Welcome to Litsy!

What a strange and beautiful novel! I found this to be a challenging read, I read it in audio format with an A++++ narration by Arian Moayed. Intensely readable, with characters that are easy to love. This was outside my usual reading comfort zone, I‘m so glad to have not passed this one up, I just loved it. 💜

Love this novel about recovery from addiction, trying to find your place in the world, and choosing life. It is entertaining and surprising. Loved the audio book. Highly recommend. 4 🌟

Family, siblings, deathdrive, dreams. Shifting 1st person POV centered on orphaned Iranian-American poet Cyrus Shams. Obsession with martyrdom and “a death that matters” masking a search for meaning and “goodness.” Open and heartfelt. Saw the twist coming, but it still did its work. 2024

10 “Cyrus didn‘t write so much as he drank about writing”

114 “It‘s possible, he thought, that the experience of gratitude was itself a luxury”

Fantastic! What an exciting voice! Really enjoyed his immigrant perspective and the unforeseen plot twist. Appreciated the happy ending :)

This was an incredible listen. The writing is absolutely gorgeous, and the narration for this is audiobook was spot on. #bookspinbingo #bingo

11 hours flew by #audiostitching to this unputdownable tale of an orphan poet obsessed with having a meaningful death after losing his mother in a planet crash when he was an infant.

I started this ebook from NetGalley a bit ago and it absolutely grabbed me! I finished all other books to focus solely on this because it deserves to have a reader‘s full attention. This book is bizarre, sad, triumphant…about death, love, loss, art, family, identity, nationality and ultimately finding one‘s purpose. I laughed and I had tears in my eyes from one moment to the next. Cyrus will remain with me for some time, as will his musings.

This one is getting raves, so this will be an #unpopularopinion. The book follows Cyrus, an Iranian-American who is determined for his life to mean something by dying a martyr. Early in the book, he came across to me as overly 20-something naval gazey, making it hard for me to connect with him. Then the ending hinges on a plot choice that just did not work for me. Some parts of the story are quite compelling.

This is one of those book…your emotions, your whole being is living with the story. On top of that, when a poet writes prose it‘s a gift. Trust me, read it!

Cultural examination is viewed through protagonist Cyrus Shams, a recovering addict and alcoholic. As he researches the meaning of martyrdom, he makes connections with his own family, Muslim refugees that made selfless sacrifices for him in order to have a better life. As he digs deeper, he realizes the meaning of history, identity, perseverance, heritage, family, queerness, and the real meaning of being a martyr.