Poet Akbar (Calling a Wolf a Wolf) explores the allure of martyrdom in this electrifying story of a Midwestern poet struggling with addiction and grief. Cyrus Shams, an orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, is fixated on finding meaning in the deaths of his parents—his mother in a plane that was accidentally shot down by the U.S. Navy over the Persian Gulf, his father from a stroke. His obsession strains his relationships, particularly with his closest friend and roommate Zee Novak, as does his heavy drinking and drug use. Immersed in the study of martyrs throughout history, Cyrus finds focus for his project when he meets Orkideh, an older painter foregoing treatment for her terminal breast cancer, and he realizes he has an opportunity to interview a living martyr. More details would spoil the plot, which thickens when connections are revealed between Cyrus and Orkideh as well as secrets about Cyrus’s …
Poet Akbar (Calling a Wolf a Wolf) explores the allure of martyrdom in this electrifying story of a Midwestern poet struggling with addiction and grief. Cyrus Shams, an orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, is fixated on finding meaning in the deaths of his parents—his mother in a plane that was accidentally shot down by the U.S. Navy over the Persian Gulf, his father from a stroke. His obsession strains his relationships, particularly with his closest friend and roommate Zee Novak, as does his heavy drinking and drug use. Immersed in the study of martyrs throughout history, Cyrus finds focus for his project when he meets Orkideh, an older painter foregoing treatment for her terminal breast cancer, and he realizes he has an opportunity to interview a living martyr. More details would spoil the plot, which thickens when connections are revealed between Cyrus and Orkideh as well as secrets about Cyrus’s family history that inform his conflicted feelings about pursuing a queer romance with Zee. Akbar deploys a range of styles with equal flair, from funny wordplay (“Maybe it was that Cyrus had done the right drugs in the wrong order, or the wrong drugs in the right order”) to incisive lyricism (“An alphabet, like a life, is a finite set of shapes”). This wondrous novel will linger in readers’ minds long after the final page.
A little uneven (it could have used more editing, especially toward the end), but overall I thought it was very good. The writing sparkled throughout most of the book. There was a chapter about 1/3 of the way through that switched to the father's perspective - his thoughts about being a parent, his job working with other immigrants at a chicken facility in Indiana, etc. - and it was quite moving. The book was also surprisingly funny, despite addressing some rather serious topics, like addiction/recovery and how to have a meaningful life (and death).
This guy crammed every “insightful” or “profound” observation or opinion he had when he was 19 into this semi-autobiographical “anti-hero,” a loathsome pretentious self-obsessed hipster.
Every page revealed new horrors of gobsmacking incompetence.
A character actually says “I remember [that thing] really heebying my jeebies” and doesn’t immediately get strangled.
There are three separate metaphors about “a bowl of milk”:
"Something delicate released in my chest, like a gold ring dropping in a bowl of milk."
"A few stars floated around like the last Cheerios in a bowl of black milk."
"Dark clouds against a bright sky, like blackberries in a bowl of milk."
It was good! There was a plot point early on that kind of fucked with my suspension of disbelief and bugged me like a splinter the whole rest of the read, and some neatness in the plot that I wasn't totally buying/in the mood for. But I'm a sucker for expert prose, subtly handled subject matter, and readability so it won me over.
