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kimiatalebi 's review for:
Martyr!
by Kaveh Akbar
Mixed feelings - 2.5 rounded up. Martyr was an intense read as it dealt with themes of addiction, war & migration. The narratives of Cyrus’ uncle, Ali, and the Ferdowsi & giraffe chapters were especially moving and beautifully written.
It does piss me off how the book scratches the surface on “US-Iran relations” and empire - the brutality that Iranians have faced under US imperialism with the flight 655, the US backed Iran and Iraq war and racism domestically against Muslims - but is just palatable enough for Barack Obama’s reading list lol and rave reviews from the NYT.
I also felt like the theme of martyrdom was actually skirted around on in the novel - maybe this was to do with the split POVs. I would have loved more of an exploration of martyrdom through religion, martyrdom and it’s historical tradition in Iran, and maybe how Cyrus actually thought about the examples of martyrdom that prefaced each chapter.
It does piss me off how the book scratches the surface on “US-Iran relations” and empire - the brutality that Iranians have faced under US imperialism with the flight 655, the US backed Iran and Iraq war and racism domestically against Muslims - but is just palatable enough for Barack Obama’s reading list lol and rave reviews from the NYT.
I also felt like the theme of martyrdom was actually skirted around on in the novel - maybe this was to do with the split POVs. I would have loved more of an exploration of martyrdom through religion, martyrdom and it’s historical tradition in Iran, and maybe how Cyrus actually thought about the examples of martyrdom that prefaced each chapter.