Martyr!

One of my favorite reads of the year. The protagonist, Cyrus, was a baby in Iran when his mother was killed in an American missile strike which accidentally hit a civilian passenger plane. Following her death, Cyrus’ father moves the two of them to Indiana, where Cyrus grows up. As an adult in college, Cyrus is self-destructive and looking for ways to die in a meaningful way following the death of his father. He’s working on a book about famous martyrs and finds out about an exhibit in a New York museum featuring dying Iranian artist Orkideh, whose exhibit is a performance art piece where she sits and discusses the topic of death with museum patrons. Cyrus makes a trip to New York to meet with her, and the book follows the next several days as they reflect on living and dying.