Martyr!

A Novel

By: Kaveh Akbar

Narrated by: Arian Moayed

Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK • A newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a remarkable search for a family secret that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum. Electrifying, funny, and wholly original, Martyr! heralds the arrival of an essential new voice in contemporary fiction.

“Kaveh Akbar is one of my favorite writers. Ever.”—Tommy Orange, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of There There

“The best novel you'll ever read about the joy of language, addiction, displacement, martyrdom, belonging, homesickness.”—Lauren Groff, best-selling author of Matrix and Fates and Furies

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 the Persian Gulf 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—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.

Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others.

©2024 Kaveh Akbar (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Incandescent . . . Akbar has created an indelible protagonist, haunted, searching, utterly magnetic. But it speaks to Akbar’s storytelling gifts that Martyr! is both a riveting character study and piercing family saga . . . Akbar is a dazzling writer, with bars like you wouldn't believe . . . What Akbar pulls off in Martyr! is nothing short of miraculous.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A dazzling, thrilling debut novel about identity and loss . . . Martyr! thrillingly depicts why we cobble selves from alloys of words and cultures.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A brilliant and blisteringly alive novel about not just how we go on, but also why. Kaveh Akbar's first novel is so stunning, so wrenching, and so beautifully written that reading it for the first time, I kept forgetting to breathe. I will carry this story, and the people in it, with me for the rest of my life." —John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars

Very unique

An unexpected story, which is beautifully written, in the voice of various characters, and a third party narrator. It explores a multitude of themes, including addiction, guilt, racism, loss, sexuality, dreams, escapism, art, war, and the immigrant experience. It resonates as deeply personal and intense, and in many ways is strange in a wonderful way, original and unique.

Gorgeous language, riveting story revealed at just the right pace, richly developed characters and perfectly performed

Didn’t dislike anything. Poetic but narrative drives you forward with perfect narrator…gives a moving, clear performance that serves the story well

Beautiful story

Loved everything about this book. Feel in love with the characters and the writing. The performance was spot on as well. Must listen.

Exceptional reader! Difficult read.

Readers facility in moving between voices, accents, languages, and modes of story-telling was exceptional.
Story was gripping, compelling, and remains with me long after I finished listening — even though there were long passages that made me wince, with the main character’s convoluted introspection (“is this just my ego?”). Same with dialogues between characters who havejust experienced life-changing revelations or losses, which move almost immediately into abstract reflections and literary references.
Though I almost stopped listening after about 2 hours, I feel richly rewarded in the end.

Poetic language

Loved absolutely everything! This book is phenomenal. Without gile the author tackles si many social and individual challenges and the audio was excellent!

The premise of the story is original & fine either way such depth of character & the Middle East references so potent!

Loved the storyline & how he transformed an American dream story into something so meaningful & memorable.

living/dying reasons, and meanings.

like many stories that weave in and through time I often need a program or genogram of the characters in the story. Yet, part of not knowing the whole story assists in giving meaning and reasons to their living and dying. Well done.

Transcendent

This story wallows in, kicks at, and ultimately transcends the limits of language to communicate what it is to be in the world. I loved it. Love it. Akbar’s characters all transcend the pain of existence in one way or another, and Martyr!, in the end, becomes an unflinching affirmation of grace. Grateful for Moayed’s performance as well.

One of the best novels I have ever read/heard.

I’m in my seventies. I cannot remember a novel that has moved me more (hyperventiliating after some chapters, crying with others) while simultaneously challenging me with profound and ultimate themes regarding—no joke—the meaning of life and death and art. How Akbar moulded all of this into a novel with drama and surprise and characters to love is beyond my comprehension. The audio narration is perfect.

Best contemporary fiction read since Infinite Jest

What an immense pleasure to listen to this book. Truly a treat. A challenge and a joy. 11/10