Darius the Great Is Not Okay

by Adib Khorram

Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran. Hilarious and heartbreaking, this unforgettable debut introduces a brilliant new voice in contemporary YA.

Winner of the William C. Morris Debut Award

“Heartfelt, tender, and so utterly real. I’d live in this book forever if I could.”
—Becky Albertalli, award-winning author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He’s a Fractional Persian—half, his mom’s side—and his first-ever trip to Iran is about to change his life.
 
Darius has never really fit in at home, and he’s sure things are going to be the same in Iran. His clinical depression doesn’t exactly help matters, and trying to explain his medication to his grandparents only makes things harder. Then Darius meets Sohrab, the boy next door, and everything changes. Soon, they’re spending their days together, playing soccer, eating faludeh, and talking for hours on a secret rooftop overlooking the city’s skyline. Sohrab calls him Darioush—the original Persian version of his name—and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he’s Darioush to Sohrab.
 
Adib Khorram’s brilliant debut is for anyone who’s ever felt not good enough—then met a friend who makes them feel so much better than okay.

• ISBN10: 0525552979
• ISBN13: 9780525552970
• Publish Date: 20 August 2019 (first published 28 August 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Penguin USA
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780525552970

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Darius simply captured my heart! As a biracial teen, he felt not "enough" for either world, but his zeal for learning about his Persian heritage was wonderful! Seeing his first visit to Iran through his eyes was beautiful and exciting. I also loved the friendship he developed with Sohrab. Darius, like I said, felt in-between. He was also a bit awkward and a target of the school bully. Sohrab gave him a taste of what a real friendship was, and I could feel the joy it gave Darius. He was a beautiful soft-boy of the best kind. The way he doted on his sister and waxed poetic about his grandmother warmed my heart, and I also appreciated his honesty about his depression. The family dynamic and identity are explored throughout this story, but it was his relationship with his father that really hit me in the feels hard. Darius did not have the most favorable view of his father and their relationship was strained. During his time in Iran, he learned a lot about his father, past and present, which helped him see some events and his father in a different light. Beautiful story of a young man finding himself and learning to love all his parts.
 

[Angie]

YES!
+I could totally relate to how Darius doesn't feel Persian enough. I'm not half-Persian, but I am half-German. Our mothers never taught us their languages. We've never been to their home country. We're always kind of on the outside. But now Darius is going to Iran to visit his grandparents.
+Crash course in Persian culture! There are a lot of unfamiliar words, foods, customs, etc. I was familiar with some (shout out to my BFFF), but a lot of it was new. I do enjoy learning about other cultures, so it was all interesting to me.
+Darius' friendship with Sohrab! It was so nice to see two boys get along like this and share feelings.
+Darius' relationship with his dad. We both have strained, complicated relationships with our dads. We both feel like disappointments and don't know how to talk to each other. It's so real.
+Great depression representation. Darius and his dad both have clinical depression and take medication for it. They both express it in different ways.

NO!
-I wanted Darius and Sohrab to kiss! That's not what this book is about though, and that's perfectly fine.

[leahrosereads]

What a phenomenal book! Darius was a wonderful MC to follow. His family and Sohrab interactions with him really added to how Darius felt about himself and how he grew throughout the story.

The storytelling here was amazing, and I'm definitely going to pick up the companion novel as soon as I can!

[empressbrooke]

This was a really sweet book. It's about so many heavy issues - the main character deals with depression, and being mixed race and not feeling like he fits with either side of his heritage, and being absent from family that lives far away, and feeling like he is perpetually disappointing his dad, and being picked on at school - and yet it manages to be a very light-hearted book. The characters, the story, and the setting all have a lot of depth to them and I really enjoyed living inside this world for a while. I'm really impressed that this was the author's debut. He juggled a lot here and made it look effortless.

[Stephanie]

This was amazing and I can't believe it took me so long to read it.

[Laurie]

Review posted on https://lauriesbookshelf.comA few months ago, I found out about the book Darius The Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram. I decided to keep an eye on it and its reviews before deciding whether to buy and read it. Well, all reviews were positive, so I did both. But am I just as pleased with this book as everyone else?





Expectations
As stated before, my expectations for this book were high. All reviews that I read about Darius The Great Is Not Okay were glowing. However, I have to tell you that my expectations were not met entirely and here's why.

Story
Yes, the story is okay. Not spectacular, but okay. We follow Darius, who suffers from clinical depression and faces a disapproving dad and a lot of bullying at school. He doesn't really know where he belongs, in America or in Iran. Throughout the book, we discover Darius' true self along with Darius himself.

Too simplistic
And here comes my biggest concern and my main critique. This book is way and way too simplistic for a young adlut novel. This is regarding both story line and writing style, but mainly the writing style. On a positive note, the book reads quickly. On the other hand, I find Darius The Great Is Not Okay more suitable as a middle-grade than as a YA. The writing really felt young and middle-grade, which annoyed me really bad at some point. Therefore, I got bored of the story and wanted this book to be finished. I missed any connection with Darius or any other character and this is mainly because of the writing style. The sentences are really short, which gives this book a somewhat immature feeling. Maybe I'm spoiled by all the fantasy books I read, but I have read contamporary books which have been excecuted much better.

Darius The Great Is Not Okay will find its Dutch release in April next year, and it totally found the right publisher. This publisher doesn't have much YA but more middle-grade and that is the best target group for this book.

Conclusion
Overall, I enjoyed reading Darius The Great Is Not Okay, but I did not as much as I hoped to do. The story is alright, but the writing style was way too simplistic for me. This made this book feel more suitable as a middle-grade than as a young adult novel. Apparently, this led me to enjoy the story less. I did not feel any connection to Darius or any other character and I even got bored at one point. The sentences are really short which made the excecution of the story feel a little immature. However, Darius The Great Is Not Okay still deserves a rock solid three stars, but I would not recommend this book to an older YA reader soon.This review was originally posted on Laurie's Bookshelf

[lauriesbookshelf]

Review posted on https://lauriesbookshelf.comA few months ago, I found out about the book Darius The Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram. I decided to keep an eye on it and its reviews before deciding whether to buy and read it. Well, all reviews were positive, so I did both. But am I just as pleased with this book as everyone else?





Expectations
As stated before, my expectations for this book were high. All reviews that I read about Darius The Great Is Not Okay were glowing. However, I have to tell you that my expectations were not met entirely and here's why.

Story
Yes, the story is okay. Not spectacular, but okay. We follow Darius, who suffers from clinical depression and faces a disapproving dad and a lot of bullying at school. He doesn't really know where he belongs, in America or in Iran. Throughout the book, we discover Darius' true self along with Darius himself.

Too simplistic
And here comes my biggest concern and my main critique. This book is way and way too simplistic for a young adlut novel. This is regarding both story line and writing style, but mainly the writing style. On a positive note, the book reads quickly. On the other hand, I find Darius The Great Is Not Okay more suitable as a middle-grade than as a YA. The writing really felt young and middle-grade, which annoyed me really bad at some point. Therefore, I got bored of the story and wanted this book to be finished. I missed any connection with Darius or any other character and this is mainly because of the writing style. The sentences are really short, which gives this book a somewhat immature feeling. Maybe I'm spoiled by all the fantasy books I read, but I have read contamporary books which have been excecuted much better.

Darius The Great Is Not Okay will find its Dutch release in April next year, and it totally found the right publisher. This publisher doesn't have much YA but more middle-grade and that is the best target group for this book.

Conclusion
Overall, I enjoyed reading Darius The Great Is Not Okay, but I did not as much as I hoped to do. The story is alright, but the writing style was way too simplistic for me. This made this book feel more suitable as a middle-grade than as a young adult novel. Apparently, this led me to enjoy the story less. I did not feel any connection to Darius or any other character and I even got bored at one point. The sentences are really short which made the excecution of the story feel a little immature. However, Darius The Great Is Not Okay still deserves a rock solid three stars, but I would not recommend this book to an older YA reader soon.This review was originally posted on Laurie's Bookshelf

[Kat @ Novels & Waffles]

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.

Things I Liked:

✑ Heartfelt, heartwarming, and utterly REAL
✑ Realistic and relatable mental health representation
✑ ft. a male friendship that is just so completely wholesome that my heart melts whenever I think about it
✑ Darius is an utter GEM ya'll
✑ All the Star Trek and LOTR references = 💛💛💛

Things I Liked... Less:

✑ ????
✑ I'm honestly unsure of what to put here?

---------------------------------------------
Novels & Waffles Blog・Twitter・Instagram・Bloglovin'

[layawaydragon]

Content Warning: Bigot Bullies, Fat Shaming, Ableism against mental health issues,

I love it. LOVED IT. Every character and moment. EVERY PART OF IT. I couldn't stop reading it. I absolutely bawled several times. Like, harder and deeper than any of John Green's work could ever.



I needed this as a teen. I needed this now.

The struggle with depression and not fitting in and feeling like you're just on a whole nother wavelength from everyone else and insecurity with family is SO FUCKING REAL.

It's not a romance. There's no kissing or touching. No declaration or love letters. But there's a connection, a feeling, realization, and hope. It's lowkey quiet type of relationship that just gets each other that's very relatable, especially for queer people.




It's a realistic coming of age where nothing's really different but everything has shifted at the end.

Includes: adorable little sister like Kitty from TATBILB by Jenny Han, meeting long distance grandparents in failing health, bigot bullies, silent tough-love fat-shaming father, resilient affectionate mother, Persian food and celebrations, tons of sci-fi and fantasy references, historical sightseeing, American soccer/International football, locker room bullying,

Absolute must read of YA contemporary fans. I really hope this blows up the way it deserves to and we get more from Khorram as soon as possible!!!

[jeannamichel]

My heart is so full.

Darius is about to embark on his first trip to Iran with his family. He meets his heartwarming grandmother, his ailing, yet amazing grandfather, and the boy next door, Sohrab. Sohrab changes everything. Adib Khorram’s debut, Darius the Great is Not Okay, is a spectacular coming of age novel of friendship and family that is sure to move you.

Darius' narrative is compelling and realistic. There are moments of stream of consciousness where readers are swept along into his mind. The flow is almost rhythmic. It certainly makes it hard to put down.

With all the references to Lord of the Rings and Star Trek, my fangirl heart is truly happy. I thought I was the only read who read the appendixes of Lord of the Rings. In Darius, it is extremely easy to find pieces of yourself, whether its his love of several fandoms or his struggle to fit in.

It's absolutely wonderful to have a protagonist with Middle Eastern heritage. The diverse cast of characters in Darius the Great is Not Okay is fantastic. Most of the book is set in Iran which brings a phenomenal heartbreaking story that every reader can relate to. The descriptions of the setting truly transports readers. There’s a moment in the book where Darius is atop a rooftop, watching the sky above the cityscape. Khorram’s phenomenal writing takes readers to that exact spot.

Darius struggles with his cultural identity. It's not something we usually come across in YA novels. He refers to himself as a fractional Persian. His struggle in fitting in, in any country, gives readers a new perspective but also educates them on this real issue that plagues many of bicultural identity. This poignant novel begins a lot of important discussions.

The repetition of Darius’ narrative made the story intentional and powerful. It pulls at your heartstrings. By the end, every single character had a place in your heart. But most of all, Darius shined in all his hilarious commentary.

The friendship between Darius and Sohrab was like no other. It was patient and kind, yet passionate and endearing. It surprised me that there was absolutely no romance—which is rare in young adult literature. Instead, Darius is friendship-centric, developing these two characters around this blossoming relationship they have together.

There is a trigger warning for clinical depression, some suicidal thoughts, and bullying.

I knew the ending was inevitable. Yet, I was still surprised at how abrupt it was. Just as the title admits, I was not okay. The last few chapters were able to fill me with hope and I left the book feeling content and blown away by a story that made me feel everything from joy to sadness.

Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram is a coming of age story that will stir its readers. The friendship, Darius' family dynamic, and the diversity in this book is truly remarkable. This debut goes above and beyond with a masterful plot that is both easy to relate to and heartbreaking.