Aristotle and Dante dive into the Waters of the World, Benjamin Alire Sáenz

[Ulysses]

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World
By Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Simon and Schuster, 2021
Narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda for Audible
Five stars

I read the previous book about Aristotle Mendoza and Dante Quintana so long ago, I’d largely forgotten everything about their story other than how much I loved it. Two Mexican-American teenagers in Texas discovering their love for each other, set in the late 1980s. When I saw this sequel, available with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s narration through Audible, I could hardly wait.

And I wasn’t disappointed. Benjamin Alire Sáenz writes a young adult book that is as philosophical and poetic as it is romantic. It is a long book, but divided into many small chapters, each one like a savory (or sweet) little bite. It is far wordier than you’d expect a book about teenagers to be, and yet somehow Sáenz manages to make both Dante and Aristotle believable as teenagers (at least, insofar as I remember myself at exactly that age, some 50 years ago). Ari Mendoza is the narrator here, and his amazing voice brings every aspect of the book to life.

The book is funny and heartbreaking, and poignant (which is not the same as heartbreaking), and irritating and tender. Dante and Aristotle are all the things that teenagers can be (and at this stage I remember my own children, grown adults, when they dragged me through their late teens). The setting of the book in Texas in the late 1980s is a double whammy, emotionally. Texas (for all its enormous gay community) is still one of the most virulently anti-gay places in America. It is also (for all its vast Mexican-American community) one of the most racist. Aristotle and Dante have to face the double challenge of being of Mexican heritage (although American through and through) and also gay. I remember being gay in the late 1980s – indeed my “boyfriend” and I had been together for 13 years when this story happens. So I know it was possible. But I was a privileged white boy from a prep school, and my boyfriend was a smart Jewish boy from New Jersey whom I met at an Ivy League college in 1975. This book is a reminder of how hard it is to live an authentic life in a world that wants to hate you in more than one way.

The book is also a reminder of how important family is. One of the great joys of Sáenz’s story is the parents of both boys (Ari’s parents Jaime and Liliana; Dante’s parents Sam and Soledad) were the best parents any teenager could ever have – not unrealistic. As Ari and Dante create a circle of friends who embrace them as a couple and support them in their search for meaning in their lives, we learn about the place in which they live and the community that shapes them all.

I must also say that I fell in love with Lin-Manuel Miranda as he read this book to me on Audible. His gentle voice captures all of the emotion and the nuances of the two boys and all of the people around them. Miranda’s reading brings Sáenz’s wonderful words to vivid life.

The difficult thing about Young Adult romances is that we can never predict where these young people will end up in their adult lives. We can hope, if the author lets us. Benjamin Alire Sáenz gives us permission to hope, and for that I am grateful.