Chapter 34 “Sunday” — Summary, Analysis, and Study Notes
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
The chapter opens with Cyrus in his Brooklyn hotel room on the third day of his trip. He attempts to call Zee but hangs up without leaving a voicemail, uncertain what he would even say. His hands are trembling involuntarily, as if trying to shake themselves out of a dream.
The narrative shifts to a memory of his father's funeral. Only a handful of people attended: Ali's boss and his wife, Cyrus's high school English teacher Mr. Orenn, his then-girlfriend Shireen, his roommates Zeke and Chang, and his friend Bilal. No one was asked to speak, so the gathering was mostly silent. Mr. Orenn offered a brief secular remark that Cyrus barely remembers, though he recalls feeling grateful that someone was doing something. What stays with him is the smell of wet soil, sickly sweet, which he can still sometimes smell after rain.
Cyrus remembers that his uncle Arash couldn't have flown from Iran even if invited, but Cyrus never called to invite him. When he eventually phoned to deliver the news of his father's death, Arash was furious—screaming and cursing at Cyrus for the first and only time.
Back in the present, Cyrus opens the hotel window and lets the cold air in, finding brief relief in the sensation. He then dials Arash on WhatsApp. It's past four in the morning in Alborz, but Arash answers on the second ring. They exchange greetings, and Cyrus notes his uncle's permanently high-pitched voice, the result of a botched tonsillectomy decades earlier.
Arash mentions his new Lebanese assistant, Ghashmira, who is teaching him French. He shares a phrase she taught him about holding firmly to God's rope, dismissing it as mullah nonsense—talk that makes Cyrus anxious given the political climate in Iran.
Cyrus reveals he called because he saw a painting that reminded him of Arash: an Iranian soldier on horseback with a flashlight, riding among the dead. Arash initially jokes about it, then tells the story of his old white Paykan sedan, which had a tape player with a cassette permanently stuck inside: Allegri's Miserere. He recounts the legend of Mozart transcribing the piece from memory after hearing it once in the Vatican, liberating music the church had kept for itself.
Arash explains he listened to the tape thousands of times over years of long drives, hearing something new each time. When Cyrus admits he doesn't understand, Arash tells him he wouldn't understand even if he heard it—because Arash has been to war and seen what the music describes, while Cyrus has only seen a painting and thought of his uncle.
Cyrus tells Arash the painting was called