“Cyrus prided himself in descending from people comfortable sitting in uncertainty. He himself knew little about anything and tried to remember that. He read once about a Sufi prayer that went “Lord, increase my bewilderment.” That was the prayer in its entirety.”
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“Expendable” may seem a bad word to use to describe your own life, except I actually find it liberating. The way it vents away all pressure to become. How it asks only that you be.”
Hi folks!
This was an interesting read. The author Kaveh Akbar is a poet. This is the only thing I’ve read by him to date. The physical copy of the book is 331 pages. I started Martyr! by listening to my library’s audio copy but the time to borrow it ran out before I was able to finish the story. I was about half way through at the time. I’d also put a hold on the e-book which became available shorty after the time for the audio copy ended so I finished Martyr! by reading the e-book version. I enjoyed the story enough to buy a physical copy of the book. I’d recommend the audio version of the book. Google tells me the narrator is Arian Moayed. I thought he did a really good job for the half of the book that I listened to.
The protagonist in Martyr! is Cyrus Shams a young Iranian man living in the USA. The book blurb tells you that his mother’s plane was shot down in the skies of the Persian Gulf in an accident. Cyrus is an addict and a poet whose obsession with martyrs takes him on this journey to know more about his past to help him give meaning to his life and understand life in general. The book is layered with multiple characters, flashbacks to different time periods and dream sequences with historical figures. I read this with some family members. My mother wasn’t a fan of the beginning but enjoyed the book overall. My sister loved it from the beginning to end. I gave it 4/5 stars but I get the critiques about the story being a bit disjointed. A straight line this is not but the curves and twists are worth it. I think it’s only a matter of time before this book is optioned for a movie or tv series. If you read it let’s talk about what you think happened in the end.
Have a great week!
Stardate:2500009.11
