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Dec 16, 2024 03:58AM
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Our discussion this month is MARTYR by Kaveh Akbar. Has anyone read it or reading it? Has anyone read the authors previous work? Anyone following him online? Been to a book signing?
Here’s the wiki for him
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaveh_A...
I finished it yesterday and (dare I say) it was the best book I read in 2024. The language (yes sometimes trying a little too hard with repetitive rarely used words), but it was a feast. And the twist was chef’s kiss.
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Oh, nice! This is good to hear, Kapi.
I just finished it three days ago and did a quick review of it. There are so many things I didn't completely understand, and it seems I'll add it to my 2025 list again to understand it better and fully grasp what it's trying to convey.
I didn't notice any martyr-like traits in his characters except in the character of Cyrus's father.
As for his mother, I never considered her a martyr in the first place.The problem is that, until now, I haven’t understood the meaning of martyrdom according to Kaveh Akbar😭
i have read it last year and it became a favorite for me! just absolutely beautiful, i love it when poets write novels bcs it's just so gorgeous and introspective and raw. akbar stopped me in my reading on a few occasions, definitely. plus it tangled itself with a hyperfixation of mine, the real-life event of the shooting (and eventual crash) of the iran air flight 655 by uss vincennes.
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Epigraph thru chap 10 * today - Jan 6th
Chap 11 thru chap 22 * Jan 7th - Jan 17th
Entire book open Jan 18th
I'm about 20% in and still not sure where this is going. The positive comments from others give me hope.
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i really want a discussion around so let me shoot a couple of couple questions at y'all: what do you guys think of the theme of alternative martyrdom? how is it handled and applied to cyrus' mother and uncle? and is it thought-provoking? moving? has it taken a surprising turn? if it were entirely up to you, what would be your alternative definition of a martyr?
In response to Maya's question, "What would be your alternative definition of a martyr?"Most of us are familiar with the conventional meaning of martyrdom, which is often tied to religion, worldly struggles, or a combination of both. In certain languages, such as Arabic, the linguistic meaning of "martyrdom" encompasses definitive testimony, presence, observation, and openness. Religiously, martyrdom is defined as dying in the path of God:
> "Those who stand firm in the ranks, never turning their faces until they are slain, they shall ascend to the highest chambers of Paradise, and their Lord will smile upon them. And when your Lord smiles at a servant in this world, there will be no reckoning for him."
However, I have yet to encounter an expression of martyrdom in any narrative that encompasses its full depth. For instance, the characters of Cyrus's mother and uncle in that story fail to grasp the true linguistic or religious meaning of martyrdom. Their flawed understanding is what ultimately led to their fate.
Cyrus's mother, in particular, never truly intended to seek "martyrdom," whatever her conception of the term may have been. The entire matter boils down to intention, which is at the heart of any act of martyrdom.
As for me, if I were to offer an alternative definition of martyrdom, I would say:
It is the act of offering myself as a sacrifice for anything pure and noble, in pursuit of self-purification and spiritual elevation, while simultaneously providing humanity with a tangible benefit through this sacrifice and testimony.
Even though I finished reading the novel a while ago, it just crossed my mind now. I remembered the part about Cyrus's mother (Roya) when she was trying to learn English from a dictionary, and how an entire chapter was dedicated to explaining her relationship with the dictionary. That chapter is literally my favorite part of the entire novel. The way she described her relationship with the words in the dictionary, and how the dictionary was the reason for her survival, truly captivated me to the point that it might actually motivate me to learn a new language just using a dictionary in the coming days!
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I did not find it in Cyrus's journey tbh😅; I found it in the journey of the village poet. I do not remember his name, but he is the only one who reminds me of this quote.
I would answer the question with a quote of this book which I really liked: "For our species, the idea of art as ornament is a relatively new one. Our ape brains got too big, too big for our heads, too big for our mothers to birth them. So we started keeping all our extra knowing in language, in art, in stories and books and songs. Art was a way of storing our brains in each other's" (page 310 in the paperback version of vintagebooks)
I just got to the interlude story about the poet and the bridge. That really meant a lot to me, and I am enjoying this book as a whole. I related a lot with Cyrus and the coffee cup situation, and there have been many great nuggets to think about, especially his hot take on gratitude.
Shirafisky wrote: "I just finished it three days ago and did a quick review of it. There are so many things I didn't completely understand, and it seems I'll add it to my 2025 list again to understand it better and f..."I just finished and have to agree with you, that I will have to come back to this and try to understand all that it was trying to convey.
This book was absolutely stunning, and easily found its way onto my all-time favorite book list. I will be re-reading in February with my tiny book club - I think the book is worth a re-read, there could be much I may have missed in the first read.I'm very excited, I will be attending The Dallas Museum of Art's "Arts & Letters Live" event this evening with Kaveh Akbar as the guest. I can't wait to hear what he has to say about the book and what questions he may address from the audience.
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Awesome! Glad you’ll have the opportunity to hear the author live. Please share any information from the talk if you have a chance. We would love to hear it.
The talk with Kaveh Akbar was a wonderful evening - he’s a fascinating person, with inspiring insights. He has a tendency to go off onto side bar comments when answering questions, but not in a way that it bothered me, because his thoughts on fiction and poetry were illuminating. There were several audience members who had not yet read the book, so he tried very hard to skirt around spoilers, specifically when he was asked to elaborate on the book’s ending. He talked about how the book came to him, and, interestingly, the idea started with the idea of the artist and her interactive exhibit while she was dying. He also spoke about the many similarities between himself and Cyrus, as well as between his own father and Cyrus’ dad, but while he drew on his own experience he wad adamant that it was not autobiographical.
I would highly recommend anyone who has the opportunity to hear him speak to do it - or to listen to any interviews he may have done that are posted online. Very worthwhile. I loved the book before I saw him speak, and I loved it even more afterward. And now I have a signed copy as well!
Commenting very late, but I wanted to know everyone's opinions on the ending. There seems to have been multiple discussions on reddit on how Cyrus definitely died by the end. I was very sure he didn't, but some of the arguments are compelling. What do you guys think? The quote at the end makes me think he didn't, but the dream sequence where his friend/roommate appeared made me think the friend definitely died (considering how all the people Cyrus sees are either dead or fictional.). But then he meets Cyrus in the end at the park?
