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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
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
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!
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!
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
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