Constant Reader discussion

Yes, I know I am late in starting this discussion, and I am very sorry about it. Apparently I have angered the IT gods, because I have been working on my kickoff post since 6:15 am ET. I am staying calm only because I recognize that my plight is nothing in comparison to Cyrus Shams’ litany of problems. I hope to be back in the good graces of the gods, or perhaps I’ll try AI. In the meantime, if anyone wants to pinch hit and start us off, be my guest! Mary Anne

Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar
Before we begin, I apologize for typos, errant autofills, or any other quirky things you see. I will be happy to make edits, as needed. About 3 weeks ago, my laptop was hacked with all the bells and whistles that brings into one’s home. I had to hand over the infected laptop to my laptop fixer, but that left me with only my iPhone and a new iPad for cobbling together what you see here. But lest you think I have joined the main character in a self pity party.
If you felt that the book was too sluggish or to depressing in the beginning, imagine how the young Cyrus Shams felt. Some readers have told me they couldn’t get past page 50 but I encourage you not to give up: you might realize that you were just sitting in the last car of the roller coaster, can now see that you are speeding down and twisting around at the same time.
There is plenty of supporting material on the internet. Just Google the title and that exclamation point, and you might be as amazed as I was.
This book was named to the New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2024. The winning book was Percival Everett’s James. The New York Times Book Review has a podcast that drops on Tuesdays and Fridays and provides information about books and authors that you don’t always hear elsewhere. Of course they did a podcast announcing the top ten list. The first half of the show are the 5 fiction books, and Martyr! Is the last one covered. This is information given so you can fast forward or listen to it entirely.
Look for the title “Talking about the Best Books of 2024” dropped on Dec. 3, 2024.

I read this book in 2024 so I don’t have a lot to contribute but I thought I’d encourage others to persist by sharing my note from 2 years ago: This is an odd, extremely well written book. It took me a while to connect with the plot and the characters but I persisted and once I started caring about the characters and understood the plot better I was captivated. An apt quotation for this novel — “Oh, what a tangled web we create…when first we practice to deceive.” (from Sir Walter Scott's poem Marmion) Also, a passage I took note of — Seneca said grief should only last seven years — Anything more was indulgent.

I literally just finished the book and wrote a singularly uninformative brief starting review. I did like this quite a lot but agree it began slowly and was more difficult to read. I actually didn’t try to read much in any one sitting in the beginning. But after a while, I found that the book really flowed well. The writing is excellent and, as I think back on it, some of my issues with reading may have been related to following Cyrus’s thoughts and speech which were negatively affected by drugs and anxiety and depression. Once the narrative opens up, the words seemed to flow more easily even from Cyrus.

I’m looking forward to other’s thoughts about many parts of this book.

I seldom re-read books, but this novel is so original and the writing is so good that I wanted to revisit it. I am about one-third done, and I am enjoying my reread.

On my first read I was confused about what was really going on for a long time. This time I am not burdened by trying to figure out the plot ahead of time. I can pay more attention to the language and psychological aspects.

For those who have not finished, the story has some very interesting twists and turns, so don't give up early.

I'll be back later when I have finished.

You make a good point, Ann. Early on in the first reading of a book, any book, one is confused about where we are going. This book, even more so because the narrator is in a drunken and/or stoned stupor and we are there with him. Maybe we’re thinking that what we are reading is pretty disgusting, and it is a struggle for us to read further.

If you have finished reading the entire book, I invite you to go back to the first chapter and reread the first page. Better yet, have the author himself read it to you in this clip from a Politics and Prose book talk, accompanied by author Clint Smith. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phLsO...

The opening pages of the novel start a 2:40 and run to 8:27. Watching the entire interview will give you insight into the men who are these two authors, and who are BFFs. Who knew?

But back to the opening clip, when I reread it, I wondered why I didn’t see the irony underlining the tone the first time? When you listen to Akbar’s reading, does the passage seem even more ironic? Or did you still feel that you were only reading about his addicted life?

I’m going to have to think on this and also listen to it.

I love that Akbar and Smith are close friends. I want to read more from both.

I have to say, I am profoundly in the minority on this book. I don’t want to kill the buzz, so I doubt I’ll have much to say. But I’ll stick around for the conversation, because I’m curious.