Narrated by Arian Moayed, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar has a runtime of 10 hrs 39 mins on Audible.
Publisher’s Summary
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW’S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR • A newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a remarkable search for a family secret that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum. Electrifying, funny, and wholly original, Martyr! heralds the arrival of an essential new voice in contemporary fiction.
“Kaveh Akbar is one of my favorite writers. Ever.” —Tommy Orange, Pulitzer Prize–nominated author of There There
“The best novel you’ll ever read about the joy of language, addiction, displacement, martyrdom, belonging, homesickness.” —Lauren Groff, best-selling author of Matrix and Fates and Furies
Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.
Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others.
Audiobook Details
- Narrated by: Arian Moayed
- Length: 10 hrs 39 mins
- Publisher: Random House Audio
- Release year: 2024
- Audible category: LGBTQ+ / Literature & Fiction / Genre Fiction
Listener Ratings
Martyr! holds an average listener rating of 4.4/5 from 1868 Audible ratings.
On Audible, ratings for this title break down into narration performance and story separately:
- Performance (narration): 4.6/5
- Story: 4.3/5
- 5-star ratings: 62% of all ratings
What Audible Listeners Are Saying
4/5 stars — “Excellent writing . GREAT performance “
Well done . Different , thought provoking , good character development and even a twist or two .
Did not fully understand the ending….— Robert Serro, Audible listener
3/5 stars — “Beautiful Writing Not much story “
Although written beautifully I cannot recommend this book because it lacks a driving plot line. Rather through its flash backs and dreams one gets little short vignettes of stories that happen to various characters . Add this to the fact our protagonist is a young drug addict bent on dying, not the easiest person to root for. It does give a personal insight into the effect that the take over of the conservative government in Iran and the subsequent war with Iraq had on its people. But as I have friends who went through this experience, I did not need this education.— eyesla, Audible listener
5/5 stars — “Poetic language “
Loved absolutely everything! This book is phenomenal. Without gile the author tackles si many social and individual challenges and the audio was excellent!— Georgia , Audible listener
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