Martyr!

Poet Cyrus Shams has a fascination with meaningful death. His mother died on a plane shot down over the Persian Gulf by the U.S. military (an accident for which they never apologized), and his father’s was just as sudden and senseless. Now, pushing 30 with a “useless” English degree, Cyrus conceives of a book on martyrs that he hopes will give his life purpose. Leaving his Indiana college town to see, as part of research for the book, a Brooklyn artist’s final installation—comprised of daily conversations about death as she dies of cancer—proves fateful, forging a connection that Cyrus could not have foreseen. Far from grim, Iranian American poet Akbar’s (Pilgrim Bell) first novel suspends moments of offbeat humor in fluid lyricality as the narrative focus alternates among Cyrus, his lovelorn roommate Zee, and his mother’s and father’s pasts in Iran and the United States, uncovering meaning in their shared existence. Iranian American actor Arian Moayed flawlessly matches his narration to the text. Whether voicing Cyrus’s shifting moods—worsened by his recent sobriety and a comically awful AA meeting—or an imaginary Lisa Simpson, he meets each challenge with skillful use of cadence and tone, for an unbroken listening experience.