Darius the Great Is Not Okay

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Full RTC soon! I can already say: This might have been my first book by Adib Khorram but it certainly won’t be my last! ;-) Getting over your Oedipal struggle is no cakewalk in North America. Gotta make your stand for independence young, or be marked for life, as I was. Such is the Aristotelian way. Common Sense is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of all kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century. The writing is sharp yet robotic. I think this is a strong key point of the novel, as it makes the tone of it much more interesting. With Darius having depression and mental health being at the center of his role, the relationship between him and the writing is vivid. It’s not colorful nor colorless—it’s melodic but a little mechanical as well, which I thought made sense since the tone isn’t exactly on the optimistic side. It felt fitting; sharp to create emotion but robotic to show the exhaustion. It’s easy to read yet sometimes difficult to get through. Every statement is full of emotion, whether negative or positive, and carries with it the same weight Darius is holding. This was such a beautifully written book with such a lovable cast of characters. Darius’ mental health representation is something I could really resonate with and I thought it was handled really well. His relationship with his dad was also handled really well and seeing the journey both of them went on to get to where they are by the end of the novel, was really beautiful to read. It highlighted the struggles depression puts on relationships with family members and also with yourself, and I really appreciated how this was handled and written. The discussions on Iranian diaspora was also very informative and I learned a lot whilst reading this book.

Khorram on Writing Honestly About Mental Health, Love Adib Khorram on Writing Honestly About Mental Health, Love

Climax: After Sohrab lashes out at Darius, Darius and Dad speak honestly with each other for the first time.It made me into a zombie. That’s why I couldn’t tell you stories. I could barely tell the time of day.” Darius and his father have very frank discussions about sex and relationships. Would you be embarrassed to talk that openly with your parents? Darius wasn't an exceptional main character. Most of the times he was actually extremely boring and reading from his POV got tedious very fast. It was interesting seeing the way he dealt with some of the situations he was put in, but at the same time I didn't really cared about those. None of the other characters stood out that much which makes sense considering this is Darius's story. The only other two characters that stood out were his father and Sohrab. Mamou thought it was too much driving to come here. To see this. But it’s important for you to know where you come from.” There is nothing but platonic love between them, even though we slowly see Darius get certain reactions from Sohrab, but nothing is ever done. While the story is marketed as LGBTQ+, this is not a romance, and it’s better that way. Darius’ sexual orientation is never clarified in this installment, but we get an idea of who he is through his interaction with Sohrab that get him to feel different things at certain times. Regardless, there’s never any implication of anything. Please do not read this thinking it has romance or a love story when that has no relevance to the story.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay Dad Character Analysis in Darius the Great Is Not Okay

He talked so much about you. When you came here, I thought I already knew you. I knew we would be friends.” I also loved Sohrab and Darius’ friendship. Since this has been compared to two YA MM romances, I want to clarify there is no more than friendship between them. And it was more than enough, because it was so interesting to see two people from completely different worlds finding in the other the friend they have been looking for all along. They support the other even when they don't understand why the other was mourning, share moments of comfortable silence and let themselves just be.Darius Kellner is what he likes to call a Fractional Persian as his mother was born and raised in Iran but his dad is white. Although he has a nightly ritual of watching Star Trek reruns with his father, the rest of the time Darius feels like he is a big disappointment to his dad. The family makes a trip to Iran to visit relatives and there Darius meets Sohrab, the teenage neighbor of his grandparents. This is a YA story of feeling like you don't belong and learning to accept who you are. On the day after Nowruz, it’s traditional to visit friends. So, Darius goes to visit Sohrab. Sohrab introduces Darius to his favorite food: romaine lettuce leaves dipped in mint syrup, which Babou used to make until his brain tumor made that difficult. They then go to a park to sit on top of a squat public restroom and stare out at the city. That night, though Dad brought Star Trek on his iPad so he and Darius can continue their tradition, Dad insists on letting Laleh watch with them. It’s obvious to Darius that Dad loves Laleh better. Darius the Great Is Not Okay is my favorite kind of YA book: the kind you appreciate even more when you are not a YA. If you have read Aristotle and Dante, you know what I’m trying to explain when I say that a teen may relate more to the characters, but as an adult the whole book is going to resonate better. Darius is a teenager who, like a lot of sons of immigrants, wanders between two worlds that don’t plan on accepting his other half. On top of that, he suffers clinical depression, is convinced that his father dislikes everything about him and is bullied at school. When his mother announces they are visiting their family in Iran for the first time, Darius isn’t sure if he’ll finally feel at home or confirm he’ll keep being an outsider no matter where he goes. Canfield, David; Douglas, Esme; Hoggatt, Aja; Longo, Joseph (September 3, 2018). "EW talks YA: Moroccan fantasy 'Mirage' and feminist pirate saga 'Seafire' are must-reads". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved January 1, 2022.

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram | Goodreads Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram | Goodreads

I mean, it was inevitable that Laleh would acquire a taste for Star Trek—eventually. She was my sister, after all. And Stephen Kellner’s daughter. It was in her genetic makeup.This book is about a boy named Darius, who has never really been in touch with his Persian identity until visiting Iran—and his family—for the first time. It’s about family and friendship and mental health and learning to be okay with not being okay. It’s about finding who you are and making connections with other people and it’s just overall a beautiful story about a boy coming to terms with himself. Mamou popped the lid and unsealed the tea. “It looks good, maman. Thank you. You are so sweet. Just like your dad.” She pulled me close and kissed me on both cheeks.

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

Over the next week, Sohrab joins Darius’s family to visit Dowlatabad, a palace and gardens, and invites Darius to play soccer again with Ali-Reza and Hossein. Though the boys continue to call Darius “Ayatollah,” Sohrab tells the younger boys they’re playing with that this is because Darius is in charge—and Sohrab and Darius shower after the other boys are finished and have already left. They play daily for the rest of the week, and then Sohrab and his mom join Darius and his family for chelo kabob, a huge treat, at the end of the week. After the meal is over, Sohrab and two of Darius’s older cousins, Parviz and Navid, teach Darius to play Rook. Darius is terrible at it, but he has fun. A lot of people thought so, because she was eight years younger than me () But she was not an accident.Another of my favorite aspects of this book was how it explored the themes of family and friendship. Family was SO important in this book, especially since it’s directly connected to him getting in touch with his Persian identity, and it’s really beautiful to see him bond with these people he’d only ever been able to see on Skype. Also, so many struggles with his Persian identity were struggles I could relate to, though of course with my Thai identity. There are really specific connections to my own family, but there were also more general ones, like not being able to communicate as much with grandparents, or feeling awkward with them, or not knowing things about your culture that you feel you should already know. Darius the Great Is Not Okay is a young adult novel by Adib Khorram, originally published August 28, 2018, by Dial Books. The book has received various awards and has been translated into eight languages (Russian, Japanese, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and Dutch). [1] Darius the Great Is Not Okay follows the personal journey of Darius Kellner, an Iranian–American teenager with clinical depression, as he makes a best friend for life, reconnects with his grandparents, and repairs his relationship with his father. Anyway! Let’s continue to talk about the book and the strong focus on Darius’s friendship with Sohrab instead. And let me tell you, I adored the fact that there was such a strong friendship representation in this story without it turning into anything romantic in the end. I think the potential was definitely there but it didn’t happen and I appreciated that the author decided to focus on all the other topics first. It rounded the entire story off and made room for a potential exploration of Darius’s sexuality in the next book. So kudos to Adib Khorram for tying up all the loose ends in the first book while still giving Darius time and room to explore this important part of himself in the second instalment. And I’m convinced this will happen in book two! When Dayi Jamsheed started herding us together into a big group photo, my eyes started burning. I couldn’t help it.