Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

10 reviews

savvylit's review

dark emotional hopeful slow-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

4.5

Martyr! is lingering in my mind as a series of feelings - Big Feelings (capital letters required). Deep empathy, earnest yearning, fierce commitment to art, sacrificial love, overwhelming grief, intense addiction, self-denial, and most of all, the feeling of being undeserving. Akbar's novel is an evocative and searing story comprised of flashbacks, dreams, and multigenerational perspectives. Cyrus - the primary focus of the novel - is a very complex and intensely loveable protagonist. And the rest of the cast of characters are just as complex as Cyrus. I could probably write pages and pages about each of them but you ought to just read the book to find out for yourself!

Ultimately, I would eagerly recommend Martyr! to anyone who has ever felt themselves to be on an existential quest. Or to anyone who has felt absolutely overwhelmed by the cruelty of the world around them. I think you just might leave this novel with more hope than you'd had beforehand; I know I did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, War, Suicide, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, Addiction, and Xenophobia

alexisgarcia's review

emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

this is such a brilliant book. i think id really benefit from rereading it to really understand it all. i did get a little confused between the POV and timeline changes which made it a tad less enjoyable. i also guessed the plot “twist”/ reveal within the first 50 pages but it was very enjoyable despite that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Infidelity, Addiction, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Death

elizabeth_henry's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Abandonment, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Death, Addiction, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Infidelity

evanlorant's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Self harm

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Grief, Abandonment, Addiction, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Islamophobia, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Cancer, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

kenrya's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Medical content, Sexual content, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Violence, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Death, Vomit, Drug use, Lesbophobia, Grief, Suicide, War, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Cursing, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Infidelity, Outing, and Pregnancy

hannahlee's review

dark emotional reflective 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

4.25

A gripping, powerful novel from an author whose poetry I've really enjoyed. It was inspiring to see Akbar branch out into prose, which he clearly has a talent for. I was immediately gripped by the characters, and loved the perspectival shifts and the dream sequences. It feels like a young book - an author preoccupied with the difficulties of making art when one is self-conscious about that process, very meta at times - but satisfying, mostly sticking the landing. Still ruminating on how I feel about the ending, but ultimately a really enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, Terminal illness, War, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Addiction, Islamophobia, Racism, Death, Drug abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Infidelity and Sexual content

Minor: Pregnancy and Suicidal thoughts

garyosu's review

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Death, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, War, Drug abuse, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

skudiklier's review

emotional hopeful 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

Kaveh Akbar is one of my favorite poets, so I had high expectations for this book. I'm happy to say it didn't disappoint in the slightest. It actually made me realize that I think novels written by poets is one of my favorite genres of books, because I love them so much.

The writing is phenomenal, as expected. But I was also so drawn in by the characters and the story? And I don't want to give anything away because I think it's probably better if you don't see it coming, but WOW did I not see the plot twist coming. I read most of this book all in one day because I couldn't put it down. It'll stay with me for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Death, Alcohol, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Racism, War, Islamophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual content, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Murder

criticalgayze's review

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

MARTYR! by Kaveh Akbar was my last read of 2023, which I requested largely based on its striking cover. I was also very interested in the formatting concept of plot, poems, and interstitials as I am finding format to be a bigger draw for me.

I will say there’s a lot here to like. As individual pieces, a lot of this works; however, I thought this was lacking cohesion. While some of this may be impacted by eARC formatting issues, I didn’t think everything blended.

Trying my very best not to spoil, the back third also did not end up working for me. I was more disappointed than gagged.

Finally, for a novel by a poet about a poet writing a novel, I was not wowed by the language.

Overall, I did like this, and please check out the lovely reviews I mentioned earlier!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Medical content, Blood, Cursing, Vomit, War, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual content