Darius the Great Is Not Okay

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Adib Khorram lives in Kansas City, Missouri. When he isn’t writing (or at his day job as a graphic designer), you can probably find him trying to get his hundred-yard freestyle under a minute, learning to a Lutz jump, or steeping a cup of oolong. Grandma and Oma, Dad’s moms, didn’t say that very often. It’s not that they didn’t love me and Laleh, but they were full of Teutonic reserve, and didn’t express affection very often. 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.” 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. The 100 Best YA Books of All Time: Darius the Great Is Not Okay". Time. August 11, 2021 . Retrieved January 1, 2022.

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

I do think so. At first it seemed like there was a surge in books about suicide, but lately there have been books that look at mental illness as a part of a person rather than a crisis. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaks eloquently about the dangers of a single story. For a long time, suicide was the single story for mental illness, but we’re finally seeing multiple stories, and I’m hopeful that trajectory will continue.Aside from Star Trek—and not speaking Farsi—depression was pretty much the only thing we had in common. We took different medications, but we did see the same doctor, which I thought was kind of weird. I guess I was paranoid Dr. Howell would talk about me to my dad, even though I knew he wasn’t supposed to do that kind of thing. And Dr. Howell was always honest with me, so I tried not to worry so much. Top Ten Best Fiction". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). February 19, 2019 . Retrieved January 1, 2022.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay - Penguin Random House

I love this story, and the way it combines the bitter of adolescence with the sweet of friendship and family. Brewed together they make a beautiful, memorable book.” How was it?' 'It was...' I didn't know what to say. How could I explain Mamou and Babou and Sohrab and football and the rooftop to someone who had never experienced them? How could I talk about them when I still felt the ache?”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. Babou insists on taking everyone to the Atashkadeh, the Zoroastrian fire temple, the next day. But when the family arrives, Babou isn’t feeling well, so he and Mamou stay in the car. It’s a sobering experience for Darius, as he thinks about Babou’s mortality while staring at the ceremonial flames that have been burning for about 1,500 years. When the family gets home, Darius finds Mom looking at photo albums. She shows him a photo of Dad holding baby Darius, which makes them both sad: if only Dad and Darius could act like father and son, and if only it was easy like it seems in the photo.

Darius the Great Deserves Better - Common Sense Media Darius the Great Deserves Better - Common Sense Media

Is your heart still full from reading Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda? Well, do we have the perfect book for you. Adib Khorram's Darius the Great Is Not Okay is a tender look into the life of Darius Kellner, a nerdy half-Persian teenager who's having difficulty finding his place in the world.” So our Haft-Seen was loaded with everything tradition allowed, plus a framed photo of Dad in the corner. Laleh insisted we had to add it, because Stephenbegins with the sound of S. 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. It’s Nowruz a few days later. Darius starts the day feeling secure in his identity and in his place in his family. He feels even better when Sohrab gifts him a soccer jersey for the Iranian national team. But his uncle Dayi Soheil calls Darius fat, and Dayi Jamsheed suggests Darius isn’t very Persian since he doesn’t like cucumbers. Even Dad seems to fit in better than Darius, since he plays Rook with Babou and Darius’s uncles. Darius and Sohrab sit in the garden, talking about Darius’s fraught relationship with Dad and how Darius doesn’t feel like he fits in. Sohrab also reveals that he’s here with only his mom, Khanum Rezaei, because Sohrab’s dad was wrongfully arrested and imprisoned years ago, just for being Bahá’í. He’s now in solitary confinement in a Tehran prison, and Sohrab worries he won’t see his dad again.Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He’s a Fractional Persian—half, his mom’s side—and his first-ever trip to Iran is about to change his life. Darius the Great Is Not Okay brings Iran alive, with sounds and smells and imagery, and you'll tearfully be rooting for Darius as he struggles with this mental health, identity, and his place in the world.” I had the opportunity to chat with Adib about his inspiration for his book, the importance of representation in literature, and more. Darius takes the self-confidence he built while in Iran and continues to build on it throughout the story -- at his job, on the soccer field, with a new group of friends. When the Kellner family face financial hard times, they work together, supporting and encouraging one another. Darius' soccer coach offers a lesson in how to counter "toxic masculinity" on a sports team. Before games and practices, she has them circle up, hold hands, go around the circle saying something kind or helpful a teammate has done for them.

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

But it was hard. It didn’t feel like she was half a world away, it felt like she was half a universe away—like she was coming to me from some alternate reality. Mamou] squeezed and squeezed me, like she was worried I would blow out the window if she didn't hold on tight enough. Maybe she was trying to fit a lifetime of missed hugs into the one car ride. Maybe she was.” Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it's pretty overwhelming—especially when he's also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.Khorram’s debut novel is an affectionate portrait of Iran: the food and aromas, the rich traditions and eclectic culture. . . . Readers will understand that home can be more than the physical place you live, and that people who make you feel at home can come into your life unexpectedly.” I wish! But sadly, I’ve never been. There are a lot of complicated factors that go into visiting Iran as an American citizen, and they’re compounded if you’re of Iranian extraction, and even more compounded for my family since they’re Bahá’í. But I guess I always have my fingers crossed for things to improve and that I’ll get to go someday. In a few days before Darius and his family must leave Iran, Darius decides to buy Sohrab a pair of cleats as a gift. He visits the house to find their family in grief. Sohrab lashes out at Darius before revealing his father has just died (who was previously revealed to be jailed by the Iranian government for unknown reasons). Sohrab complains that Darius is always crying but has nothing to be sad for, and tells him to leave. Darius runs to the rooftop and cries.