Read: May 2018
Expected Publishing Date: August 28th, 2018
Rating: 4/5 stars
Adib Khorram's Darius the Great is Not Okay is an emotional and heartwarming story about Darius, a half-Persian, self-conscious, tea-loving boy who has never been to his mother's home country of Iran or has even met his mother's side of the family apart from through a computer screen. However, Darius' Babou is sick with a brain tumor, causing his family to finally visit Iran. During this trip, Darius learns to come to terms with his life through meeting and making connections with his extended family, befriending family-friend Sohrab, actually talking with his own father about their problems, and handling his depression. When the family returns home after a month in Iran, Darius is a more confident version of himself.
Initially, I was not hopeful about my feelings for this book as I don't usually enjoy contemporary fiction, and at first, this was confirmed by my dislike for the writing style, as I found it quite simply written. However, that quickly changed as I started to see parts of my life reflected in Darius' despite the fact that I am a Greek American 23 year old adult girl instead of a Persian American high school-aged boy. Moreover, I think anyone, no matter their background, could relate to the emotions and experiences told in this story. Some aspects did make me quite emotional because I did relate so much more than I expected, but its was definitely something I needed to confront my own demons. I find Darius the Great is Not Okay to be on par with my two favorite contemporaries: Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being A Wallflower (both deal with heavy topics), and Benjamin Alire Saenz's Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (both deal with male friendships). I definitely recommend Khorram's novel to anyone who greatly enjoyed these two books, but honestly, I think this is a must-read for everyone, because it is so relatable and because it provides insight of a culture that is, I believe, misunderstood.