Published by Knopf (January 23, 2024)
Hardcover $23.59
Audiobook $12.99

By Ashley Riggleson/ FXBG ADVANCE

Kaveh Akbar’s debut novel, Martyr! is one of the most talked about books of January and with good reason. This distinctive and poignant novel about a young man’s search for meaning tugged at my heartstrings, and I did not want it to end. I loved it.

Readers primarily follow Cyrus, the son of Iranian immigrants. He is a recovering alcoholic who struggles with his mental health and the ordinary work of living. It seems, in fact, that he wants to die, but he wants his death to mean something. As the novel progresses, Akbar takes readers back into the past to learn how Cyrus gets to this point. We learn, for instance, that his mother was deeply unhappy in her marriage to his father and that, when Cyrus was young, his mother died when her plane was shot down by the US military, one of many lives lost. And, while his father was a good provider, he was emotionally distant, and Cyrus’ childhood was a lonely one. Additionally, Akbar shows that Cyrus’ problems are, in part, the result of Iran’s tumultuous history and of his feelings about growing up as an outsider in the United States. Akbar also does an excellent job of showing how all these factors contribute to making Cyrus the man he is at the beginning of the novel.

There is a plotline that takes place in the novel’s present as well. Cyrus is preoccupied with trying to have a good death, one that matters. As he works on a book about the martyrs of the past, he comes across the story of an artist called Orkideh. Like Cyrus, she has Iranian roots, and she is at the Brooklyn Museum in the midst of her final installation, a visual art piece called “Death-Speak.” Orkideh is suffering from terminal cancer, and she spends her final days talking with anyone who visits her there. Cyrus’ friend Zee suggests that he meet her, so they soon go to New York. Here, he realizes that he and Orkideh have more in common than he ever suspected. And, while Cyrus originally traveled to New York to learn about dying, in the end, he learns something about living.

Martyr! is a beautiful novel about redemption and healing, and Akbar, who is also a poet, writes beautifully as well. That said, Martyr! is not for everyone. It is a character driven novel with a very quiet plot. Akbar expects the reader to engage in this novel and give it their full attention, and he uses its extraordinary premise to discuss topics like race, the importance of art, Cyrus’ intrinsic value, mental health, and addiction. With that in mind, readers should also be warned that Martyr! has many potential triggers, including suicide, suicidal ideation, illness, grief, addiction, and more. Despite the challenging subject matter though, Martyr! is sometimes joyous and always perfectly wrought. Readers will not forget Akbar’s debut anytime soon.

Ashley Riggleson is a free-lance book reviewer from Rappahannock County. When she is not reading or writing book reviews, she can usually be found playing with her pets, listening to podcasts, or watching television with friends and family.

Profoundly moving and thought provoking. A stunning debut novel.
Many thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

"Martyr!" by Kaveh Akbar intricately explores themes of addiction, loss, identity, and the search for meaning through the poignant journey of Cyrus Shams, an Iranian-American poet. The novel's emotionally charged narrative and potent political inquiries showcase Akbar's poetic influence, turning occasional plot weaknesses into intentional nuances. The conceptualization of Cyrus as both Iranian and American adds a unique depth, challenging conventional notions of identity.
Acknowledging flaws like a gimmicky ending, predictable plot points, and occasional pacing issues, the reviewer appreciates the impact of "Martyr!" The book's blend of poetry and prose challenges readers to ponder life's complexities, creating a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant debut novel. Despite its imperfections, "Martyr!" stands out as a work worth the read, offering a captivating exploration of life's intricacies that transcends conventional boundaries and earns its 3.5 stars.

What a fascinating book About a boy namedc YNSS HAM. Yes. Who grew up In a ran when things were starting to change in that country. Book Goes back in time and then toward the future. The past talks about his mother and father. How they were raised in Iran in the old days. The mother was raised in a very conventional house. But she liked to be wild and free an. Her brother whose older was more taken care of her. So she marries the boy's father and he had a very interesting background as well. It's also like a love story between the mother and this other woman. She meets because her husband and his friend went on a camping trip. This friend was really like really adventurous at that time. Because they do not accept same sex ideas.. She was also pregnant at the time with the boy. She did not tell this friend or her husband at that time. She had the baby boynamed c y n s. It's really hard for her to take care of this child because he could not sleep at all. Mother left to go on a plane to visit her brother because he had a lot of problems from the From the W a r. The plane was shot down so the mother died and the father was left to raise this child. Father went to America with this child because he felt it was much better future for this child America was very difficult because the child was leapt alone a lot. And the father had to keep working long hours. When he went to college, he started a drinking problem. And this looked a lot of different mishaps especially with women. He loved a man named xin and they were on and off relationship type. This book had a lot of differenttwists and turns in it. But at the ending , you realized who the artist was because of that painting of the block angel cause that was his uncle.

This book took some time to coalesce for me, but once it did I was enthralled! I really wasn't sure where the book was going initially. It felt a little chaotic, which is how Cyrus felt as a character to me, so it fit. I grew to love Cyrus in all his messed up glory and Zee!!! Cyrus. This book really wrapped up well and left me wanting to go back to the beginning and read it again..

If you can ignore how you feel about the principal protagonist Cyrus and read this novel for the story and insights, it shines a powerful beam on some of humankinds universal questions. What gives a life meaning? Can you have a death that makes a difference? What is a martyr? What is the "toll of trying really really hard to be good in a game that's rigged against goodness." ?(Zee) How does art reflect life?

It's a struggle (personally) to read a book where the main character is so self-absorbed, so full of self-pity, along with drug and alcohol addictions. That said, the author has exactingly depicted such a miserable character. Thankfully, there are other persona in the book to play foil to Cyrus' sniveling.

The author has created some very vivid scenes -- his uncle's military service, hadith tales, Orkideh's painting. And some great lines:

A photograph can say "This is what it was." Language can only say "This is what it was like."
"...But you can't use history to rationalize everything. You realize that's what countries do, right? What America does. And what Iran does, specifically?"
When asked about the difficulties of sculpture, Michelangelo said, "It is easy. You just chip away all the stone that isn't David."
All of us were dying, I'd remind them. I was just dying faster. (Orkideh)

There is a lot of humour in the book, but it felt chipped away by the sadness.

In all, not an easy book to read, but very well worth it. Tons to think about and discuss.

This book is hyped - and it earns every bit of it. The story is compelling, the language is poetic and precise. I read it in a single sitting - it's not really built for that, but I couldn't put it down. I was sure early on that a key thing Cyrus believed about his life would be false, and it was, but seeing it coming didn't diminish the experience at all. I'd recommend this to pretty much anyone looking for an absorbing, through-provoking, well-written book; in fact, I have been, and we can't keep it on our shelves. Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for an advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Martyr is a lyrical tour-de-force, evocative prose swinging the reader along line to line. It missed the mark for me personally, but this was perhaps a case of mismatched audience. Akbar's talent stands starkly out in his poetry, that is evident here, and reading this story as a collection of scenes made this work better for me than relying on the plot for a cohesive storyline. I came into Martyr expecting to love it, and was disappointed when it fell short, but enjoyed Cyrus' existential musings nonetheless.

ARC from Netgalley

There are parts of this novel that really are astonishing. Certainly, you can detect a poet at work. A love for the sound of language is obvious, especially in the opening pages. Whenever Orkhideh and Zee are present, the pages felt real and full of life. Unfortunately. my reading experience was uneven, and I really struggled with the lack of authorial decision making. After the first 20% of the book, there is a lack of narrative focus, full of meandering and exploratory storylines and dream-sequences and characters sketches. This could have been a profound novel, but it succeeds only partly.

Martyr! is in part an ode to our embarkation throughout our lives to curate an archive of art by others that touches us, that we in turn use as motivation for our own creation, while also serving as a beautiful, important, and layered testament to the story of a young Iranian man struggling with addiction, grief, loss, and a sense of meaninglessness.

The novel is comprised of multiple storytelling styles, mainly our protagonist’s personal narrative, but also rotating historic flashbacks from family members and such’s points of view, and excerpts and journalistic thoughts on uncovered research on largely known martyred figures. We experience our protagonist Cyrus’ current life and relative history in a rounded multitude of ways, perspectives and points that slowly form a larger picture in and between themselves.

Cyrus, overwrought from a life rife with addiction (“—booze flashing its different lenses in front of your face and sometimes, for a second, it’d be the right prescription— beyond your grief, beyond your doom. That was the clarity alcohol, and nothing else, gave.”) and the loss of both of his parents, wants to die; more accurately, he wants to die for something so meaningful as to give his personally opined “small scale life” meaning. “‘I want my life — my death — to matter more than that.’ ‘You want to be a martyr?’ ‘I guess. Yeah, actually. Something like that.’” Cyrus, like so many of us, belittles his meaning and importance in others lives, as well as belittling his career as a poet and artist; between intermittent forays into his own past, traveling to see a real life terminally ill aspiring martyr, and spending time with his best friend he takes for granted, Cyrus slowly builds a frame made from his history to eventually encase the masterpiece of his enlightened future.

“In Isfahan, the old capital, soldiers showed up unannounced at the doors of old women, saying, ‘Congratulations, your sons have been martyred.’ — They were the lucky ones. Inside Tehran’s Revolution Square, the sons of other mothers hung from cranes.”

In regards to what kept this book from a rating of 5 stars, for me, was due to an insignificant but still present collection of slights. I found a handful of the analogies to be almost non-sensical, occasionally evoking comparisons not accurate or apt, or unfit to the situation they were likened to. As well as this, I found a bit of small-scale repetition in certain details that I was apprehensive to label as purposeful or redundant. Despite these faults, I still found Martyr! a deeply entertaining and enlightening read, especially for anyone interested in furthering their knowledge on any of the topics presented, as this novel was definitely a compelling way to explore them.

In “Martyr!”, A man who has experienced so much loss seeks to shed his addictive tendencies, encompassing grief, and lost identity, initiating an emotional and physical journey of intense depth to gain meaning and understanding in his work and in himself. Gathering the essences and motivations of famous martyrs, documenting their legacies, Cyrus weaves a tapestry of martyrdom that will document deaths but inspire him in life: he will document lives lost for different poignant and personal reasons in order to find something to passionately live for.

“A martyr wears simple footwear, he thought to himself.”

Akbar is a poetic genius. The character of Cyrus is trying to find his place in the world and peace with himself. He has struggled with addiction and at times, is ready to give up. But he wants his death to be meaningful.
Even though the subject matter can be intense, Akbar inflicts poetic humor to divert the reader. There are chapters narrated by his mother and father as well as dreams.
I loved every page and can't wait to see what comes next for this amazing writer.
Highly recommend.
Thanks to Net Galley and Knopf for an advance read.

I have been a long time fan of Kaveh Akbar's poetry, so I was incredibly excited for his first novel. He is an incredibly talented writer and I think he will go down as one of the greatest writers of this generation. I really enjoyed his novel. As I expected, he wrote such full, complex characters and really made me feel like they were real people with real struggles and hardships. I can't wait to see what else he does next and I highly recommend his poetry for those who haven't read any yet.

Stunning debut novel dealing with many topics including forgiveness, family, loss, addiction, love. It is so beautifully written, so poetic, so complex, convoluted, taking me on a journey, giving me glimpses of Iranian culture, history, life. There was so much more to this read than I expected.

Reading "Martyr!" was an unexpected delight in every sense. Despite its heavy themes of death, addiction, and mental health, the book surprised me with moments of genuine laughter and joy. While it certainly made me reflect deeply on its weighty topics, it also explored themes of friendship, love, art, culture, and identity, infusing the narrative with a sense of upliftment and optimism.

This was my first experience reading Kaveh Akbar's work, and I can already say I'm officially a fan. Thank you to the publisher for my advanced copy of this book...I know this will be the title I'm recommending to people the rest of the year!

MARTYR! is one of the most unique books I’ve read in a while, but it falls victim to some common pitfalls. Its protagonist, Cyrus Shams, wants to die. He can’t stop thinking about his own death. Yes, he’s suicidal, but more than that, he wants his death to mean something: Martyrdom is on his mind. His parents both died in ways that he felt lacked meaning, providing kindling for his fixation on death. Cyrus is a poet, so he decides to channel his questions about death into a piece of art, exploring Iranian cultural traditions, famous martyrs, and performance art along the way.

When have you read a summary like that before!? I’ve read a lot of book summaries but never one like that. A lot of the book delivers on the premise. Early chapters are witty and snappy, not at all flowery like you might expect from a book by a poet. Characters find themselves in memorable scenarios and have frank conversations. There’s exploration of identity and addiction that feels novel and layered.

Enter the subplots. And the flashbacks. And the dream sequences. And the chapters where Cyrus has the same conversation over and over. And the overly convenient plot developments that strain credulity. All of this extra stuff is an attempt to put the reader in Cyrus’s mind and explicate the book’s themes, and while I appreciate that, it’s not well-executed. These extraneous chapters interrupt what’s working about the plot. They’re repetitive, too, making their inclusion feel even less necessary. They steal focus from the heart of the story when they should be bolstering and explaining it.

There’s a fantastic novel in here to go along with the fantastic cover… I just wish it wasn’t obscured by a whole lot of clutter.

An interesting, engaging look at love, loss, and acceptance. Both funny and touching, this book was so much more than I expected.

This is deeply moving and engaging; I can see Kaveh Akbar's poetic impulses at work here in the different POVs and descriptions. Admittedly, I found Orkideh's chapters the most intriguing, but the way Akbar interweaves them with Cyrus' personal journey is masterful.

A moving and poetic novel, really contemplative and well woven. I liked the shift in narration perspective and the snippets of Cyrus's book. Overall unique and memorable.

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for early access!


What a fantastic debut novel. I loved the writing so much! You can tell that Akbar is a poet, the sentences are beautiful and I could have picked each one apart. Martyr! covers a lot of big stuff: addiction, love, death, grief but it doesn’t totally bum you out. Cyrus was so voicey and gets into a lot of messes but discovers himself in the end. Worth the read!

Martyr was an absolutely phenomenal novel. This story was beautiful and heart wrenching all at the same time. It was full of culture, identity, recovery and art all intertwined beautifully as the main character comes to terms with his own identity and sobriety after being orphaned in his 20s. An excellent read