Martyr!

Last updated
Martyr!
Martyr! (Kaveh Akbar novel).jpeg
Author Kaveh Akbar
Cover artistLinda Huang
LanguageEnglish
GenreLiterary fiction, family life
Publisher Knopf Publishing Group
Publication date
January 23, 2024
Publication placeUnited States
Pages352
ISBN 978-0593537619

Martyr! is the 2024 debut novel by Iranian American poet Kaveh Akbar. A New York Times bestseller [1] and one of the paper's Best Books of the Year So Far, [2] it was a finalist for the 2024 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. [3] The novel follows Cyrus, a queer Iranian American dealing with depression and addiction and unable to cope with the death of his parents. [4]

Contents

Writing and development

Akbar found critical acclaim with his poetry collections Calling a Wolf a Wolf , released in 2017, and Pilgrim Bell , in 2021. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he made the decision to write a novel. [5] Akbar wrote poems that served as a step in drafting the novel, [6] and for a period he read two novels a week and watched a film daily as inspiration for his work. [5]

Reception

Martyr! was published by Knopf on January 23, 2024, and was critically acclaimed. [7] The New Yorker applauded it: "Akbar’s writing has the musculature of poetry that can’t rely on narrative propulsion and so propels itself." [8] The Boston Globe wrote that it is "Stuffed with ideas, gorgeous images, and a surprising amount of humor." [9]

Writing in The New York Times Book Review , Junot Diaz called it "incandescent" and its main character Cyrus Shams "an indelible protagonist, haunted, searching, utterly magnetic." [10]

At The New York Review of Books , Francine Prose noted: [11]

There’s something immensely appealing about a meticulously written novel whose characters (Cyrus isn’t the only one) are busily searching for meaning. It’s a pleasure to read a book in which an obsession with the metaphysical, the spiritual, and the ethical is neither a joke nor an occasion for a sermon. And it’s cheering to see a first-time (or anytime) novelist go for the heavy stuff—family, death, love, addiction, art, history, poetry, redemption, sex, friendship, US-Iranian relations, God—and manage to make it engrossing, imaginative, and funny.

In September 2024 Martyr! was longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction. [12]

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References

  1. "Matyr!". The Center for Fiction. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  2. "The Best Books of the Year (So Far)". The New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  3. Knight, Lucy (June 19, 2024). "Six 'bold and playful' novels shortlisted for Waterstones debut fiction prize". The Guardian. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  4. Iglesias, Gabino (2024-01-29). "In 'Martyr!,' an endless quest for purpose in a world that can be cruel and uncaring". NPR. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  5. 1 2 Harris, Elizabeth A. (19 January 2024). "What Drives Kaveh Akbar? The Responsibility of Survival". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  6. Varno, David (24 November 2023). "Kaveh Akbar's Labor of Love". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  7. "Book Marks reviews of Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar". Book Marks. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  8. Waldman, Katy (March 13, 2024). ""Martyr!" Plays Its Subject for Laughs but Is Also Deadly Serious". The New Yorker. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  9. Smith, Wendy; January 18. "In Kaveh Akbar's 'Martyr!' a poet seeks faith amid the senselessness of death, and life - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2024-01-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. Díaz, Junot (2024-01-19). "A Death-Haunted First Novel Incandescent With Life". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  11. Prose, Francine (April 18, 2024). "Poem & Prayer". The New York Review of Books. 71 (7). Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  12. "The 2024 National Book Awards Longlist". The New Yorker. 12 September 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.