Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

113 reviews

mical45's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, and Homophobia

Minor: Death, Cursing, Murder, Animal death, and Car accident

navayiota's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

For me, this was one of those books that I procrastinated reading cause I knew I would love it. And I did. I finished the audiobook in one day. I related to both of the protagonists quite a lot, but especially Dante... At times it hurt, cause we are just so similar. At times I found myself pausing to collect my thoughts, after the story clicked a little too perfectly with something that has happened to me, and it always felt profound. It was nice to read about healthy families for once. 

And I was so happy when they ended up together. I was worried that they wouldnt

 
This is a book I will continue to think about, and I will be reading the sequel asap.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Transphobia, Car accident, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Medical content, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual content

danajoy's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Aristotle Mendoza is 15 and has no idea who he is. 

This book feels so intimate. You're in Ari's head. He's complicated and sensitive.

I love the adult cast in this too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Medical content, Violence, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, and Cursing

Minor: Cancer

thesecretsapphic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Medical content, Xenophobia, Violence, Alcohol, Car accident, Cursing, Drug use, Grief, War, Transphobia, Physical abuse, Murder, Outing, Mental illness, Homophobia, and Hate crime

theverycraftyvegan's review

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

You know what? If a book makes me laugh AND cry I think it deserves 5 stars. 

I am neither a teenager nor a boy, but this was a beautiful and engrossing story about family, friendship, hardships, self acceptance, trust, and love. 

I highly recommend listening to Lin-Manuel Miranda narration of the audio book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Racism, Homophobia, Alcohol, and Bullying

Moderate: Transphobia, Cursing, Drug use, and Outing

Minor: Pregnancy and Murder

bookhoarder93's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I found this book to be a really beautiful read. It is a great story about love of all types; friends, family, romantic. Also a great coming of age story.

I also really liked that it didn’t follow some of the tropes and stereotypes some stories with gay characters do.

The writer was able to tackle complex topics and ideas and articulate them with simplicity. My biggest criticisms are the end (last 30th he pages) felt very rushed and, because of that rush, the big moment for Ari at the end didn’t feel as authentic and emotional as I think it could/should have been. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Cursing and Outing

quinn_k's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Drug use, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Hate crime

elliereadsthings's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A really cute story about a boy falling in love with another boy, what more could you want???

For some reason I absolutely LOVE the parents in this story, they’re amazing. I may even love them more than Dante and Ari themselves. 

The start was a little slow, but I swear this book just got better and better the further in I got.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

“Dante. I really liked him. I really, really liked him.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Hate crime

Moderate: Homophobia, Alcohol, Drug use, Cursing, and Sexual content

Minor: Murder, Grief, Classism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Transphobia, War, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, and Cancer

goosecaboose's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is amazing!! I just wanted to hug the book and the characters the whole time I was reading it. It’s very wholesome and warm. Putting this book down during a reading session was basically impossible. I definitely recommend this book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Hate crime, Violence, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and War

Minor: Cursing, Medical content, and Medical trauma

There’s a good chunk of possibly triggering things in this book, however, I get triggered moderately easy and didn’t have any problems. This book is definitely worth it.

siestudygirl's review against another edition

hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This book definitely holds impact, not just during its time of publication, but to present day. I received this book as part of a book swap, and I was stoked to dive into it! I liked how each character had their respective flaws that didn't make them unlikable. However, although I definitely picked up on the plot, I did not like some of the pacing. Nor was the writing style (consistent, short, blunt sentences) totally my speed. In fact, only when there was some kind of confession did the writing style change. 
Overall, this is a good book! But some of the pacing and writing didn't really help with engagement. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Hate crime

Moderate: Racism and Mental illness

Minor: Cursing and War