First Book Club Meeting!
Details
Welcome to the book club's first meeting!
The first book club will be held at Gino's (Fremantle) at 6pm. Willing to discuss changes to venue and starting time so it's easier for people to get too!
The book we are reading first is Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. Here's the StoryGraph buddy read. You can find the book at libraries and check the SLWA catalogue for which of their stock they have in libraries. The book is also available as an audiobook and eBook on Libby and Borrowbox.
Here's the book club's StoryGraph account!
Here are some questions to help discuss the book:
- The title of the book includes an exclamation point. What tone did this set for you before you began reading the book?
- Akbar based Roya’s death during a real-life event—the destruction of Iran Air Flight 665 by the U.S.S. Vincennes in 1988. Afterwards, her widower and child immigrate to the United States, the same country that was responsible for the tragedy. How do you think this shaped the trajectory of Ali and Cyrus’s lives?
- How do you perceive Cyrus’s imagined conversations between fictional characters?
- How has survivor’s guilt affected Cyrus throughout his life? Does he feel doomed or spared?
- Does Cyrus’s conversation with Orkideh change his view of martyrdom?
- In an interview with NPR, Akbar said “art is a mechanism by which people have sought immortality for millennia.” Do you agree with his statement? How does this relate to Cyrus’s journey?
I'll have the book on the table to help you find me. If you have any questions or need to update me on your arrival, feel free to message me.