English / USA
Darius the Great is not okay
Khorram, Adib
(text)
New York, NY: Dial Books, [2018]. – 314 p.
ISBN 978-0-525-55296-3
Biracial family | Depression | Iran | Grandparents | Cultural roots | Friendship
Reading age: 13+
White Ravens issue: 2019
Darius Kellner – fractional Persian, Star Trek fan, tea enthusiast, and clinically depressed teenager – doesn’t really fit in anywhere: He is bullied at school; his father, the “Teutonic Übermensch”, is mostly disappointed with his un-manly son; and although he has inherited distinctly Persian looks from his mother, his knowledge of Farsi or the Persian culture is minimal. Therefore, he doesn’t have high hopes for the family’s first trip to Iran to visit his grandmother and terminally ill grandfather. Yet then he receives a warm welcome from all his relatives in Iran, learns more about his cultural roots, and meets Sohrab, the boy next door. With him at his side, he finally feels accepted, loved, and at home just as he is. Adib Khorram’s award-winning debut novel not only gives an insight into the challenges of growing up in a biracial family, it also provides an authentic portrait of a teenage boy struggling with mental illness without being defined by it.