Rachel Baack
Summary: Cyrus Shams is a 28-year-old poet, the son of a mother whose plane was shot out of the sky when he was still an infant and a father whose subsequent emigration from Iran to the United States landed him in an exhausting job at a chicken plant. After recovering from a years-long substance addiction, the young poet becomes fascinated by the concept of martyrs and dying a meaningful death. When Cyrus learns about an artist with terminal cancer who is spending her final days in the Brooklyn Museum talking to patrons, he decides, after some encouragement from his friends Sad James and Zee, the latter of whom accompanies him on the journey, that he has to go see her. Although unsure of his expectations as he approaches conversations with the artist, what Cyrus learns will nonetheless surprise him and, inevitably, readers of his story.
Something I loved about this book was that the author frequently wrote in acknowledgement of confusion or lack of understanding from his characters when other characters made profound, metaphor-laden statements, thus inviting readers to feel comfortable with confusion on their own part. This author, it seems, understands that figurative language, especially when being used to describe highly unique and personal experiences, may be difficult to understand, and that’s not necessarily due to a deficiency of the listener’s or reader’s intelligence.
Summary: Cyrus Shams is a 28-year-old poet, the son of a mother whose plane was shot out of the sky when he was still an infant and a father whose subsequent emigration from Iran to the United States landed him in an exhausting job at a chicken plant. After recovering from a years-long substance addiction, the young poet becomes fascinated by the concept of martyrs and dying a meaningful death. When Cyrus learns about an artist with terminal cancer who is spending her final days in the Brooklyn Museum talking to patrons, he decides, after some encouragement from his friends Sad James and Zee, the latter of whom accompanies him on the journey, that he has to go see her. Although unsure of his expectations as he approaches conversations with the artist, what Cyrus learns will nonetheless surprise him and, inevitably, readers of his story.
Something I loved about this book was that the author frequently wrote in acknowledgement of confusion or lack of understanding from his characters when other characters made profound, metaphor-laden statements, thus inviting readers to feel comfortable with confusion on their own part. This author, it seems, understands that figurative language, especially when being used to describe highly unique and personal experiences, may be difficult to understand, and that’s not necessarily due to a deficiency of the listener’s or reader’s intelligence.