Martyr!
Remarkable
Meaningful
Profound

Martyr! A novel

Kaveh Akbar2024
Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others—in which a newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a search that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum. “The best novel you'll ever read about the joy of language, addiction, displacement, martyrdom, belonging, homesickness.” —Lauren Groff, best-selling author of Matrix and Fates and Furies Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of Tehran in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the Angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed. Electrifying, funny, wholly original, and profound, Martyr! heralds the arrival of a blazing and essential new voice in contemporary fiction.
Sign up to use

Reviews

Photo of lucia
lucia@ruluish
4 stars
Sep 2, 2025
Layered
Surreal
Offbeat
Refreshing
Photo of lucia
lucia@ruluish
4 stars
Sep 2, 2025
Layered
Surreal
Offbeat
Refreshing
Photo of Nicole Grace
Nicole Grace@grayzies
5 stars
Aug 25, 2025
Photo of Mic Carter
Mic Carter@mcarter313
4.5 stars
Aug 22, 2025
Unique
Surreal
Intelligent
Photo of rain/anagha
rain/anagha@bookseoksoon
4 stars
Aug 16, 2025
Photo of Sarah Wilson
Sarah Wilson@sarahelisabet
3 stars
Jul 30, 2025
Complex
Touching
Original
Meaningful
Sophisticated
Photo of Yega
Yega@yega
3 stars
Jul 29, 2025
Photo of biddy
biddy@silksparrow
Photo of Lily Dendy
Lily Dendy@lildendy
5 stars
Jul 5, 2025
Dark
Intense
Meaningful
Photo of ★
@ysabel
1.5 stars
May 30, 2025
Photo of wid
wid@widya
5 stars
May 27, 2025
Photo of Marie 🌊
Marie 🌊@graceejorcadas
4 stars
May 12, 2025
Deep
Unique
Page turning
Contemplative
Photo of fris🐝
fris🐝@lfrisbee
4.5 stars
May 7, 2025
Photo of Sam Sontag
Sam Sontag@itssam
5 stars
May 7, 2025
Photo of Kaarthik sekar
Kaarthik sekar @kaarthiksekar
4.5 stars
May 6, 2025
Beautiful
Photo of diya
diya@diyankilaco
4 stars
May 4, 2025
Photo of shen
shen@shen
5 stars
May 1, 2025
Photo of Sarah E
Sarah E@booksgalore
4 stars
Mar 23, 2025
Vibrant
Touching
Expressive
Photo of petrina
petrina@petrinaaa08
5 stars
Mar 9, 2025
Photo of p.
p.@softrosemint
4 stars
Feb 23, 2025
Photo of jacq bridge
jacq bridge@jacq
4 stars
Feb 1, 2025
Photo of Sarah Erle
Sarah Erle@serle
5 stars
Jan 28, 2025
Photo of gabrielle v
gabrielle v@mariposa222
2 stars
Jan 14, 2025
Photo of c0up
c0up@c0up
5 stars
Jan 1, 2025

Highlights

Photo of Jasper
Jasper@jpev19
Page 133
Photo of Noreen Farsai
Noreen Farsai@noreenf
Page 157
Photo of jay chen
jay chen@jaycheezie
Photo of ★
@ysabel
Photo of m.
m.@marble
Page 120
Photo of m.
m.@marble
Page 104
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 199
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 156
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 141
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 126
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 123
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 113
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 105
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 112
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 163
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 142
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 32
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 29
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 26
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 25
Photo of N
N@smaragdinemondegreen
Page 4
Photo of Connie Meade
Connie Meade@conniemeade
Page 54
Photo of Connie Meade
Connie Meade@conniemeade
Page 53
Photo of Connie Meade
Connie Meade@conniemeade
Page 27