Tag: darius

Darius the Great Deserves Better

Rajashree2 Comments

By Adib Khorram

This is the sequel to Darius the Great is not okay.

After Darius returns from Iran, his life seems to have witnessed a lot of changes. He is now friends with his soccer team back in the school. Chip, who used to be bullying or be with Trent when he is bullying Darius is also one of his friends.

Darius now has a boyfriend and he has got a haircut too!

Meanwhile, the book revolves around Darius’ sister Laleh, for whom school is unusually tough after her return from Iran. She is being bullied and passed on racist remarks from her childhood friends and none really understands except Darius, who tries to be of help whenever he could. I like this about Darius. He is one good brother as everyone keeps on hinting at.

Meanwhile, Darius is still in touch with Sohrab through Skype calls and Sohrab’s life has been a rollercoaster since his dad passed away. Sometimes, he talks about Darius suspecting that he might be depressed too, but he doesn’t really open up too much.

Darius is now an intern at his favorite tea shop. It seems like he is in a place where he has everything he ever wanted. Landon has been quite understanding and he connects with Dad, but who unfortunately stays away for his job to meet the grown expenses since their return from Iran.

Darius is doing good, but it only seems like for a while. And along the way, he sees all his loved ones going through their tough times and sometimes he feels he can’t be of any help to them and regards himself as selfish.

The character of Darius from being a wishing teenager to a responsible teenager who looks upon his own decision and doubts if he is making them all right is something that I found wholesome while going through the pages.

It is a justified sequel.

Rating: 4.5/5

Featured image courtesy: bookhub

Darius the great is not okay

Rajashree1 Comment

By Adib Khorram

This book is first of a series of 2 books.

It is about a teen named Darius Kellner, he is half Persian and half American. He suffers from clinical depression, a genetic one, passed from his father, Stephen Kellner. Speaking of it, though the son and dad can have this unique understanding of each other because what they are going through, it proves otherwise. Darius doesn’t have a very good relationship with his father.

Darius always becomes the ‘target’ of a bully named Trent Bolger, who makes sure passes some racist comment every time he walks past Darius. Though it irritates Darius and hurts him, he makes them get to him lesser by naming Trent and his friends with a comical nomenclature, which I love, soulless minions of orthodoxy.

When you can laugh about it, things seem less daunting.

And that is exactly how Darius copes with it, though it is not okay. He has a younger sister Laleh, who he loves a lot. Things change, when their family gets to know that Shirin’s father in Iran is suffering from an illness. The parents decide to take the children to see their grandparents in their native for the first time.

Though Darius talks to his grandparents in Skype, he is kind of overwhelmed and also he is not fluent in Farsi unlike his sister, which makes it easier for her to quickly connect with their relatives. Darius gets his first friend Sohrab in Iran. The road is not always smooth though for Darius.

I could go on and on about how this book highlights so many different aspects.

Be it the mentions of how depression makes you witness the world so differently everyday, be it the not knowing where do I fit in part, struggles with being a Fractional Persian, be it the beautiful friendship that blooms like a rose with its own thorns, be it the familial relationships and its complexities.

I loved how the author could portray all the beautiful things in very few pages and an etching story.

Oh yes, I did forget to mention Darius’s love for tea, which we share!

This was a totally new perspective I witnessed.

Rating: 4.8/5

Read the review of the sequel, Darius the Great deserves better

Featured image courtesy: penguinrandomhouse