{"product_id":"martyr-9780593537619","title":"Martyr!","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER - SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD - ONE OF \u003ci\u003eTHE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S \u003c\/i\u003e10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR \u003cb\u003e- \u003cb\u003eA\u003cb\u003e \u003ci\u003eTIME\u003c\/i\u003e MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003c\/b\u003eA 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\u003ci\u003e, Martyr!\u003c\/i\u003e heralds the arrival of an essential new voice in contemporary fiction. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Kaveh Akbar is one of my favorite writers. Ever.\" --Tommy Orange, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of \u003ci\u003eThere There\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"The best novel you'll ever read about the joy of language, addiction, displacement, martyrdom, belonging, homesickness.\" --Lauren Groff, best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eMatrix\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFates and Furies\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCyrus 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKaveh Akbar's \u003ci\u003eMartyr!\u003c\/i\u003e is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning--in faith, art, ourselves, others.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKAVEH AKBAR's poems appear in \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review, The Best American Poetry\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere. He is the author of two poetry collections: \u003ci\u003ePilgrim Bell\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCalling a Wolf a Wolf\u003c\/i\u003e, in addition to a chapbook, \u003ci\u003ePortrait of the Alcoholic\u003c\/i\u003e. He is also the editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 110 Poets on the Divine.\u003c\/i\u003e He lives in Iowa City.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Knopf Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50568890843410,"sku":"9780593537619","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a08faa9a-8e5d-4d9a-8676-129d149b4a8d.jpg?v=1748525541","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/martyr-9780593537619","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}