Darius the Great Is Not Okay

First of all, it is a great book. It's about the daily life of this boy Darius when he ends up going to Iran to meet his grandparents for some reasons. There he meets Sohrab and his life starts to change. Second of all, I can't begin to describe how relatable Darius was. Going through clinical depression, getting bullied and mocked in his High School, having all those Father Issues and much more. I felt like I was reading about my life or what could have been in my life if I ended up in a different country having a vacation. This book did make us feel what it set out to do. It was soothing, calming and made us sit for a while and rethink ourselves. Absolutely loved it!

Just don't waste your time on looking for reviews to satisfy you. Grab it now, you will not gonna regret it. You are definitely going to love it 💥🥂

Darius the Great is not okay is a book about a guy who feels lost in the world and how a friendship helps him. This book is an ownvoices for Persian heritage and depression. Darius is a Fractional Persian—half, his mom’s side—and his first-ever trip to Iran is about to change his life. I really liked this book I related a lot to Darius and he also loves tea so he was on my good side from the start. We all know depression is not easy and representing it properly I think is even more hard but Adib Khorram did such a great job. Also all the description of Persian food , Irani tourist attractions was so beautiful and done well. I have lived In oman for 3 years where we also had our little Indian community so Darius experiences of living in America i find myself relating a lot to those. “Everyone wants you here. We have a saying in Farsi. It translates ‘your place was empty.’ We say it when we miss somebody." I sniffed. "Your place was empty before. But this is your family. You belong here.” I am so finally a book with no HP refrences yessss this one was filled with refrences from LOTR and Star trek ( I guess I havent watched it but klingon is from there right ?) I also googled all the places and the food in the book which I suggest you do too Its really so amazing to see different cultures and their traditions which I wouldnt have otherwise SO Overall a grear freakin read Darius was such a great character I started with a big grin on my face and happily it ended with that too just some tears in between. i was kind of bummed by the ending felt a bit open so Im happy there is a sequel which Im starting like right now

I always describe Darius as 'The Kite Runner' meets 'Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe'. I think that line perfectly encapsulates all that this book is about. It speaks about father-son relationships, it speaks about mental health and depression, about lovely grandparents, toxic masculinity and soft queer boys and identity and sense of belonging, and the beauty of friendship when we have been used to being lonely. Please, if there's one book I would recommend to the entire world, it'd be this book (and its sequel!). Find me talking about books on my insta @ZanyAnomaly

All those tears and all. This book talks about so many things: the representation of mental health (depression, therapy, stigma and the discrimination towards it), multicultural representation, the Persian culture and tradition; food and tea love; family and friendship; the sibling dynamics; and yes, also handling bullying, body shaming; coming of age representation. It also shows how a family copes with a member suffering with brain cancer. It also deals with identity and belongingness. I got super attached to all the characters! There's nothing like ten other side characters. Every character is my family now. The good, the bad and the damn fathers. Father issues. Lots of it here. This book gave me a lot more than what I had expected. I cried buckets and buckets starting from page 2. A good book is always a good book no matter what. My heart is still burning.... Book memory: I hid the book under my pillows when there were only 10 pages left because I wasn't ready to get done with it so soon. Yes, NCT 127, ATEEZ, MCND, BTS helped me calm down in about 40 minutes and then I was able to finish reading it up. "My face was experiencing some extreme thermal flux of its own." Hahahah!!! This author made me laugh out loud and cry at the same time.

"Everyone wants you here. We have a saying in Farsi. It translates ‘your place was empty.’ We say it when we miss somebody." "Your place was empty before. But this is your family. You belong here." -Adib Khorram, Darius the Great #1 💖 My thoughts: This was one of my best reads of the year. It was beautifully written & made me feel so many different emotions while I was reading it. Had me laughing at some points & weeping at others. . I am ashamed to say I knew next to nothing about Iran before I read the book. It was absolutely wonderful to read about the people of Iran, their culture, historic places over there & Darius's experiences as he visited there for the 1st time in his life. Felt like I was transported to Iran while reading & made me wish I could go there right now to see those places myself. I found so many similarities in the culture of Iran & India specially the part about Taroofing which may not be something of a fixed social etiquette in India but is something commonly done by most Indians.😅 . I liked how even though the theme of the story is about mental health & depression & is a heavy topic in general to talk about, there were still light funny moments shown in their lives without making light of the situation. I felt that it perfectly presented that even though a person has depression, that is not all that defines them but there is so much more to their life beyond that. . I literally flew through reading the last 80-90 pages of the book. Had me crying so much as I read through this last part😭. I wished I could go into the book & give those two boys a tight hug but as that was impossible I did the next best thing & hugged the book instead after the end.🤗 . Even though I am firmly a coffee person, reading this book made me crave all those varieties of teas mentioned in there. I didn't even know there were these many varieties & methods of preparing them.😁 . This was a beautiful, heart touching story that I would 💯% recommend to all. 🤩❤

1. It features a Persian- American boy who's been suffering from depression since Eight grade and is questioning his sexuality. So, if you want anything with diverse rep, this is your book and well, it doesn't really get better than this. And if you're not willing to read diverse books or diversity isn't a big factor depending on which you choose what to read or not, then all I can say is I'm sorry because diversity matters and this book taught me new things and opened my eyes and allowed to me learn about a group of people I knew little about, and let me learn a little about their cultures and lifestyle and helped me grow and in the future, be more sensitive. Plus, the way this diversity is portrayed is also an essential factor and trust me, you will not be disappointed. 2. This Persian-American boy is going to Iran for the first time to see his family from his mother's side. So, yeah, we get to experience a person go to a country that everyone says they belong to for the first time and try to fit in and learn how to behave and react. We get to see how he adapts to the new environment in a place where he doesn't know the language and with people who are his family but he's never met in real life. He may be Persian by birth but he does not know how to be one or act like one and as he attempts to do so in this book, we can see him struggle and it just warms my heart to see how he keeps trying and in the end succeeds. 3. This book emphasises on friendship and non-romantic love. Yep, this book has questioning rep and often, it feels like Darius is falling in love but doesn't really know what to say or do, or that he himself does not understand but through the hole book, he still gains a new friend. With his friend, he learns to be more open and vulnerable and that it's okay to be weak and to cry and to let someone be there for your. He makes his very first friend and through this experience, he grows and learns to embrace who he is. This book truly demonstrates how a friend can change your life and I love that. 4. This book portrays hard and complex parent-child relationships which are not always okay but they learn to communicate and be okay. The generation gap can often be hard for a lot of parent-child relations especially when the child is a teen and his book shows that and how it affects Darius. It shows how he feels left out and discarded by his father. It shows how he feels alone and like the unwanted child at many times. It shows that he doubts himself and so, he doubts if his parents move him or even want him. But, it also shows how talking can help and relations can be mended. Darius and his father have had a difficult relationship for many years but as Darius grows in Iran and he decides to finally talk to his dad, they try to fix there relationship. There are also miscommunications and actions whose meanings we misinterpret and talking is the only thing that can fix that and this book accurately depicts that. 5. It shows a wholesome and loving sibling relationship. Honestly, sibling relationships are also hard. They fight a lot and don't really get along most times but this book showed a different side of sibling relationships that's also very true and usually occurs once when you have a big age gap and feel protective over your sibling or you're in a dangerous situation or you've grown up and it was just so wholesome to see. Darius loves his little sister and even though he feels replaced by her, he loves her because he understands that it is not her fault. It's his parents who are making him feel that way and yes, sometimes he resents his sister but he always loves her and cares for her and I love that.

The book is marketed as a LGBTI book. This is just a simple coming of age book. The so-called LGBTI storyline is insignificant. In fact, it is common for boys of that age to 'look' at each other in communal showers. There is nothing gay about that. I should say the book is rather disappointing.