Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

18 reviews

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.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Grief

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

marmitecake's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Islamophobia, Drug use, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, and War

Moderate: Suicide, Abandonment, and Terminal illness

Minor: Xenophobia and Sexism

heartmindhealer's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Addiction, Cancer, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

bella_cavicchi's review

emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

5.0

To be alive! A burden and a pleasure, and I admire MARTYR! for attending to both. In fact, I adore its absurdity, a treat of form aligning perfectly with content. Akbar can clearly write, but what had the novel stand out, for me, is the steadfast commitment to the existential question of what marks a (meaningful) life.

The hype is well-earned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Abandonment, Terminal illness, War, Cancer, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Grief, Alcohol, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Islamophobia

Minor: Deportation and Homophobia

alisonvh's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Xenophobia, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, War, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Islamophobia and Grief

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

maviemerveilleuse's review

challenging emotional reflective medium-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: Alcoholism, Abandonment, and Addiction

Moderate: Xenophobia

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