What does it mean to have a meaningful death? The main character of Martyr!, Cyrus, becomes obsessed with this idea as he navigates through grief, addiction, and love. Cyrus is an Iranian American living with the aftermath of his mother’s death in a plane crash, which occurred when he was an infant. He’s also dealing with the death of his father, who spent his life working in an American chicken factory, raising Cyrus, and handling his own grief with alcohol. Cyrus’s life changes after he begins speaking to an artist dying of terminal cancer who decides to live out her final days in a museum.
Use these Martyr! book club questions will help your book club navigate the thoughtful questions this book introduces, such as themes of death, a life’s purpose, addiction and art.
Included in this Martyr! Discussion guide is a synopsis, selected reviews, and suggestions for related reads. It also includes ten Martyr! discussion prompts to get you started on discussing this unique, profound and sometimes humorous literary book.
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Martyr! Synopsis
(We always chose to provide the publisher synopsis because we feel that it’s worthwhile to discuss whether the official book description actually squared with your experience of the book.)
Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar
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 the Persian Gulf 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.
10 Martyr! Book Club Questions
These questions have been tailored to this book’s specific reading experience, but if you want more ideas, we also have an article with 101 generic book club questions.
- What did you think about the choices Roya and Leila made?
- “It seems very American to expect grief to change something. Like a token you cash in. A formula. Grieve x amount, receive y amount of comfort. Work a day in the grief mines and get paid in tickets to the company store.”
What did this book have to say about grief? How did different characters experience it? Could you relate to it?
- “We won’t grow old together, Cyrus. But can’t you feel this mattering? Right now?”
What did you think about the surprise revelations about Cyrus’s mother?
- “If the mortal sin of the suicide is greed, to hoard stillness and calm for yourself while dispersing your riotous internal pain among all those who survive you, then the mortal sin of the martyr must be pride, the vanity, the hubris to believe not only that your death could mean more than your living, but that your death could mean more than death itself—which, because it is inevitable, means nothing.”
Why do you think Cyrus was so obsessed with the idea of martyrdom? Have you ever thought of it in this way?
- Why do you think Orkideh decided to live out her last weeks of life in the museum?
- What do you think about Ali and Cyrus moving to the country that was responsible for Roya’s death? How do you think this may have affected them?
- Who was your favorite or least favorite character? Why?
- The ending had a different feel, what do you think was happening to Cyrus? Do you think he was changing, dying, or dreaming?
- “I’ve read your poems, Cyrus. I get that you’re Persian. Born there, raised here. I know that’s a part of you. But you’ve probably spent more time looking at your phone today, just today, than you’ve spent cutting open pomegranates in your entire life. Cumulatively. Right? But how many fucking pomegranates are in your poems? Versus how many iPhones? Do you see what I mean?”
How did Cyrus experience his different identities?
- Do you think Cyrus resolved his questions by the end of the book?
Selected Reviews for Martyr!
“…Akbar crafts Cyrus in a way that is so in-depth and three dimensional. I’ve never felt so invested in a character’s self-discovery and the history of their family. Akbar builds the narrative in a way that plays with time, place, the very core of reality. Parts felt like a fever dream while others made me check my own sense of self and purpose. The twists and turns were so unexpected. And that ending….what becomes of my dear my friend? I’m not sure, but I know that each sentence was beautifully crafted and written with so much purpose/intention.”
“I want to start by saying that Martyr is not a bad novel, but rather an unsuccessful one (to me at least). My fundamental issue with it is that it feels like a collection of parts rather than a cohesive whole. Its parts feel disjointed, out of step with each other, not quite amounting to a narrative that feels effective or purposeful. To me, the novel was missing those interstitial parts that make a sequence of chapters feel like a story rather than just…a sequence of chapters.”
“The promo material describes Martyr! as “[e]lectrifying, funny, wholly original, and profound.” It is these, but, even with humor, a read exploring ideas of martyrdom is demanding undertaking […] Kaveh Akbar is a gifted and, as the promo materials says, a wholly original writer. If you’re the kind of reader who is up for some very serious reflections (along with occasional laughs), you will probably enjoy this book. I did. If you’re in a blue period, wait until you feel stronger before cracking it open.”
“There are plenty of beautiful passages, but the plot basically slows to a crawl when Cyrus reaches New York City and that is when we are treated to an enormous plot contrivance that felt unsupported by the rest of the text. There are multiple POVs (Cyrus’s dad, his mom, his uncle??) that, if they even have a clear purpose, are far too underdeveloped to meaningfully contribute to the story. The underdevelopment of Roya in particular was a fatal flaw given how critically important she becomes to the story. On top of that, the incessant dream sequences distracted from the main plot (and the side POVs) and added nothing—there were no new voices or conversations.”
What to Read After Martyr!
We mention a Sally Rooney book below, but really, any of her books would be appropriate if you’re looking for something existential and angsty. Try our discussion guide for Normal People— it has a non-spoiler synopsis toward the top of the article. Or this list book books similar to Normal People.
Blackouts, Justin Torres
Blackouts by Justin Torres is a literary novel that blends fiction and history, exploring themes of memory, queerness, and erasure. The story follows an unnamed narrator who visits a sick man named Juan Gay, a former researcher working on a censored historical text about sexuality. As they spend time together in an isolated care facility, Juan shares fragmented stories and reflections on the suppressed histories of queer individuals.
The novel uses creative storytelling to examine how history is often rewritten or erased, while also celebrating the resilience of marginalized communities. The novel blurs the lines between fact and fiction in order to question what is remembered, forgotten, and deliberately hidden.
If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English, Noor Naga
This story follows a toxic relationship between two unnamed people in Egypt; a privileged Egyptian American woman who returns to Cairo in search of authenticity, and a struggling Egyptian photographer from a rural village who has been left disillusioned after the Arab Spring. They begin a relationship marked by desire, misunderstanding, and violence, highlighting the imbalances of class, language, and cultural expectations.
Told through shifting perspectives and unconventional storytelling techniques, the novel challenges ideas of love, agency, and who gets to tell a story, ultimately questioning the ways narratives are shaped and manipulated.
Intermezzo, Sally Rooney
Intermezzo is a moving novel about love, grief, and family, centering on two brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek, as they navigate life after their father’s death. Peter, a successful but emotionally struggling Dublin lawyer, juggles his feelings for his first love, Sylvia, and a carefree college student, Naomi, while relying on medication to cope. Meanwhile, Ivan, a socially awkward 22-year-old chess player, forms an intense connection with Margaret, an older woman with a turbulent past.
As they each grapple with desire, loss, and the weight of their emotions, their intertwined relationships create a meaningful period in their lives—one filled with both despair and the possibility of transformation.
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