Martyr!

2024 novel by Kaveh Akbar

This article is about the novel. For other uses, see Martyr (disambiguation).

Martyr!

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

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Cyrus is an angst-ridden son of an Iranian migrant worker who works on a factory chicken farm in rural Indiana. His mother dies in an air disaster that occurred when an American missile accidentally shot down an Iranian plane that was shot down during the Iran–Iraq War. Cyrus is a bisexual recovering alcoholic who is addicted to pharmaceuticals. Throughout the course of the book, we learn about Cyrus's uncle who was in the Iran–Iraq War and suffers from PTSD. He also recounts stories about his parents' childhood and formative years in Iran. Cyrus also has a series of relationships that includes one with his roommate Zee.

Cyrus visits a Marina Abramović–like artist at the Brooklyn Museum of Art who is staging a performance art piece about her experiencing the final stages of her terminal cancer. The artist tells Cyrus a story that is incredibly familiar, a tale that similar to one that only he knows from his personal history. Upon the artist's death, Cyrus discovers his connection to her, a deep connection that explains his past and perhaps, even his trauma.

## Writing and development

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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

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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

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1. ^ "Matyr!". The Center for Fiction. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
2. ^ "The Best Books of the Year (So Far)". The New York Times. May 24, 2024. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
3. ^ Knight, Lucy (June 19, 2024). "Six 'bold and playful' novels shortlisted for Waterstones debut fiction prize". The Guardian. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
4. ^ 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.
5. ^ a b Harris, Elizabeth A. (January 19, 2024). "What Drives Kaveh Akbar? The Responsibility of Survival". The New York Times. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
6. ^ Varno, David (November 24, 2023). "Kaveh Akbar's Labor of Love". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
7. ^ Waldman, Katy (March 13, 2024). ""Martyr!" Plays Its Subject for Laughs but Is Also Deadly Serious". The New Yorker. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
8. ^ 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)
9. ^ Díaz, Junot (January 19, 2024). "A Death-Haunted First Novel Incandescent With Life". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
10. ^ Prose, Francine (April 18, 2024). "Poem & Prayer". The New York Review of Books. 71 (7). Retrieved June 23, 2024.
11. ^ Cypher, Sarah (January 23, 2024). "Kaveh Akbar's 'Martyr!' is a wonderfully strange delight". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 14, 2025.
12. ^ "The 2024 National Book Awards Longlist". The New Yorker. September 12, 2024. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
13. ^ Harris, Elizabeth A. (October 1, 2024). "2024 National Book Award Finalists Are Named". The New York Times. Retrieved April 14, 2025.
14. ^ Stewart, Sophia (October 1, 2024). "2024 National Book Award Finalists Announced". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved April 14, 2025.