Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

Published: 28. August.2018

Genre: YA | Contemporary

Pages: 316

What is it about?

Darius/ Darioush the Great! He is not okay.
Obviously. 😛
This is a heartbreaking yet equally hilarious story about how it’s okay to not be okay sometimes. Darius is a shy teenage guy that refers to himself as a Fractional Persian who is a tea enthusiast and loves Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. He doesn’t have anyone that he can call “friends” and is bullied by a few guys in school. He is also slightly obese, has a disapproving father and dealing with clinical depression.He is going to take his first trip to Iran, that is pretty over-whelming since he doesn’t know to speak Farsi, has only seen ever met his extended family on the computer screen, and doesn’t know much about his Persian Culture himself. A story that beautifully captures Persian Culture, the feeling of being depressed, and mostly the need of having a friend – someone you can talk to, someone who understands.

Review

Plot:

What truly made this book special for me is the portrayal of depression or loving someone that is depressed. This story is as real as it can get for me, especially when it came to the self pity talks that Darius had with himself. I love how the message in this story is so subtle and how it reads more like a own voices book.
Apart from mental health being the main topic the story revolves around. The story also majorly focuses on how his depression affected his relationships with his family and friends.
I loved how this gets hilarious, and the character is so well developed that you get so invested in him. I literally had tears in my eyes at some point while reading this book.

I hated that questions: What are you depressed about? Because the answer was nothing.
I had nothing to be depressed about. Nothing really bad had ever happened to me.
I felt so inadequate.”

Setting:

This book made me fall in love with tea, even though I have always been a coffee person. And that says something! It made me crave for Persian Food and Desserts , and taught me so much about Iran, Darius the great and it’s culture.
I loved the diversity in this book. You learn the culture, especially from a person that feels like an outcast, and how his grandparents treat him like their own and want him to learn more about his countries and religion’s heritage.
Absolutely adored the family bonding and friendship between Sohrab and Darioush.

Characters:

Darius, the main character in this book has mental illness and so does his Dad. I did not find him queer and probably I really did not feel like the author wanted to focus on his sexuality rather than him coping up with being an outcast in his own culture, or the country he lives in. ( he stands out as a Persian in America and as an America in Iran).
Apart from that, he is fighting for his attention and acceptance from his dad, all this while feeling he isn’t good enough. I loved the sibling jealousy and how he took his time to warm up to his extended family.
Being practically friendless, he was so naive and absolutely eager to be friends with Sohrab and Darius’s friendship has been so pure and wholesome.

The side characters in this book have their own traits, and are so well developed, Its almost like I was equally in love with love with Darius, as well as his Granny, Sister and Sohrab.

I sure do recommend to read this book for the sole purpose of understanding a human being when they say they are depressed and what it feels like to be depressed.