by Carolyn W.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
(2018) 316 pages
Final Rating: 1/10

Blurb: 

Darius doesn’t think he’ll ever be enough, in America or in Iran.

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He’s about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it’s pretty overwhelming—especially when he’s also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom’s family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.

Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what’s going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understands that sometimes, best friends don’t have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he’s spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi 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. When it’s time to go home to America, he’ll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own.

Review: 

Despite its accurate representation, I have to give it one star because there was only one scene that I found myself invested in, and it only lasted about 30 pages. As a person who also suffers from depression and anxiety, I found the representation of Darius’ depression to be realistic, but not presented well. The writing was poor and inexperienced, and it was so difficult to enjoy because it felt like little to nothing happened. Although Darius and I have different symptoms of our depression, I felt as if it could be better fleshed out, because Darius’ explanations barely scratched the surface of what mental health is and how destructive it can be for some people while presenting a positive representation against mental health stigmas. I could barely care for any of the characters, no matter how much I wanted to, because the writing was so bland and only scratched the surface of its true potential.