Darius the Great Is Not Okay

This novel got a lot of hype before and after its release - and it deserves it. It has great minority representation, from Persian (and bi-racial!) to Zoroastrian and Baha'i, to clinical depression and male friendship. You could also read gay and/or asexual into it, but that's not explicitly mentioned. Romantic love is just never addressed; perhaps because the story just doesn't involve it, but you could definitely read the main character as ace.

Darius is a great main character. He's funny, self-deprecating, and complex. He has clinical depression, is medicated for it, and can sometimes tell when it's the depression making him think a certain way, but sometimes he can't. He's biracial, visiting Iran and his mother's Persian family for the first time, and adjusting to Persian social norms and traditions while trying not to lose sight of his American life. His connection with his father is tenuous and fraught with miscommunication, and lot of the book is spent wrestling with that relationship. His new friend, Sohrab, is a great foil to that, as his father is completely absent from his life, having been arrested and thrown in jail prior to the start of the story, largely for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and being part of a minority religion.

There are so many small things touched on this book - suspicion at customs when flying through, bullying at school for being Persian, not speaking his family's language because his mother didn't teach it to him (and feeling cut off because of it) - all little things that a lot of immigrant children deal with.

Aside from the cultural things the book addresses, there's also the mental health aspect. Both Darius and his father have clinical depression, and there's stigma attached to having the diagnosis, and to taking pills for it. We see how their mental states affects their relationship with each other and with the rest of their family, and it's quite powerful. The author talks about having clinical depression in an afterword, and includes some resources that helped him. This is an #ownvoices novel in more ways than one, and it really shows. Excellent book.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

This book was an unexpected delight. I knew going in that this book included a strong focus on depression, but it is not a sad book.

I enjoyed getting to see the world through the lens that Darius has, even as he struggles because he also starts to see that the world is a beautiful place, and things are not always just as they appear.

This book has wonderful perspective about seeing ourselves and others as whole people, with good things and less good things, but ultimately giving grace and being okay with difference.

Almost all of the experience of Darius is outside of my experience, and I really enjoyed going on an adventure (on my computer) to see Yazd, learning about the B'hai and Zoroastrian faiths, and learning about tea. It's a fun read with cultural notes.

Also: The narrator of the audiobook does a fantastic job.