Martyr! (National Book Award Finalist): A Novel

“I want to be worthy of the great terror my existence inspires.” This book left me absolutely breathless. 72 hours after finishing it, I’m still suffering from the hangover of how much I loved it. Martyr! follows Cyrus, a yet-to-be-discovered Iranian American poet, as he tries to make sense of his life and his grief. His mother is dead, his father is dead, he’s stuck in a job as a medical actor, and now that he’s sober, he can’t use substances to take the edge off. He’s starting to wonder whether joy is even real anymore when he’s struck by his next great idea: he’ll write a book about martyrs. As he begins searching the world for examples, a friend tells him about a museum exhibit: an Iranian woman, dying of cancer, spending her last days in the museum, talking to people. And thus begins Cyrus’s search for meaning. Being familiar with Akbar’s poetry, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into when I cracked this book open. The goosebumps that peppered my arms and tears that crawled down my face while I was reading would suggest otherwise. Akbar’s lyricism effortlessly echoes through every line of this book. Martyr! illustrates the power and the insufficiency of language, the way it can both elucidate and obscure. Beyond the prose, Akbar’s fiction debut tackles a wide range of topics: grief, racism, sexuality, family dynamics, Persian culture, gender roles. Martyr!’s characters leap off the page as Akbar employs them to explore these diverse subjects. With alternating POVs between Cyrus, his mother, his father, and his uncle, this book becomes both a captivating character study and a heart-rending family saga. This is another must-read recommendation for my diverse lit-fic lovers! Thank you, Kaveh, for such beautiful polysexual and sapphic representation and for everything I learned about Persian culture. I’m already planning to reread Martyr! later this year 🌻 Run, don’t walk, to pick up a copy of this amazing new book!

A Novel is one of those rare books that lingers long after you finish it. The writing is absolutely beautiful—lyrical and poetic without feeling forced—and it elevates what could have been a simple story into something much more profound.

At points it seemed like slow reading. The writing was excellent, but as usual with a book of this stature certain things don’t come easily. The ending was that great twist that’s needed to make a great book. I was going to rate it a 4, but decided to agree with the masses.

Solid work. Slows a little towards the middle . But good . Plot works . But slow . It’s ok.

This book came with so much advance hype that it might just have been impossible for it to live up to expectations, but Akbar comes pretty close. He shows flashes of brilliance, and his narrative skills are phenomenal. The story is gripping, and his characters are genuine - flawed but sympathetic. But…. There are aspects of the book, particularly the ending, that are perplexing. I won’t go into details, but when I got through the book I kind of said “Huh?” Maybe not a perfect book, but a good one. I look forward to more from this obviously talented author.

Cyrus Shams is an Iranian immigrant, although he came to the United States as a baby so identifies with both his Middle Eastern and his American backgrounds. His mother was shot down in a plane by the American military on a commercial flight when Cyrus was four months old so he has no memory of her. His father decided to come to the United States to make a new life for he and Cyrus but could only find factory work, killing chickens in a processing plant. Cyrus has one uncle left in Iran, his mother's brother. He suffers from PSTD from his role in the war with Iraq where he rode the battlefield dressed in black, offering comfort to those left dying there. Now as an adult, Cyrus isn't sure what he will do. He went off the deep end for quite a while, drinking and doing drugs. He has been sober for about a year now and considering writing a book about martyrs as he feels he has extensive knowledge of them. Cyrus is a poet and unsure if his book will be in prose or verse. He also plays with the idea of doing away with himself as another example of a martyr. Cyrus hears of an art installation in New York. An Iranian female artist is dying, a victim of cancer. She is choosing to live out her life at the museum, sitting and willing to talk with any of the museum patrons. Cyrus is fascinated with this and along with his best friend and sometime lover, goes to New York to see what the woman has to say about martyrship. Will she change his mind? Kaveh Akbar is an Iranian immigrant himself, born in Iran but now in the United States where he teaches in Iowa. He has two books of published poetry and his work has appeared in many magazines. He is the poet editor of The Review. This is his debut novel and it is shortlisted for the National Book Award, a Times Best 10 Book and a New York Time's Book Review 10 Best Books of the Year. Cyrus will pluck the heartstrings of the reader as they cheer him on, hoping that he can find peace and a reason to live. Poetry, the immigrant experience and the high rate of addiction among those whose lives start in chaos are discussed. This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction and those interested in the lives of those from other cultures.

Wow! This book shocked me in so many ways, not least of which it demolished my expectations around its title. Yes, it’s a book about death but only as a counterweight to life - to richness, fullness and beauty. This story is one of discovery, of learning about the core of who we are through the passing of another. It is taught and brilliantly written. Characters are developed through portraits of their perspectives on the events we learn about. Art becomes life becomes art…

I will dispense with describing the plot of Martyr! - that's been done enough in other reviews and the novel's publicity communications. To get directly to its net effect... Overall, I found this work very enjoyable, having begun it with no particular expectations and little knowledge of the storyline. HOWEVER, I consumed it as an AUDIOBOOK. Throughout its 10+ hours I wondered if it would be as compelling if I were reading it - indeed, I suspected that certain parts might be outright boring in script form. From what I am seeing in other reviews, I believe those wonderings are borne out. The vocal narration was outstanding. Crucially, it took care of what appears to be the most frequent criticism of the book's multiple POV structure: that, in script, all the characters sounded alike. Narrator Arian Moyayed did a remarkable job of bringing the various players to life and imparting unique personalities/voices to each. To those who rated Martyr! one or two stars, I'd say, well, horses for courses. To the three star raters, I'd say you should have listened to the audio - it might have hit you as a four, or maybe even five. As for other critique points...One, be alerted that Martyr! does not really have a "plot" as such. Like much literary fiction, it is character driven and philosophical point driven. Two, in a couple instances, the "point" being made has little or nothing to do with what is otherwise happening with the main character's life - and it gets a bit soap-boxy. Three, readers/listeners might detect an interesting compare/contrast between the narrative of this protagonist's substance addiction experiences and those of the protagonist in Barabara Kingsolver's "Demon Copperhead". Lastly, I've seen that some folks expected more humor based on the book's promotion; I saw none of that promotion so I didn't expect it, and for me the amount of humor was just right. As with all books, this one has its flaws. But if you are a literary fiction fan this is a very good book. I would speculatively rate it a solid three-stars in its written form, and highly recommend it in audio.

Livro incrível!!

This book is full of amazing quotes! It is hogging up space my quote diary. 10/10

Where does all our effort go? It's hard not to envy the monsters when you see how good they have it. And how unbothered they are at being monsters." I didn't know anything about Martyr going in, except for the fact a lot of my favourite booktubers loved it and the cover was bright yellow. Cyrus is such an interesting character and he pulled me into his whirlwind of a life straight away. Akbar's writing style and prose hooked me in straight away. Vivid and witty and very 'real'. "We can't grow old together, Cyrus. But can't you feel this mattering?" The explorations of death and grief are fascinating - I've been looking for a book like this for a while that doesn't shy away from tackling the difficult conversations head on. I love the conflicting views between Eastern and Western attitudes on death, the conversations and thoughts on identity, how this ties into death, legacy and inheritance. Some big themes on their own, but Akbar intertwines them masterfully. Who are we in life and who are we in death? Does it change? And if we have a meaningless death, does that mean our life was also meaningless? But does that matter? But what does it mean to matter? What does it mean to be alive? "But nobody ever brought up the wages of virtue. The toll of trying really really hard to be good in a game that's totally rigged against goodness." The plot is so fluid, as is it's the structure, that it's hard to put into words what this story is about and do it justice. I ended up loving all the characters, despite their faults. Their triumphs and their tragedies and all the things in-between. I can't wait to go back and read this again. "How had be been so oblivious? Love was a room that appeared when you stepped into it."

Amazing book ! Every sentence is a masterpiece

Fue n regalo parai hijo. Ha gustado mucho