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A review by nehaanna
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I keep trying to think of ways to summarize this book and I fall short. The overarching theme is simple: Man’s quest for meaning in a world that seems unable to provide meaning, at least not through the traditional routes offered to us. As the protagonist, Cyrus, further explores what life’s intrinsic value means to him via death, he uncovers more about himself, his family, his cultural identity, and his relationships with others that he had not fully understood before.
While the plot alone gets five stars for the execution and delivery, I could give another five stars for the writing style alone. Packed full of beautiful prose and tender moments that capture the banal pleasures of life’s ephemerality, this book is captivating. This is a book you read and never forget, and want to keep coming back to year after year to glean something new from it. The dry and caustic humor and distilled perspective this novel has towards the American political and social climate was also so timely, considering we are living in President Invective’s second term, and on the cusp of another Iranian conflict.
In all, this work is legendary and timeless, echoing with the ambiguous certainty that all men search for their lives to have meaning, and yet all fall short in some way or another to really reach that end.
While the plot alone gets five stars for the execution and delivery, I could give another five stars for the writing style alone. Packed full of beautiful prose and tender moments that capture the banal pleasures of life’s ephemerality, this book is captivating. This is a book you read and never forget, and want to keep coming back to year after year to glean something new from it. The dry and caustic humor and distilled perspective this novel has towards the American political and social climate was also so timely, considering we are living in President Invective’s second term, and on the cusp of another Iranian conflict.
In all, this work is legendary and timeless, echoing with the ambiguous certainty that all men search for their lives to have meaning, and yet all fall short in some way or another to really reach that end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, War
Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Classism