Martyr!
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| Author | Kaveh Akbar |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Linda Huang |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary fiction, family life |
| Publisher | Knopf Publishing Group |
Publication date | January 23, 2024 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 352 |
| ISBN | 978-0593537619 |
Martyr! is the 2024 debut novel by the 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]
Plot
[edit] | This article needs a plot summary. (June 2025) |
Writing and development
[edit]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
[edit]The New Yorker applauded it: "Akbar's writing has the musculature of poetry that can't rely on narrative propulsion and so propels itself."[7] The Boston Globe wrote that it is "stuffed with ideas, gorgeous images, and a surprising amount of humor".[8]
Writing in The New York Times Book Review, Junot Díaz called it "incandescent" and its main character Cyrus Shams "an indelible protagonist, haunted, searching, utterly magnetic".[9]
At The New York Review of Books, Francine Prose noted:[10]
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.
Sarah Cypher of The Washington Post praised the reading experience as "a delight" and called the novel "wonderfully strange".[11]
In September 2024 Martyr! was longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction.[12] In October 2024, the novel was shortlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction.[13][14]
References
[edit]- ^ "Matyr!". The Center for Fiction. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
- ^ "The Best Books of the Year (So Far)". The New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
- ^ Knight, Lucy (June 19, 2024). "Six 'bold and playful' novels shortlisted for Waterstones debut fiction prize". The Guardian. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
- ^ Iglesias, Gabino (January 29, 2024). "In 'Martyr!,' an endless quest for purpose in a world that can be cruel and uncaring". NPR. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- ^ a b Harris, Elizabeth A. (January 19, 2024). "What Drives Kaveh Akbar? The Responsibility of Survival". The New York Times. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
- ^ Varno, David (November 24, 2023). "Kaveh Akbar's Labor of Love". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
- ^ Waldman, Katy (March 13, 2024). ""Martyr!" Plays Its Subject for Laughs but Is Also Deadly Serious". The New Yorker. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
- ^ 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 January 21, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Díaz, Junot (January 19, 2024). "A Death-Haunted First Novel Incandescent With Life". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
- ^ Prose, Francine (April 18, 2024). "Poem & Prayer". The New York Review of Books. 71 (7). Retrieved June 23, 2024.
- ^ Cypher, Sarah (January 23, 2024). "Kaveh Akbar's 'Martyr!' is a wonderfully strange delight". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 14, 2025.
- ^ "The 2024 National Book Awards Longlist". The New Yorker. September 12, 2024. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
- ^ Harris, Elizabeth A. (October 1, 2024). "2024 National Book Award Finalists Are Named". The New York Times. Retrieved April 14, 2025.
- ^ Stewart, Sophia (October 1, 2024). "2024 National Book Award Finalists Announced". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved April 14, 2025.