayer
...Times of Death and Roses by novelist A.S.Bishtawi appears an extremely neutral title for a novel. It is a title that refers to things that have already accomplished by time. But the neutrality was imperative to overcome the hardships of remembrance or the reconstruction of events discussed by the novel. The fire of these events is not dead yet. There is a layer of tinder covering the body o time but it does not conceal any part of it.The work spread over 550 pages removes that layer and beats the bodies of the dead and vanquished to rise with their testimonies, their hardships and the loss they suffered over generations. It was not easy for Bishtawi to send back to the caves of death the souls he has awaken without giving them the chance to speak out, and to re-arrange the facts that led to the death and defeat of a generation that lost both dream and life in the mist of the continuous savageness of the 1970s and 1980s. More...

Quds Al Arabi Newspaper (London): Review by Syrian critic Hussam ul-deen Mohamed
...Is it possible for a literary work to possess a human being and become something like a soul mate day and night? This happened to me recently. The literary work responsible for this strange feeling is a novel written by novelist A. S. Bishtawi entitled Times of Death and Roses. A review in 2 parts. More...