Sometimes you read a book and it makes you a little sad. Not because it is necessarily sad in its essence but because it is so well written, so well crafted, such a piece of art that it makes it in awe of humans who with all our messiness and selfishness and violence, can still create something so beautiful.
Martyr! was extremely popular in my friend circle last year and it was also (at least according to my algorithm) the social media darling. For those exact reasons, I avoided the novel but put it on my to read list to consider at a later point. I have read some mediocre stinkers recently and thought to myself that I am ready for something with a bit of pizazz. This novel was that and 10 times more.
The characters were so deliciously complex. So uniquely human. So breathtakingly real.
The prose was life shattering and ming bending.
The story was woven together really well. The introspective writing style and Cyrus' personality, reminded me a lot of Fight Club.
I don't feel qualified or equipped to comment on the Iran/Iranian parts but they fitted well and gave the story a unique and authentic flavour.
The only passages that I enjoyed less were the dream conversations. As important as they were, they could have been edited and perhaps omitted.
5/5 and thank you Kaveh Akbar.
by rinakun
1 Comment
dude the hype around this book was insane, glad it actually lived up to it. i kept seeing it everywhere and was like “here we go another overhyped literary fiction” but sounds like i was totally wrong
the fight club comparison is interesting, might have to bump this up on my list. been in a reading slump lately and need something that’s gonna actually grab me
also yeah those dream sequence parts in books are always hit or miss, usually more miss tbh