Darius the Great Is Not Okay

A heartfelt and touching story about mental illness, and the difficulties of growing up as mixed, and the complexities of those two together. I have struggled with depression most of my life, and this book wonderfully depicted it, without falling into the same story I see time and time again about it. I also felt the depiction of Iran felt so real and beautiful, and human, like I was there, learning with Darius about the culture he came from. I plan to read the second book, and I will be re-reading this one.

Such a cozy read
-felt like I was in Iran myself
-learned a lot about tea
-Darius is a great character and can explain his emotions very well

I can't remember the last time I cried this much while reading a book. Khorram captured the struggles of depression, while mixing it with the beauty of finding someone who understands you and giving me a lesson in Persian culture.

This would have been a five star read if the relationship between Darius and Sohrab had been built up a bit more, and the references to Star Trek had been a tiny bit less. I'm familiar with the show myself but I kept wondering how much people who haven't seen it and aren't familiar with Persian culture would have to google to understand all the references. I only had to do it to the Persian things and it already felt a bit confusing!

Definitely a recommended read if you've experience with depression and don't mind looking things up while reading.

Bonus points for having a non-straight (assumed gay) MC where the story doesn't revolve around him being gay. Bonus bonus for fat rep.

This is one of those books whose accolades are predicated more on a hole in the market than independent awesomeness. Pretty standard coming-of-age, self-identity-through-widened-perspective tale. I skipped over a big chunk of the middle cause it was so predictable and Darius bored me.

Some things in this book felt suuuuuper cheesy and pulled me out of the book with the cringe (mostly Darius' names for things), but the plot was wholesome and beautifully executed and the message was fantastic. I wanted this to turn into a queer romance but am also refreshed that it didn't.

Great story about being different, struggling to find your place, and the importance of friends and family. I loved the windows of Iranian culture that this book opened up for readers- overall, a beautiful piece of literature.

This book was an unexpected delight. I knew going in that this book included a strong focus on depression, but it is not a sad book.

I enjoyed getting to see the world through the lens that Darius has, even as he struggles because he also starts to see that the world is a beautiful place, and things are not always just as they appear.

This book has wonderful perspective about seeing ourselves and others as whole people, with good things and less good things, but ultimately giving grace and being okay with difference.

Almost all of the experience of Darius is outside of my experience, and I really enjoyed going on an adventure (on my computer) to see Yazd, learning about the B'hai and Zoroastrian faiths, and learning about tea. It's a fun read with cultural notes.

Also: The narrator of the audiobook does a fantastic job.

one of the most beautiful books i have ever read

“Suicide isn't the only way you can lose someone to depression.”

This book was a solid 4 stars until the last page. Then it made me cry and that was it. Darius's story, the discovery of Iran, Persian culture, his friendship with Sorhab was really beautiful, endearing and touching. But it was the way depression is shown and the toll it takes on one's life and mind, without dramatising it, just by showing things as they are, that made this book really powerful and made me love it. I'm still shedding some tears from the after-read, but I just wanted to say, as someone who suffers from depression: Thank you.

This one might fall slightly under a 4 for me. There are parts where the writing style and the main character's monosyllabic “uh” or “ums” get to be a bit clunky, but I think the core of this book is a good read. The friendship in the book was special in a way that is rarely shown in YA novels. The relationship between Darius and his father was nuanced. I learned about a good deal about Persian culture, too and had never heard of Yazd, so I liked a peek into the culture, landmarks, and geography there.

Before we begin, let me say upfront that I am not your average YA/children's reader (some of you have undoubtedly heard this before). For one, I don't have the same degree of nostalgia for the books of my younger years as many avid readers have. (I'm not sure why this is. Perhaps I should ask my therapist.) Furthermore, I tend to nitpick many of the common traits of these books that I personally find annoying. I attempt to give these novels a rating that reflects my understanding that I'm reading a book for younger readers; yet I don't think writing for adolescents should be an excuse for sloppy or overly simplistic writing. Still, I read them because I know there are exceptions I want to discover, and because I want to be a widely-read reader. So I say all that to say this: my opinion of this and other similar books is merely the mad ramblings of a cranky, middle-aged man who might tell the neighborhood kids to stay off my lawn if I wasn't so incredibly socially intimidated by them. You can stop reading now.

What I liked... I wanted to read Darius the Great Is Not Okay because I knew it tackled mental illness, religion, and Star Trek. That's enough to make an easy sell with me. Of the three topics, I thought Khorram's approach to religion was the least simplistic: I didn't feel like he was trying too hard to constantly explain matters of faith to the reader, and this is a huge plus. I also enjoyed how the author handled the various relationships within this story. The bonds that Darius shared with his parents, grandparents, and friend (Sohrab) were explored with some care and introspection, providing the reader with different approaches to each.

What I didn't like so much... There were three elements I saw repeated here that I often see in stories written for a younger audience. And of course, they annoyed me. The first was the repetitiveness. There's this thing in children's and YA books where the same terms and phrases have to be drilled into the reader's brain. I don't know why this is, but it's a thing. One such phrase in Darius the Great... (though there were several) was “soulless minions of orthodoxy.” I love that the author gave a nod to Deep Space Nine (my favorite of the Trek series), particularly when the Trek in this novel is very TNG-centric, but there's a point when it's excessive–and that was probably the third utterance of the aforementioned phrase.

The other two patterns I saw in this novel was a need to simplify everything (I know the average reader may not be not fully developed, but must everything be explained?) and a primary focus on plot (this story was better than many, but it was still very plot-centric). But see, here I go being nitpicky...

Overall, I thought Darius the Great... was a better-than-average modern YA (yet seemingly written for a not-quite-YA audience?) novel. It tackles some important topics, even if these subjects are heavily coated in sugar for easier swallowing. I almost gave it four stars. And yet, it never takes on the subject that the book seems to be tiptoeing around the whole time... Darius's sexuality. Perhaps I was looking for something that wasn't meant to be there, but I can't help but feel the character of Darius was not allowed to say what he really wanted to say in these pages.

Man I've been getting so lucky with my book choices, third 5 star in a row! I loved every second of this book. I love Darius, I love his family, I loved Yazd. Having grown up away from my home country and having to experience the cultural differences really hit home, especially the stigma towards mental health outside of the West. Amazing, amazing book, definitely one I'll be rereading in the future

Amazing in every way!

drinking challenge: have a shot every time darius says um or uh.

This novel got a lot of hype before and after its release - and it deserves it. It has great minority representation, from Persian (and bi-racial!) to Zoroastrian and Baha'i, to clinical depression and male friendship. You could also read gay and/or asexual into it, but that's not explicitly mentioned. Romantic love is just never addressed; perhaps because the story just doesn't involve it, but you could definitely read the main character as ace.

Darius is a great main character. He's funny, self-deprecating, and complex. He has clinical depression, is medicated for it, and can sometimes tell when it's the depression making him think a certain way, but sometimes he can't. He's biracial, visiting Iran and his mother's Persian family for the first time, and adjusting to Persian social norms and traditions while trying not to lose sight of his American life. His connection with his father is tenuous and fraught with miscommunication, and lot of the book is spent wrestling with that relationship. His new friend, Sohrab, is a great foil to that, as his father is completely absent from his life, having been arrested and thrown in jail prior to the start of the story, largely for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and being part of a minority religion.

There are so many small things touched on this book - suspicion at customs when flying through, bullying at school for being Persian, not speaking his family's language because his mother didn't teach it to him (and feeling cut off because of it) - all little things that a lot of immigrant children deal with.

Aside from the cultural things the book addresses, there's also the mental health aspect. Both Darius and his father have clinical depression, and there's stigma attached to having the diagnosis, and to taking pills for it. We see how their mental states affects their relationship with each other and with the rest of their family, and it's quite powerful. The author talks about having clinical depression in an afterword, and includes some resources that helped him. This is an #ownvoices novel in more ways than one, and it really shows. Excellent book.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

A quiet but lovely book. Definitely recommend the audio as it really enhanced the experience to hear the authentic Farsi. I appreciated the matter of fact discussion of depression as an illness like all others and the work Khorram's doing to destigmatize the diagnosis.

I was impressed with how much Darius the Great Is Not Okay managed to accomplish.

It has the exploration of cultural identity and heritage, with Darius feeling too Persian in some contexts and not Persian enough in others. His encounters with unfamiliar places and people help him to better understand himself. By visiting Yazd and forming relationships, it's as though certain aspects of his identity appear on his radar, suddenly having spiked in relevance. It makes you think about how identity can be both distinct and collective.

The depiction of mental illness (thankfully) differed from a lot of YA about mental health that veers toward high-stakes, acute crises following specific trauma. This book is more about day-to-day functionality in response to a chronic condition. It was also unusual to see a parent-child relationship wherein both parent and child are mentally ill. You get to see how depression impacts Darius and his father respectively, but also how it impacts their relationship.

Expectations governing how boys and men are “allowed” to express emotion and affection. How Darius uses tea to spend time with and demonstrate concern for others. The relationship dynamics between Darius and Laleh, and of course Darius and Sohrab. I can't discuss this as much without getting spoiler-y, but suffice it to say that there are lots of interesting points made about vulnerability and processing hurt.

This book oddly reminds me of Gary Schmidt's Okay for Now. If you liked that, I would try this.

“Suicide isn't the only way you can lose someone to depression.”

I really liked “Darius,” and the way the author explored depression, family, friendship, and self-esteem. I know what it's like to be “inexplicably” sad in a way that just seems ridiculous and spoiled to people who haven't been there. I know what it's like to say the worst, meanest things to people I care about. I know what it's like to see every human interaction in the darkest, most suspicious light. I know what it's like to feel I've disappointed a parent by just being me.

Anyhow, the Iranian setting was also amazing! I loved how Darius became more himself by meeting this portion of his family, and realizing he belonged to something bigger than himself, when he stopped worrying about being Persian enough.

I thought it was terrific how the reader could see that one of the kids Darius went to school with (in America) wanted to be friends, but Darius wasn't in a place where he could see it, not until he returned home.

Darius's friendship with Sohrab was great, but what made the book for me was the exploration of Darius's relationship with his father, and now what can seem like rejection is really based on that person's pain, their feelings of failure and inadequacy. They're not rejecting you so much as dealing with their own issues.

Ohhhh I just loved this book so much. I loved Darius. I felt like his struggles here are captured so poignantly, including his awareness that “nothing bad has ever happened to him” and yet he still feels his depression. (Because...that's how it works.) And the sense of not really knowing his family, and the sense that we as a reader get that there's more going on with his parents than Darius can perceive...and yet he's also a funny, observant narrator, and I loved the peek into life in Iran as well.

I also really loved his friendship with Sohrab, and just kind of...the vaguest hint of neither of them being able to fully process their feelings for each other but just the power of finally finding a friend being a good enough place to start.

UGH. BEAUTIFUL.