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

by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

I didn’t understand how you could live in a mean world and not have any of that meanness rub off on you.

But Dante made talking and living and feeling seem like all those things were perfectly natural.

That afternoon, I learned two new words. “Inscrutable.” And “friend.” Words were different when they lived inside of you.

it made me aware that there was something inside of me that mattered.

“I mean, when do we start feeling like the world belongs to us?”

Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer morning could end in a downpour. Could end in lightning and thunder.

“I don’t need the rain,” I said. “I need you.”