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A review by peanutscratch
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I think calling this book Martyr! really set my expectations up for it being more about a crisis of faith and hope and some of the stuff alluded to in the introduction of this book, when really it is much more accurate to say this is a book about a young man's journey to sobriety.
I really loved the characters in this book and the way they are written, and have little vignettes that are placed in conversation with Cyrus's story. I can feel the author's poetic skills coming in to curate and organize these scenes. And Cyrus himself feels so beautifully Stuck in the world around him. Always trapped between two extremes, not white enough to be American but certainly too American for him to feel Iranian himself, not wanting the clarifying boringness of sobriety but also wanting to escape his addictions. And he's a gay mess, eschewing labels around his sexuality but unintentionally pushing away his boy toy by not clarifying what they are. It's all portrayed so well, but it's tempered and balanced by the successes he's had, little wins that make you want to root for him despite his angst and his know-it-all behavior. I loved hearing his conversations with the rest of the characters, and most of all with Orkideh, easily the best part of the book.
Now onto the bad...
I almost DNF'd this book when they confirmed that yes, Orkideh is his long lost dead mother who surprise didn't die the whole time. It's contrived, it's not impactful to Cyrus's character arc, and it turns these beautiful tender moments between two strangers into something over-explained and uninteresting.
In a similar vein, the vignettes I mentioned loving before, there are frankly just too many of them. They overstay their welcome
It's one thing to learn who Arash is and tie his PTSD from the War to Cyrus's story in America, but he shows up another maybe 2-3 times too many. Not to mention the pages and pages of exposition we get on Roya and her relationship with Leila and cheating on their husband's and then even more pages to justify how she "became Orkideh" like... it's all just too much. Their moment at the Zoo was a lovely point to leave the story of Cyrus's mom at and yet we just keep going and going and going. It becomes fanfiction of itself.
A final complaint here, is that there are points in the story where all the characters start to feel like Cyrus. From the ancient and extremely Iranian Orkideh saying things like "Grieve x amount, receive y amount of comfort" to Arash who never left Iran, describing the inadequateness of language to convey True meaning, all the while giving English examples rather than ones in Farsi. Even Zee Novak at the end of the book, philosophizing into a socratic debate with Cyrus in a way that almost feels like he's talking to himself, and yet that doesn't feel like the intention. Every character's personality, despite feeling so strong and distinct at the beginning of the book, slowly feels like they begin to become just a facet of Cyrus.
The author is a poet and this is his first novel, and it shows both for better and for worse. And while I might not be rushing out to read his next book, if he keeps it up I'll be so very excited to read his fourth.
I really loved the characters in this book and the way they are written, and have little vignettes that are placed in conversation with Cyrus's story. I can feel the author's poetic skills coming in to curate and organize these scenes. And Cyrus himself feels so beautifully Stuck in the world around him. Always trapped between two extremes, not white enough to be American but certainly too American for him to feel Iranian himself, not wanting the clarifying boringness of sobriety but also wanting to escape his addictions. And he's a gay mess, eschewing labels around his sexuality but unintentionally pushing away his boy toy by not clarifying what they are. It's all portrayed so well, but it's tempered and balanced by the successes he's had, little wins that make you want to root for him despite his angst and his know-it-all behavior. I loved hearing his conversations with the rest of the characters, and most of all with Orkideh, easily the best part of the book.
Now onto the bad...
In a similar vein, the vignettes I mentioned loving before, there are frankly just too many of them. They overstay their welcome
A final complaint here, is that there are points in the story where all the characters start to feel like Cyrus. From the ancient and extremely Iranian Orkideh saying things like "Grieve x amount, receive y amount of comfort" to Arash who never left Iran, describing the inadequateness of language to convey True meaning, all the while giving English examples rather than ones in Farsi. Even Zee Novak at the end of the book, philosophizing into a socratic debate with Cyrus in a way that almost feels like he's talking to himself, and yet that doesn't feel like the intention. Every character's personality, despite feeling so strong and distinct at the beginning of the book, slowly feels like they begin to become just a facet of Cyrus.
The author is a poet and this is his first novel, and it shows both for better and for worse. And while I might not be rushing out to read his next book, if he keeps it up I'll be so very excited to read his fourth.