Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

26 reviews

sweetsouthwest's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Alcohol, Grief, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Cancer

fairytalefootnotes's review

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Drug abuse, Addiction, Cancer, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Grief

lgiery's review

emotional funny 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

A young Iranian-American man obsessed with martyrdom and death having meaning following the loss of both of his parents. It's a book about addiction, identity, grief, and love.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

lindsayorme's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Grief, Terminal illness, and War

random19379's review

dark emotional funny 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcoholism

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

punkspock's review

emotional funny 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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Grief, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcoholism

rmlknisely's review

emotional hopeful 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

A masterpiece

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Addiction

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

---

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

nadia's review against another edition

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

4.0

A super solid book, with a fresh take on death, grief, identity, living a life worth living, martyrdom, love, and art. I really appreciated all of the facets of it, including the different storytelling devices (normal prose, a book within a book, poetry, etc.), the different perspectives, and the surrealist aspects, even if I didn't always fully grasp their meaning, and there were some real beautiful ideas and writing in the book too. Went into this thinking it'd be a 4.5-5-star read though, and something about it didn't pop in the way I wanted it to. But still a great book!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Grief