Literary fiction at its best. Kaveri Akbars writing transported me right into this story transported me from my world into the lives of his characters their world.A book I will be recommending to all book lovers.#netgalley #knopf

I loved this book desperately. It does so many things and does them all so well. It takes on grief, death, family, addiction, and love and weaves them together with such depth and sensitivity, each feels thoroughly examined and uniquely represented. The characters are drawn with such detail and care, they implanted directly into my heart. The storyline itself is compelling and perfectly crafted. Sometimes I find changing perspectives and time periods jarring and that it takes me out of the story, but here it's executed with such precision and purpose I happily went for the ride, and it paid off.

I recommend this book for anyone who needs to be quickly absorbed into a compelling story where every character is worth knowing. It's perfect for folks to look at death, grief, and life's purpose with an author whose perspective on those subjects is so deeply considered. The writing is gorgeous, the story is riveting, and the characters are robust. It has it all!

I wanted to love this book, but it felt too disjointed. The experience was fragmented in a way that didn’t feel particularly rewarding or captivating, despite me really liking the themes.

Kaveh Akbar wields language like a magician. His literary and poetic abilities are brought to bear in this book with a brutal honesty as we follow the main character and his struggle to make sense of this world we live in. The novel reads smoothly, a fiction story with an eye to language and the way we can use it to move through this world. I felt empathy for the main character and was happy to read along and learn more about his journey. As an Iranian, this was particularly a pleasure to read.

The first thing I thought when I came to the end of this book was, "Well, we need more literary love stories."

This is more than a love story, but love is a theme. Purpose, friendship, the hardship of being alive and making meaning out of the strange coincidences that move us from one thing to the next. Akbar throws a lot of things together here -- a book within a book, Dickensian-level plot, fantasy sequences, poetry -- and mostly, it works. There were parts I liked better than others, sections I found myself rushing through to get back to the thread of story I cared most about, but then a sentence or a phrase would be stop me in my hurry. Akbar is a poet, and you can see that in the language and the elliptical structure.

I was always excited to pick this book up. Always interested in where it would go next.

I love love loved this book! So much! Life, grief, happiness, and the burden of living were done so well here. Truly I want everyone to read this like immediately, but I suppose I’ll just have to wait. I related to Cyrus on an almost cosmic level & I just cannot wait for others to read this as well!

Martyr! follows poet Cyrus Shams, whose obsession with martyrdom leads him to writing a book on the subject and exploring his family relationships through that lens along the way. There is a lot going on in this book, including multiple points of view (probably too much going on), but it is well-written and thought-provoking. Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the ARC.

Such a rich and beautifully written book. This book tells the tale of Cyrus, a young man who, from a young age, faced tragedy. Born in Iran, his father moved him to the United States very early. I will not be able to do the story itself a service as it should be done, because everything I will say will not make it sound as amazing and moving as it is. The descriptions were touching, and the story itself was so all encompassing. It is a literary work of art, and I have no doubts it will touch the minds and hearts of so many because of its appeal. The story weaves in all different walks of life and such an interesting premise as well. Cyrus wants to write a book of martyrs, but in doing so, finds much out about himself and his background.
I highly recommend this book to someone wanting something different and touching, because it will do just that.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kaveh Akbar excels at language and this book is the perfect proof of it. Equally funny and poignant, the narrative of Martyr! defies everything we hear of "writing craft" and rises above so much of the same old tropey tripe that is starting to pervade even literary fiction. So glad I was able to experience this book.

Cyrus Shams is an Iranian American who lost his mom to a plane crash before he even remembers her. He's recovering from drug addiction, and living with his best friend, and sometimes lover, Zee. Because he's questioning his very life, he's considering what being a martyr would mean to his life and to others who might or might not know him. On this journey, he discovers a shocking fact, sending him into the deepest despair. The story ends on a high note, I suppose.

This was a compelling read, and I liked the emotion of it all. But having finished it, I am perplexed. I'm not sure who the perfect target reader would be for this story.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Martyr.

I LOVED this book! It was such a beautiful story of forgiveness and the different ways we can live a life and die having touched someones life.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for the eARC.

Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of Tehran in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past.

So many layers of life to examine with this read. Its overall the search for meaning in one's life and death through friendship, love, loss, addiction, art, music, and memory. Honestly, there were a couple of times I wanted to shelf this book. Initially, I could not become all that invested in Cyrus; that is until the layers of his life began to be revealed. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you to Netgalley for the preview copy.

Honestly, I almost gave up several times in the first half. I found the narrative disjointed and largely uninteresting. I'm not sure why I stuck with it, but wow, it really picked up about 2/3 of the way through! The Orkideh narrative was intriguing from the start, and the author really "stuck the landing." By the end, I had a better understanding of the author's choices in the early stages of the novel.

I would have been unlikely to notice "Martyr!" on the list of new releases, so I'm glad I had the opportunity to read the prerelease copy.

this was SO GOOD.
I love when poets write novels. Kaveh Akbar has such a mastery of language and I loved the themes and the format and everything. I've tried Kaveh's actual poetry before in the past and I felt way too dumb for it, but this might officially push me to try it again.

Parts of this novel are very funny. Parts truly insightful. Parts didn’t work for me at all because I’m not a fan of disjointed narratives.

Cyrus has now been sober for two years. His father brought him to Indiana from Iran when Cyrus was very young, after his mother had been killed in a terrible accident. That accident and other aspects his Iranian family influence his poetry. He’s thinking about writing a novel about martyrs, and when he reads about an Iranian woman who’s dying of stage 4 breast cancer doing an installation called Death Speak in New York, he and his best friend and sometimes lover Zee travel so he can talk to her about his persistent urge to commit suicide, but to make sure his death has some meaning.

You’d think a book about a suicidal sober addict would be dark, but mostly it’s not, in part because of great writing like this (it’s set in 2017): “Cyrus thought about President Invective, a cartoon ghoul of a man for whom Dantean ideas of Hell seemed specifically conceived. The sort of man whose unwavering assertions of his own genius competence had, to the American public, apparently overwhelmed all observable evidence to the contrary.”

I liked the twist at the end, which I did not see coming.

NetGalley provided an advance copy of this novel

This book has a really intriguing concept. A young mom from Iran is killed when her commercial flight is accidentally shot down as she travels to visit her brother in Dubai. Her husband and young son Cyrus migrate to the U.S., where her senseless death haunts the boy throughout his life. He struggles with substance abuse, finds it difficult to establish relationships and imagines/dreams conversations between high-profile individuals whose died for a cause ("Marytrs!"). A trip to New York to visit a performance artist (think Marin Abramovic) who is dying from cancer and living her final days in an exhibit ("Death-Speak") at a museum where she interacts with visitors changes his perspectives. Very interesting themes and twist at the end, but not the compelling read I hoped for. ***1/2 stars.

I think this was an interesting book, just not for me. There was a beautiful story here, but it was layered beneath a lot of dream scenarios and metaphors that I just didn’t get.

(4.5 stars) This book was good, but not living up to its early accolades – which included “Brilliant!” from John Green and “Akbar is one of my favorite authors. Ever” from Tommy Orange – until I hit the two-thirds mark, then WOW what a reveal and ending. I’m left with a terrific overall opinion of this work and its author. It’s a novel that is both poetic and narrative. One that informs on the meaning of life and love and forgiveness in ways that are both humorous and sensitive.

Akbar’s debut novel follows Cyrus Shams, an Iranian American, who lost his mother when the US Navy shot down her Iranian passenger airline, killing everyone on board. Cyrus’ father has passed away in Indiana while working for the poultry industry, leaving Cyrus an orphan. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict and a poet whose obsession with martyrs leads him to a dying performance artist who perhaps holds the answers to his mysterious past.

This is a novel to revel in and cherish. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for providing an e-ARC for my review. The title publishes in January 2024.

I really have no idea what I just read. I am giving it 4 stars as it might be brilliant - but I’m not sure as there was so much that I didn’t understand! But there is no doubt the author is brilliant and creative and clever. The book is disjointed and depressing yet the writing is so strong that it deserves to be read.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an early release in exchange for an honest review.

“Martyr” was a book I was excited to read, however, ended up be very different than expected. I wanted to really like this book, but I felt it read disjointed and a bit unorganized. As such, I personally found this title to be difficult to get through and while has potential, was not one I fully enjoyed.

Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf, Panteon, Vintage, and Anchor publishing for providing me the opportunity to review "Martry” prior to publication. I am appreciative and leave my review voluntarily.