Cumberlands Book Club - Martyrs

The UC Book Club will next meet on Wednesday, October 7, at 4:30 pm via Google Meet to discuss Kaveh Akbar's Martyrs!  A young man born in Persia but who was brought to the United States as a very young child now struggles with a lot of internal baggage including a drinking problem.  His solution is to fixate on martyrs and to explore past mysteries via an uncle was also an Iranian soldier and via his long dead mother connected to a painting in a Brooklyn art gallery.  The book was shortlisted for the National Book Award and has appeared on multiple "bests" lists including one from The New York Times.  Guest reviewer Junot Diaz writes, "There is a like force coursing through the work, implacably curious, devoted to the small human things, and a recognition that even if we shattered ones don't always put ourselves back together, there is a dignity in our brokenness — sympathies and wisdoms that help transform a tale about a grieving young man and a senseless tragedy into a paean of life, of hope."