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A review by mmcloe
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Reminds me a lot of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow in that there were some shining moments in an overall dull package.
One one end, Akbar has some truly beautiful moments of prose - Uncle Akash's segments, Cyrus' ending, the retelling of the Ferdowsi legend, to name a few. I also thought the discussion of death as a social and discursive process just as affected by the world as life was a meaningful and often novel intervention that I don't often see in fiction.
On the other end:
One one end, Akbar has some truly beautiful moments of prose - Uncle Akash's segments, Cyrus' ending, the retelling of the Ferdowsi legend, to name a few. I also thought the discussion of death as a social and discursive process just as affected by the world as life was a meaningful and often novel intervention that I don't often see in fiction.
On the other end:
- Much of the prose was simply not very good, like it was written to be quoted for Booktok. References to the butterfly effect, Margaret Mead's theory of civilization, and others were directly cribbed from Tumblr/Twitter truisms.
- The twist didn't land for me on a narrative or common sense level
- I don't think the interwoven polyphonic structure lended itself well to the content and many of the conceits that kept the structure going (bookofmartyr inserts, dream dialogues) felt underdeveloped and frequently abandoned.
- A lot of the philosophizing felt like watered-down mid-century existentialism.
A good debut, certainly! And I LOVED the cover.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts