Martyr! A Novel

ETA: National Book Prize Finalist 10/1/24, if that kind of thing is important to you. Martyr! is not at all my usual read, and it's difficult to articulate why I liked it so much. I'll list a few random highlights and hope they will suffice. *Debut novelist Kaveh Akbar is a poet, and his writing sings (like poet-turned-novelist Ocean Vuong's [b:On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous 41880609 On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Ocean Vuong https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1615580168l/41880609.SX50.jpg 61665003], but with less tragedy and more cynicism).MC Cyrus Shams is a young Iranian-American man. His familiar struggle to figure out the Meaning of Life is coupled with the desire to make his death meaningful as well, like the martyrs of his country of origin. Not coincidentally, Cyrus' own mother died in a 1988 airplane crash when a U.S. Navy warship shot down an Iranian commercial airplane, killing everyone on board (this actually happened). In addition to Cyrus' first person POV, there are close 3rd person POV chapters from Cyrus' dad, who worked on an Iowa chicken farm for decades to support himself and his son; Orkideh, an NYC artist who has transformed her own impending death into a piece of performance art; and Cyrus' uncle, whose Iran-Iraq wartime role was to serve as a literal Angel of Death for men who were dying on the battlefield. *The narrative includes bizarre dream conversations between Cyrus' family members and famous people (Lisa Simpson and his dead mother; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the little brother Cyrus always wanted). A WTF? ambiguous ending cost the novel a star (either Cyrus was transformed by love, or he died). Even though Martyr! took me outside my reading comfort zone, it was, surprisingly, just right for me at this particular moment in time.