Upon discovering his babou (Darius's mom's dad) has a brain tumor, the family decides to take a trip to the desert city of Yazd, Iran, where Darius's grandparents live. Darius has not seen his grandparents in a long time, and has only talked to them through video calls, but Darius speaks little Farsi compared to his mom and sister, so he easily gets lost in the conversations. Upon arriving, Darius instantly connects with his mamou (grandmother), but struggles to get to know his babou.

‎Darius the Great Is Not Okay on Apple Books

I will rave about this book. A lot. I have so many good things to say about it that I need to gather my thoughts before I can write a coherent review. This book took my heart by storm. It made me sad and happy and also very hungry. Re-read 8/11/20: I loved this book even more the second time around and am actually raising my rating from a 4 to a 5. This book is incredible and if you haven't read it yet YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO. I am so glad that I have an arc of Darius the Great Deserves Better so that I can dive in IMMEDIATELY!

Anyway! Let’s continue to talk about the book and the strong focus on Darius’s friendship with Sohrab instead. And let me tell you, I adored the fact that there was such a strong friendship representation in this story without it turning into anything romantic in the end. I think the potential was definitely there but it didn’t happen and I appreciated that the author decided to focus on all the other topics first. It rounded the entire story off and made room for a potential exploration of Darius’s sexuality in the next book. So kudos to Adib Khorram for tying up all the loose ends in the first book while still giving Darius time and room to explore this important part of himself in the second instalment. And I’m convinced this will happen in book two! The only thing I didn't LOVE was that I thought the characters could have been more fleshed out, especially Sohrab and Laleh. But at the same time this was a pretty short book so I get there isn't heaps of time.

Khorram on Writing Honestly About Mental Health, Love Adib Khorram on Writing Honestly About Mental Health, Love

Babou insists on taking everyone to the Atashkadeh, the Zoroastrian fire temple, the next day. But when the family arrives, Babou isn’t feeling well, so he and Mamou stay in the car. It’s a sobering experience for Darius, as he thinks about Babou’s mortality while staring at the ceremonial flames that have been burning for about 1,500 years. When the family gets home, Darius finds Mom looking at photo albums. She shows him a photo of Dad holding baby Darius, which makes them both sad: if only Dad and Darius could act like father and son, and if only it was easy like it seems in the photo.No one had ever made me feel like it was okay to cry. Or bumped shoulders with me and made me smile. But when his family heads to Iran to visit Darius' grandparents (his first trip to his ancestral home), he hopes that things will be different. While he absolutely loves spending time with his grandmother, he feels ill-at-ease around his grandfather, who is terminally ill. He feels his grandfather looks at him as disapprovingly as his father, especially when he learns Darius takes medicine for depression. Plus, he doesn't speak Farsi, and his younger sister has no problem communicating with everyone. The 100 Best YA Books of All Time: Darius the Great Is Not Okay". Time. August 11, 2021 . Retrieved January 1, 2022.