Welcome to the Book Club hub for Martyr!
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If You Liked
If You Liked...Martyr!
..you like complex, character-driven stories about family secrets.
Discussion Questions
- The title of the book includes an exclamation point. What tone did this set for you before you began reading the book?
- Author Kaveh Akbar is an award-winning poet. How do you see his talent as a poet influence his writing in Martyr! and was there a specific one you liked best?
- Akbar based Roya’s death during a real-life event—the destruction of Iran Air Flight 665 by the U.S.S. Vincennes in 1988. Afterwards, her widower and child immigrate to the United States, the same country that was responsible for the tragedy. How do you think this shaped the trajectory of Ali and Cyrus’s lives?
- How do you perceive Cyrus’s imagined conversations between fictional characters? Who would you put into an imaginary conversation together and why? Did you feel the imagined conversation added to the plot?
- How has survivor’s guilt affected Cyrus throughout his life? Does he feel doomed or spared?
- Does Cyrus’s conversation with Orkideh change his view of martyrdom? Discuss.
- In an interview with NPR, Akbar said, “Art is a mechanism by which people have sought immortality for millennia.” Do you agree with his statement? How does this relate to Cyrus’s journey?
- We met Cyrus, who is working as an actor in a hospital; he performs grief and death, including acting as a widow diagnosed with cancer. How do you think this links to his journey later in the novel?
- In AA, we see Cyrus struggle with the spirituality of AA, as he seeks a higher power but feels disconnected from one. “If you could trade years of your life to be certain of happiness,” would you?
- His AA sponsor Gabe askes Cyrus, “How many pomegranates are in your poems rather than iPhones?”, The question is a criticism Cyrus’s struggle with identity and his habit of seeking meaning in the grandiose symbols rather than the mundane passing of life. What was your opinion of Cyrus’s view of the world?
- We just POV’s a few times in the book, Ali, Roya, Zee, Orkideh and Arash, was there a character you preferred? Who’s view of the world did you like better?
- Cyrus says his nose is the only part of his face that he likes, while his mother states that her own nose is something she dislikes. Considering the similarities and differences their lives took, do you think they have more or less in common?
- There are a few romantic interests for Cyrus in the book, but the final scene attempts to reunite Zee and Cyrus. How did you feel about their relationship and how that scene was presented to the reader?
- Cyrus spends a lot of time thinking and talking about the book he is going to write, but as Orkideh says, “Probably not a good idea to start imagining headlines about your art before you’ve even made it”. Which do you think works better - creating something and finding meaning after it is complete or creating something around a meaning you’ve already picked?
- Given Cyrus’s struggle with addiction and his relationship to grief, how do you feel the book ended? Were you satisfied, or were there questions you still had?