Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

26 reviews

bluelilyblue's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

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fairytalefootnotes's review

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Writing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Praise: Martyr! was enjoyable and I liked the time jumps and perspective changes throughout. The characters were so complicated and frustrating but deeply relatable at the same time.

The Critique:
The ending confused me. Did Cyrus die and the scene with Zee was like a hallucination? Was it an exaggerated way of showing that life was more beautiful with love? I wish it had been a bit more clear.

Final Thoughts: Martyr! is not the kind of book I normally read but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.
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illtakethenightshiftx's review

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emotional
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I really wanted to love this but it just didn’t hit for me. The prose is GORGEOUS and I could tell right off the bat the author is a poet. I did enjoy that aspect of the book throughout; the main character, Cyrus, is where it felt flat for me. I wasn’t a huge fan of his character and how he treated everyone else in his world. I loved the side characters of Zee, Orkideh, and his uncle - especially his uncle.
 
The changing perspectives and dream sequences throughout the  novel were cool and added a richness to the narrative, but I did find them a bit distracting by the end, especially because there was so much happening in Cyrus’s story.

Overall, this novel was rich, full of beautiful prose and incredible characters, but it just didn’t hit the mark for me. I will  be revisiting this in the future because I feel like I “missed” something.
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elizabeth_henry's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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marmitecake's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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evanlorant's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

this book is so full of beauty and vibrancy and love; it’s what i wanted from every sad girl novel i’ve ever read. the characters felt real and justified in their actions with beautiful development that you can feel, not just see. the writing is also so fantastic, full of  devices that are so creative but make perfect sense. 
the construction of the novel was interesting, it made the book imposing with many small three page sections bracketed by blank pages and section breaks. it broke up the flow a little bit, but didn’t have a huge impact on my reading experience. 
overall, the book felt really well conceptualized and i feel like it followed through on the huge question it sought out to answer. 
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heartmindhealer's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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libbylou1201's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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bonnie9595's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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alisonvh's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

If you had told me this book was a meditation on life and death, I wouldn’t have been interested (although I guess the title should have given that away.) But it’s beautifully written and I ended up absolutely loving it!
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