Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

79 reviews

rebeccap's review

challenging emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Grief and Cursing

Minor: Transphobia, Hate crime, and Racism

luananki's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

3.75

some books don’t need a sequel and this one might have been one of them.

don’t get me wrong, it’s a good book and i very much enjoyed the poetic and emotional writing. ari‘s thoughts were often times relatable. it was easy to follow his train of thoughts - that‘s one of the reasons why i appreciated the letters so much. 

i also liked that it adressed a lot of things that were left unsaid in the first one. 

after reading both books i was sad that we didn’t get to find out more about dante’s feelings and thoughts. i’m not sure if ari understood some of his decisions and it would’ve been nice to get to know him better.

i hate the ending.

it felt rushed in every way and honestly like the bit of drama that can be found in every romance novel. it was comforting to see dante supporting ari after his father’s death and how they were able to work through so much trouble. breaking up and getting back together right after without any communication (one of the reasons why i’m sad we don’t get to see anything from dante’s pov) felt very out of character.

the deadnaming and misgendering was painful to read and made me uncomfortable in a lot of ways.

all in all, i enjoyed their story and how ari felt in their relationship. i’m still glad i picked up the sequel even though it could’ve been kept shorter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Homophobia

Moderate: Deadnaming, Pregnancy, Transphobia, Cursing, and Racism

Minor: Biphobia, Bullying, Hate crime, Murder, and War

graphic: death of parent

demonbaby's review

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.5

I didn't know what to expect from this book because I went into it knowing that it was a pretty unnecessary sequel. I like that it addresses things that were previously left unsaid, especially concerning the AIDS epidemic and Aristotle's family dynamics, but I just didn't feel the same emotional connection I had with the first book. I enjoyed revisiting such beloved characters, but if another sequel comes out, I probably won't be reading it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Hate crime

headachesince03's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Biphobia, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, and Violence

skudiklier's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

Oh I loved this book. I think it might have been even better than the first one--it certainly made me more emotional, and touched me in deeper places. I looked at the content warnings partway through the book because I wanted to be prepared for if a certain thing would happen, and those made me realize a different thing would happen. Even knowing that, it really got me and I was so wrecked by it. Overall though this book is beautiful and hopeful and real.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Death of parent, Homophobia, Grief, and Outing

Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Sexual content, Racism, Biphobia, Cursing, Bullying, Pregnancy, Hate crime, Deadnaming, and Child death

Minor: War, Animal death, Slavery, Murder, and Infidelity

moonchildshine's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

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

3.5

I love the prequel so much it made me drive myself to the bookstore at night just after I finished the prequel so that I can immediately buy and read this book. That's how much I anticipate it.

It was more than a week ago. And sadly, this sequel isn't like the first book of this series--which I pretty much devoured in two sitting. 

I read this slowly, because there were times when I felt it dragged too much.

Ari and Dante are still two precious boys who deal with things and try to learn about life together. The writing is still as beautiful as the first book. But there's just something lack? (Besides the lack of description, of course). It's just... It's not as magical as the first one, that's all.

However, I still enjoyed this read and I still find myself loving the characters. The friendship Ari and Dante's found, the love they discovered in each other's family, the grief they had to bear and the way they handle it... It's all important and just as heartwarming as the first book.

It's just my expectations, I guess. I expect too much and I didn't quite find my expectations were met after reading this.

3.5 stars, for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, and Transphobia

Moderate: Pregnancy, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

Minor: Racism and War

bennispizza's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Gun violence, Alcohol, Hate crime, War, Transphobia, Violence, and Homophobia

tatianars's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

Graphic: Death, Cursing, Homophobia, Bullying, Death of parent, Violence, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Alcohol, Grief, and Hate crime

tj_thekind's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-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

This book isn't perfect. But nothing is. Perfection is a lie we strive towards because we have nothing else to try to reach. Instead, this book is exactly what it is meant to be. It is happy and thoughtful and heartbreaking.
Yeah, it is sad. Hell, I struggled to get through the first half because it kept making me too emotional. And the second half made me ache inside. This book is an emotional rollercoaster. But I wouldn't have it any other way.
Thank you Ari and Dante. For teaching me something about desire and love and friendship and how to exist.
I am forever glad for one of the kindest people I know, how wouldn't stop talking about his favourite book and leant it to me. And for him buying this one for me for candlenights.
He introduced me to characters that have changed how I view my world. And I will never be able to repay him for that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Racism, Grief, Hate crime, and Transphobia

Moderate: Alcohol and Pregnancy

Minor: Deadnaming

This one hit me hard for good reasons too. Accepting parents and friends in this book made me cry for hours about my family and their lack of acceptance.

trycerabel's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Death of parent, and Hate crime