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A review by jonscott9
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
4.5
So many superlatives I could use for the experience of reading this book, Kaveh Akbar's first novel. I began with him a few years ago, immersing in his Pilgrim Bell poetry.
The protagonist here, Cyrus Shams, can be wonderful and unkind to his closest persons, and understandably so. It's unfortunately immediately believable to learn (as no one did in American grade-school) that the USS Vincennes shot an Iran Air plane out of the sky in the late 1980s that included Cyrus' mother on the commercial flight. One internalizes a desensitized "yep" to that information without even Googling it, such is the cruel era (over decades) in which we breathe.
Iranian-born Akbar's time teaching at Purdue University (alongside the likes of Roxane Gay) lends him a special source of observation for Cyrus' campus-life foibles with his pal Zee, of Polish-Egyptian background, and others. His dating partners and choices alike can be cringe inducing, and it's all plausible.
The use of first person in some chapters (from the viewpoints of other characters) and third person in others (namely for Cyrus) is an interesting construct, and one that I had the great pleasure of hearing Akbar expound on live.
In January 2025, I saw him speak at a reading/conversation event, and just by chance (walking into the event 30min early) was able to meet him. (His post-event signing had been canceled for logical reasons.) He was refreshing and delightful, even while dealing with a debilitating health matter. He shared that he is writing all the time – probably 98% of it doesn't see daylight – and I could not be more eager for what he publishes next. I'll read everything from him that I can, and strongly recommend checking out his interview in The Believer magazine from 2024.
The protagonist here, Cyrus Shams, can be wonderful and unkind to his closest persons, and understandably so. It's unfortunately immediately believable to learn (as no one did in American grade-school) that the USS Vincennes shot an Iran Air plane out of the sky in the late 1980s that included Cyrus' mother on the commercial flight. One internalizes a desensitized "yep" to that information without even Googling it, such is the cruel era (over decades) in which we breathe.
Iranian-born Akbar's time teaching at Purdue University (alongside the likes of Roxane Gay) lends him a special source of observation for Cyrus' campus-life foibles with his pal Zee, of Polish-Egyptian background, and others. His dating partners and choices alike can be cringe inducing, and it's all plausible.
The use of first person in some chapters (from the viewpoints of other characters) and third person in others (namely for Cyrus) is an interesting construct, and one that I had the great pleasure of hearing Akbar expound on live.
In January 2025, I saw him speak at a reading/conversation event, and just by chance (walking into the event 30min early) was able to meet him. (His post-event signing had been canceled for logical reasons.) He was refreshing and delightful, even while dealing with a debilitating health matter. He shared that he is writing all the time – probably 98% of it doesn't see daylight – and I could not be more eager for what he publishes next. I'll read everything from him that I can, and strongly recommend checking out his interview in The Believer magazine from 2024.