--- product_id: 687696384 title: "Martyr! (National Book Award Finalist): A Novel" price: "KD 6.60" currency: KWD in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/687696384-martyr-national-book-award-finalist-a-novel store_origin: KW region: Kuwait --- # Martyr! (National Book Award Finalist): A Novel **Price:** KD 6.60 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Martyr! (National Book Award Finalist): A Novel - **How much does it cost?** KD 6.60 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.kw](https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/687696384-martyr-national-book-award-finalist-a-novel) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description 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. Review: I read my top read of 2024 in January - oops! - “I want to be worthy of the great terror my existence inspires.” This book left me absolutely breathless. 72 hours after finishing it, I’m still suffering from the hangover of how much I loved it. Martyr! follows Cyrus, a yet-to-be-discovered Iranian American poet, as he tries to make sense of his life and his grief. His mother is dead, his father is dead, he’s stuck in a job as a medical actor, and now that he’s sober, he can’t use substances to take the edge off. He’s starting to wonder whether joy is even real anymore when he’s struck by his next great idea: he’ll write a book about martyrs. As he begins searching the world for examples, a friend tells him about a museum exhibit: an Iranian woman, dying of cancer, spending her last days in the museum, talking to people. And thus begins Cyrus’s search for meaning. Being familiar with Akbar’s poetry, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into when I cracked this book open. The goosebumps that peppered my arms and tears that crawled down my face while I was reading would suggest otherwise. Akbar’s lyricism effortlessly echoes through every line of this book. Martyr! illustrates the power and the insufficiency of language, the way it can both elucidate and obscure. Beyond the prose, Akbar’s fiction debut tackles a wide range of topics: grief, racism, sexuality, family dynamics, Persian culture, gender roles. Martyr!’s characters leap off the page as Akbar employs them to explore these diverse subjects. With alternating POVs between Cyrus, his mother, his father, and his uncle, this book becomes both a captivating character study and a heart-rending family saga. This is another must-read recommendation for my diverse lit-fic lovers! Thank you, Kaveh, for such beautiful polysexual and sapphic representation and for everything I learned about Persian culture. I’m already planning to reread Martyr! later this year 🌻 Run, don’t walk, to pick up a copy of this amazing new book! Review: Thought-Provoking, Poetic, and Unforgettable - A Novel is one of those rare books that lingers long after you finish it. The writing is absolutely beautiful—lyrical and poetic without feeling forced—and it elevates what could have been a simple story into something much more profound. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #2,472 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2 in LGBTQ+ Family Life Fiction (Books) #4 in LGBTQ+ Literary Fiction (Books) #154 in Literary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.2 out of 5 stars 11,723 Reviews | ## Images ![Martyr! (National Book Award Finalist): A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CTC+CUSfL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I read my top read of 2024 in January - oops! *by A***E on March 1, 2024* “I want to be worthy of the great terror my existence inspires.” This book left me absolutely breathless. 72 hours after finishing it, I’m still suffering from the hangover of how much I loved it. Martyr! follows Cyrus, a yet-to-be-discovered Iranian American poet, as he tries to make sense of his life and his grief. His mother is dead, his father is dead, he’s stuck in a job as a medical actor, and now that he’s sober, he can’t use substances to take the edge off. He’s starting to wonder whether joy is even real anymore when he’s struck by his next great idea: he’ll write a book about martyrs. As he begins searching the world for examples, a friend tells him about a museum exhibit: an Iranian woman, dying of cancer, spending her last days in the museum, talking to people. And thus begins Cyrus’s search for meaning. Being familiar with Akbar’s poetry, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into when I cracked this book open. The goosebumps that peppered my arms and tears that crawled down my face while I was reading would suggest otherwise. Akbar’s lyricism effortlessly echoes through every line of this book. Martyr! illustrates the power and the insufficiency of language, the way it can both elucidate and obscure. Beyond the prose, Akbar’s fiction debut tackles a wide range of topics: grief, racism, sexuality, family dynamics, Persian culture, gender roles. Martyr!’s characters leap off the page as Akbar employs them to explore these diverse subjects. With alternating POVs between Cyrus, his mother, his father, and his uncle, this book becomes both a captivating character study and a heart-rending family saga. This is another must-read recommendation for my diverse lit-fic lovers! Thank you, Kaveh, for such beautiful polysexual and sapphic representation and for everything I learned about Persian culture. I’m already planning to reread Martyr! later this year 🌻 Run, don’t walk, to pick up a copy of this amazing new book! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thought-Provoking, Poetic, and Unforgettable *by S***I on March 29, 2026* A Novel is one of those rare books that lingers long after you finish it. The writing is absolutely beautiful—lyrical and poetic without feeling forced—and it elevates what could have been a simple story into something much more profound. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Wait.. *by L***1 on July 12, 2025* At points it seemed like slow reading. The writing was excellent, but as usual with a book of this stature certain things don’t come easily. The ending was that great twist that’s needed to make a great book. I was going to rate it a 4, but decided to agree with the masses. ## Frequently Bought Together - Martyr!: A Novel - James (Pulitzer Prize Winner): A Novel - The God of the Woods: A Novel --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/687696384-martyr-national-book-award-finalist-a-novel](https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/687696384-martyr-national-book-award-finalist-a-novel) --- *Product available on Desertcart Kuwait* *Store origin: KW* *Last updated: 2026-05-22*