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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle and Dante, #1)

Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Start date: May 2, 2016

Finish date: May 31, 2016

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What Members Thought

Oct 07, 2013 ilovebakedgoods (Teresa) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016, killeen-library-paper, young-adult, contemporary-fiction, family, friendship, relationships, blue-covers, transportation-on-cover

"There are worse things in the world than a boy who likes to kiss other boys."

Yes there are. The sooner more people realize this, the better. Once again, I'm angered by the actions of those who attack people simply for being gay. I'll never comprehend such hatred and fear (gotta be fear, right? Why else would someone feel threatened by a person who isn't even giving them the time of day??)!! Not that I want to, but you know what I mean.

This was a pretty slow burn of a book and it felt like t ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Apr 28, 2020 Seahorse Library rated it it was ok

Shelves: genre-contemporary, genre-ya

This is such a popular read, so I decided to give it a go.

This was one of those sort of “elegant” reads. It had a literature vibe and was very thoughtful and nicely executed. It was super dialogue heavy in places with minimal tag lines.

It was super slow in places. I like my romance to concentrate on the romance, not family dynamics. There were endless scenes about Ari’s dad and brother and how that has affected him. As such, I found Ari endlessly depressing with all his teen angst. Urgh.

At the ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 28, 2015 Morgan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, young-adult, fiction

I...am pretty sure I'm in the extreme minority with this one. I'm also pretty bummed about it.

Going to cut for "spoilers", because I can't talk about my issues without basically giving the plot.

(view spoiler) I...am pretty sure I'm in the extreme minority with this one. I'm also pretty bummed about it.

Going to cut for "spoilers", because I can't talk about my issues without basically giving the plot.

(view spoiler)[
The characterization just seemed so inconsistent and unrealistic, especially for Ari. Just so conflicting in general.

And I was also disappointed with the whole romance end of things? Like having the parents sit Ari down and be like SO YOUR BEST FRIEND LOVES YOU AND HE'S GAY AND YOU SAVED HIM SO YOU'RE GAY.

Like...I would push my best friend out from in front of a car. I would beat up someone who beat her up.

I love her.

But I'm also straight. Loving someone like that doesn't have to mean that you want to bang them.

There's no part in the book that shows Ari is sexually attracted to Dante. He loves him, they are best friends, but apart from his parents being like SO YOU'RE GAY AND THAT'S COOL HAVE FUN BEING GAY.

Moving to Dante, I enjoyed it before he was pressuring Ari. If someone says, "Hey, I don't like you like that, I don't want to kiss you. That's my rule." You shouldn't be like so let's kiss. How about we kiss? We should kiss. Just a little. Just once. ~~Just the tip to see how it feels you might like it.~~ Okay, so not that very last struck out part, but that's what it felt like. It squicked me a little from that side of things, and maybe that's just me.

I would have liked it so much better if it was a friendship/coming of age story with these two boys. Especially with the parallels between Ari and Dante (Ari beating up the guys who beat Dante for kissing a boy / Ari's brother beating the prostitute to death when he realized she was a man.) Making it a romance at the end felt forced to me. It was just like oh well my parents say that all means that I have to love him and in loving him that means I have to also be sexually attracted to him so...

I could have accepted it more easily if there had been some sort of internal conflict before the very end of the book where his parents sit him down, and then he's like yep so I'm gay.

As rare as the boy/girl friendship is in fiction, the boy/boy straight/gay friendship is literally a unicorn.

And I want to see a unicorn.
(hide spoiler)]

To sum up: Every book does not need romantic love. No means no. And finally FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC. ...more

1 like · Like · see review