Kaveh Akbar
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar chronicles the internal struggles of Cyrus Shams, a young man born in Iran who was brought to America by his father while an infant. His mother was on a commercial airliner to Dubai to visit her brother when her plane was accidentally shot down by an American missile. No one survived. Shortly after her death, Cyrus’ father, Ali, relocates to America with his infant son. Ali works in a chicken factory, doing everything he can to support his son. The two have only each other and get into a routine in their daily lives. Ali dies when Cyrus enters university. Cyrus is convinced his father had stayed alive just long enough to see him into adulthood.
Cyrus is an aspiring poet who struggles with depression, insomnia, and addiction. He has had to contend with racism and feelings of alienation all his life. He attends AA meetings and is able to remain drug-free and alcohol-free, but his demons continue to haunt. His constant thoughts of death lead him to interrogate the issue of what gives life purpose and death a meaning. He decides to compile a book about martyrs—people whose deaths made a meaningful statement. When his friend suggests he visit an artist dying of cancer who is spending her last days in a Brooklyn Museum talking to visitors, Cyrus decides she may provide some insights for his book. He visits her, and the two develop a rapport.
The novel unfolds with chapters moving back and forth in time and place. Inserted into the narrative are intermittent passages ostensibly taken from Cyrus’ Book of Martyrs. These include make believe conversations between various characters, for example, Lisa Simpson with Cyrus’ mother; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Beethoven Shams; Ali Shams and Rumi. There is also poetry in the voices of the deceased; first-person narratives of Cyrus’ parents, an uncle who suffers from PTSD, a boyfriend, and Orkideh. Haunting dream sequences are thrown in for good measure.
What seems like a hodge podge of unrelated threads and a mixture of voices is somehow woven into a cohesive, comprehensive novel in the talented hands of Kaveh Akbar. The threads are entertaining as stand-alones but they also function to enrich the novel. The writing is witty, philosophical, profound, moving, introspective, and always compelling. Even though we are provided with only brief glimpses of some of the characters, they are depicted as three-dimensional, complex individuals. Cyrus emerges as a multifaceted, haunted, bisexual male, occupying the liminal space between two cultures, struggling to find a purpose in life and a meaning in death.
A compelling, engaging, and thoroughly original debut novel from a gifted poet and author.