A nearly perfect little novel.
A really beautifully written story about a young Iranian-American man searching for meaning in life, feeling displaced and disconnected, with a poet’s heart. It’s quite funny and sentimental and strange.
This was Goldfinch vibes, but with beautiful and poetic prose written by a real poet, a much more interesting and emotionally vast main character, and a more digestible page count. Cyrus is a little depressed but also so funny. He was genuine, warm, weird, and lovable.
The narrator of the audiobook, Arian Moayed, had this quality of youth and incandescence and a balance of heaviness and lightness. It was perfect.
Was it maybe a little uneven? Yes. I don’t care. It was a nearly perfect little novel.
Vibes
- Goldfinch vibes
- poetic prose
- dark humor
- a little uneven
Favorite quote
“He felt a flash of familiar shame—his whole life had been a steady procession of him passionately loving what other people merely liked, and struggling, mostly failing, to translate to anyone else how and why everything mattered so much.”
Would recommend to
People who appreciate prose, emotional exploration, dark humor, or who love a seriously good audiobook narrator.