{"product_id":"martyr","title":"Martyr!","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Poet Akbar ( \u003ci\u003ePilgrim Bell\u003c\/i\u003e, 2021) is an almost deliriously adept first-time novelist, writing from different points of view and darting back and forth in time and into Cyrus' satirical dreams and the lives of Iranian poets from Rumi to Farrokhzad. Akbar creates scenes of psychedelic opulence and mystery, emotional precision, edgy hilarity, and heart-ringing poignancy as his characters endure war, grief, addiction, and sacrifice, and find refuge in art and love. Bedazzling and profound.\" \u003c\/strong\u003e --\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKAVEH AKBAR\u003c\/strong\u003e'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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kaveh Akbar","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49557586411805,"sku":"9780593685778","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0821\/9095\/8877\/files\/9780593685778.jpg?v=1736450363","url":"https:\/\/staging.anovelideaphilly.com\/products\/martyr","provider":"A Novel Idea on Passyunk","version":"1.0","type":"link"}