Shaili Standefer’s Review 4

[Shaili]

I began to read Benjamin Alire Sáenz novel “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” and was really fascinated by the characters, and continued to grow more invested in them. Not only do you learn about Ari and Dante’s relationship, but you learn and read about the relationship with their parents. I feel that as a teenager, they are more concerned about friendships and developing a sense of identity than they are with continuing their relationship with parents. I feel as though this author did a great job of incorporating the different relationships kids have with their parents and families. Dante, seems to have very supportive and communicative parents whereas Ari struggles to create a connection with his. As the novel continues, the reader learns more about Ari’s family including Bernardo and Mr. Mendoza. I really enjoyed the family aspect of this book because there is a lot of distinctions between families and they are hard to write about.
Furthermore, I believe Benjamin Alire Sáenz did a great job with creating this contrast between knowing oneself versus really struggling with it. You really get to see how the characters deal with identity and where it leads. I really like this quote by Ari when he says “It’s just that sometimes I have these things running around inside me, these feelings. I don’t always know what to do with them.” Whether we are children, young adults, adults or elderly, we all have these emotions or feelings that are hard to understand and explain, and it should be normal to know we do have these feelings.