Martyr!: A Novel

Rarely enough to keep the experience special does the right book hit you at the right time and it feels like magic.Martyr! was both foreign and familiar, cringe and comfort, fantastical and realistic, and reading it is a memorable moment in time.It's an immigrant story, a generational family trauma, a college novel, an addict survival tale, a LBGTQ+ struggle, and country and city mouse journey, while wrestling with politics, art, love, poetry, writing, creating, mental and emotional health, dreaming, and magical realism. It's got NYC and Brooklyn! It's got everything you could ask for and more that you'd never think of asking it.My advice and while I'll refrain from sharing any plot or thoughts on that ending, is to just open it up and start reading... let it take you somewhere.It brought back coming of age feelings that I haven't experience on paper since Leaving The Atocha Station by Ben Lerner and is already a book I'm buying for others, pressing it into their hands, saying give yourself over to this, trust this book, and it will reward you with riches - then come talk to me about it.It's a book you want to read again right after finishing it. It's that special gift, that rare book, that you've already seen everywhere yet still manages to live up to and earn its hype. Read it.

'Martyr!' is a fine, easy enough read. I did not mind the jumping around of time and characters by chapters have some have. It's not a new method for novels, and I don't need things to be so linear all the time.My bigger issue is with the title and the interwoven theme of martyrdom. First off, I don't think Abkar or his character understand what a martyr is. And if they do, the don't articulate it, nor do they truly flesh out the idea of what Cyrus, the main character, wants to do / be with either writing about or being one. It's theory at best, unfulfilled musings at worst. The title certainly does not warrant an exclamation point, as the author never truly follows through in anything that aren't little quips between chapters.While Cyrus is now sober, some of the writing / dialogue would seemingly come from some high times when a few people would be sitting around stoned and going "oh wow man.........that's deep!", when it really is not. Cyrus and Zee's interactions, to me, are due to a lot of overthinking and trying to be deeper than they actually are. Some of the passages get weighed down by it.But the story flows well. I thought I saw the 'twist' coming, and while I wasn't far far off, I was not correct, so good job on that part.I know people are saying the book is overrated, but I don't pick book selections based on 'book club' mentality.

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.

Interesting characters with identity crisis presented from the view of Iranian background of one family. The creation of these problems stems from war and the cultural rigidity in Iran. The main character Cyrus Shams loses his Mom as a baby and is raised by a father who runs from that culture to settle in America whose government shot down the commercial airline leaving Iranian airspace on which his Mom was a passenger. Cyrus is lost in personal national identity and sexual coming of age. Never really received any nurturing growing up and has an issue with connections that are portrayed beautifully by this author as he tries to find purpose for his life. Other characters get good development including his mom Roya Sham.

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.