A review by shane_the_reading_rat
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

2.5

i don't know if it's all the hype around this that ruined it for me, but i just really didn't find this as insightful/impactful as a lot of other people did. it feels disjointed, with plotlines and sections in general that never really get finished (

what happened between Cyrus and his AA sponsor??? why do the scenes in Cyrus's mind between famous figures just kinda pop up randomly???

).  also, i don't know how many people will agree with me on this but

i think it would be a more impactful story if Orkideh and Roya had not been revealed to be the same person. them being the same brings in so many more questions of logistically how Roya got away with using Leila's identity. how did she get to the US? how did Leila's husband never find out, since it says in the book that he has essentially an alert for if Leila's documents are used? legally, does Orkideh still use the name Leila??? so many questions are brought in that for me it just made the story make a lot less sense.

all in all, a decent litfic but did not live up to the hype.