Darius the Great Is Not Okay

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I loved the quiet. Even if it sometimes made me think of sad things. Like whether anyone would miss me if I was dead. I sipped my tea and breathed in the jasmine and wondered if anyone would be sad if I was killed in a car accident or something. That’s normal. Right? No,” I said. “I promise. Ahab is a good name. And I’m proud of you for knowing it. It’s from a very famous book.” The first third of the book is spent establishing Darius' social ineptitude, and of course, his Persianness. And here enters one of the author's greatest failings in this novel: it's as though instead of building a convincing, three-dimensional character by perfecting a voice and ascribing to that character compelling idiosyncrasies, and establishing the character's nuanced worldview, Khorram has seen fit to simply make the character Persian.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay Quotes - LitCharts Darius the Great Is Not Okay Quotes - LitCharts

Do you think there has been a rise in literature that normalizes mental illness? How can we continue to improve on this? Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what's going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understands that sometimes, best friends don't have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he's spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline. No one ever told me I had beautiful brown eyes, except Mom, which didn’t count because (a) I had inherited them from her, and (b) she was my mom, so she had to say that kind of thing. Just like she had to call me handsome when that wasn’t true at all. This book quite character-driven, as it’s focused on Darius’ development, and I REALLY loved it. Darius is such a sweet, lovable character, and you can’t help but get attached to him and root for him throughout the book. What he feels, you feel (and I lowkey almost hate that because I ENDED UP CRYING).

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Oh.” I had never met Babou in person, only over a computer screen. And he never really talked to me. He spoke English well enough, and what few words I could extract from him were accented but articulate. This is an incredible story of friendship, family, and identity that you absolutely won’t regret reading.” Since Laleh was in charge of feeding the fish, she had also taken upon herself the solemn duty of naming them. I hope non-Iranian readers will come away with an understanding of the humanity of Iranians. So much of the news coming out of Iran these days, especially what’s filtered through American media, tends to vilify them.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay - LitCharts Darius the Great Is Not Okay - LitCharts

trigger warnings: depression, racist comments, bullying, grief, fatphobic comments , comments criticizing depressionBut I also reflected on it, and I realized I felt that way because I’m only human, and unfortunately my emotions got the best of me then and there. It made it worse because she told me we were still going to be able to go to the concert, so I got my hopes up and only thought the best. Hours kept passing, and I had to call a friend on FaceTime to vent how I was feeling because I couldn’t stand the silence of not knowing how my friend was.

Darius the Great Series by Adib Khorram - Goodreads

Darius becomes frustrated when Laleh begins watching Star Trek with Stephen—the only thing that Darius and Stephen had together—and started without him, because he's already seen the episodes. Darius feels that Laleh is his better replacement. Darius receives an Iranian national football team jersey as a present from Sohrab, which he loves as it makes him feel like a true Persian and feel like he fits in. His family visits multiple sights of Yazd and Iran throughout the book, including Persopolis, Tower of Silence, Jameh Mosque, and the Fire Temple of Yazd.But Darius is and always has been about all kinds of non-romantic love. It was important to me to show that the love between friends can change your world every bit as much as romantic love can. Trudon, Taylor (October 12, 2018). "Young Adult Books That Plunge Into the Ecstasies, and Agonies, of Teenage Life". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved January 1, 2022. But I think it is the father-son relationship in this book that I loved the most. Both are on medication for depression. Darius always thought that his father is ashamed of him because of his obesity, depression and that's why he keeps an hawk eye on his eating habits. He is ashamed of Daruis's depression. Being in Yzad brought these together and broke the ice that they both had felt previously. It was cute to see the duo interacting. rep :: fat biracial Persian (Iranian, white) gay MC with depression, major Persian (Iranian) Baha’i side character, major side character with depression, multiple Persian (Iranian) side characters Horning, Kathleen T. (2019). CCBC choices 2019. Merri V. Lindgren, Megan Schliesman, Madeline Tyner, University of Wisconsin--Madison. Cooperative Children's Book Center. Madison, Wisconsin. ISBN 978-0-931641-29-9. OCLC 1096332792. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link)