/lit/ - Literature

>>15725393

The romanticizing that the character does is deliberate, because he uses the motifs in it to transcend reality, integrate into Iranian history, and become a resistance figure/martyr for his supporters, who value martyrs highly as Iranians, after which he'll become a postmodern type of shah. He's never "lived" in a stable way.

Some spoiler stuff, if you want it:


> the main character was a former US military linguist working for the NSA, on the entry-level side (this isn't revealed until the end of the book)
> asperger's syndrome and antisocial, he was taught Arabic by the Army, and through that avenue, his aspie obsession became Persianate cultures and history, along with Middle Eastern politics
> becomes isolated in the military in a job that doesn't matter, he came on as part of a recruitment quota for a war that was getting wrapped up
> can't make meaningful relationships, draws further into himself
> his only escape is singing and going to underground parties to dance, realizes that he has a talent in performance, and that people film him and get more energetic once he dances
> a plan starts to develop, connecting raves and some Iranian elites' participation in it as a revolutionary activity
> his obsession turns into research in NSA archives at his workstation, learning who's who in Iranian politics and the elite
> studies physical borders for vulerabilities as well so he can smuggle himself across
> disillusioned with normie society and faced with existential crisis after one of his mentors kills himself, he decides to take action on his own to curb what he sees as America's warmongering, fights with his narcissism in this regard
> plans to become a lone-wolf, using his performance skill to find a place in the Iranian rave scene and to coordinate knowledge of the regime's vulnerabilities to destabilize Iranian society as an accelerationist of sorts (the method's too long for this)