jainabee 's review for:

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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I want to be friends with Darius and drink tea together. His thoughtful and caring POV brings tender insight to the complex and confusing experiences of a very intersectional identity in adolescence. Where does he fit in? Traveling with his family from his liberal, Eurocentric, Portland, Oregon home to his mother’s Persian family in Iran helps him begin to understand his family dynamics and his own identity. His friendship with Sohrab—who is a misfit in a different way— is the sweet center of this delicious novel—I love books with a vibrant, caring friendship as the focus. I love books about misfits who find their place. I love this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder

Minor: Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, War

Content warning: religious persecution

Descriptions of the wrongful imprisonment and eventual murder of Sohrab’s father, who was persecuted for his Baháʼí faith.