Martyr!: A novel

I read the prolog for the novel "Martyr" about a young Iranian man who suffers the loss of a mother, raised in Midwest America, becomes an addict, wants to be a poet and author, trials of sobriety, and family discoveries. I questioned several times if I even wanted to read the book, I am so thankful that I did. 3/4ths the way through I found myself trying to slow my reading down because I did not want the story to end. Kaveh's caricatures are so relatable, and the writing is so well done you can't help but to fall in love with them. The prolog to the book is correct, but there is so much more.

The debut Novel, "Martyr" by Kaveh Akbar, is a joyful read. Besides the brilliant twist at the end that keeps you engaged throughout, reading is an enjoyable experience. What Akbar does in "Martyr" is tackle some of life's biggest questions - life and death and their meaning, or lack thereof. His protagonist is deeply involved in existential matters like addiction, immigration, and loneliness. This feels natural and involving for the reader.

But Akbar's mastery is that he does not get pretentious or overly philosophical. In his first novel, Akbar shows the reader that we all share the same existential anxieties no matter one's background or walk of life. What makes "Martyr" stand out as a novel about immigration is that immigrant art often tends toward self-criticism/deprecation or hostility toward the new culture. However, Akbar takes a neutral stance - by placing Ferdowsi and Mozart in their roles, he looks at humanity through the common language of art (the cliche is mine).

I just finished Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. This is his debut novel, and I hope it will not be his last. His prose is multi-layered and beautiful as he explores a series of existential crises faced by the young protagonist, Cyrus, an Iranian immigrant. What at times seems like a meandering series of plotlines comes together beautifully. I quickly found myself emotionally invested in Cyrus and his story. If you enjoy masterfully crafted prose, this is the book for you.   And for my audiobook-challenged friends (you know who you are), this was one of those audiobooks where the narrator, Arian Moayed, transports you into the story—not away from it as some do.

This book took me on a magnificent journey through immigrant trauma, the fight we experience to find our identity and a meditation on art, alcoholism and redemption...

Akbar's poetry and prose intertwine to lay the foundation for an extraordinary story...of a mother lost and found, and reasons to live despite a lifetime of wanting to make one's death matter.

This is an important work of contemporary literature. It'll make you think, weep and be grateful.

“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!

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.