Reviews with content warning for Violence - Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

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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bennispizza's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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lucy_shanners's review

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emotional hopeful reflective 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

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tatianars's review against another edition

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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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onemamareads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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lexarobinson's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

Although this book begins pretty much immediately after Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe ends, the ten-year gap in their publication has allowed even more maturity to seep into Sáenz's writing, and subsequently the characters themselves (particularly Ari). Its predecessor is excellent, but this sequel blows it right out of the water in my opinion: Sáenz builds a beautiful connection of characters, discusses the AIDS pandemic in such a respectful and considerate tone without sugarcoating it in any manner, and the relationship between Ari and Dante simply flourishes. Lilly and Jaime Mendoza and Sam and Soledad Quintana, however, still steal the show: they are maybe my favourite two sets of fictional parents ever. These two books are a simple delight.

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grboph's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

4.5

I LOVED this book. I had read Secrets of the Universe three or four times before I found out this book existed, and the day I found out it did I drove half an hour to buy it. I am very glad I did. I think this book did a really good job of tying up some of the loose ends that were left at the end of the first book. I found the character development to be stronger and more significant in this book than it was in the first one, particularly in how Ari makes new friends and

deals with the death of his father

. I also really liked that the plot of this book was contextualized a bit more and dealt with important social issues, particularly the AIDS epidemic, homophobia, transphobia, and racism (which are as prevalent now as they were in the late 1980s when this book takes place). The only reasons I removed half a star were because I found the writing to be trying too hard to be "deep" in some places and because I don't quite know how I felt about Dante's choices towards the end of the book (they were sort of immature, and for a book where maturity and the concept of "becoming a man" is so central, I'm not sure his actions were correct or made sense). All in all, however, I really enjoyed reading this book and I am so glad I went to the lengths I did to get it. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me think very deeply about life. It was everything I could have hoped for in a sequel to Secrets of the Universe. I would recommend this book to anyone who read the first book, even if they did not enjoy it very much, and I would recommend this series to anyone in the world looking for an emotional book to read.

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novel_nicola's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.5

The stunning sequel to one of my favourite books brought back all the emotions I’d felt during the first book and more. Ari and Dante discover life’s joys and challenges as they navigate their budding relationship and figure out their place in a world that doesn’t seem ready for people like them. Sáenz succeeds wonderfully at bringing his characters to life and inviting readers to empathise with their struggles and triumphs.

Though the pace may be too slow for some, and a good 100 pages could’ve easily been cut, this is a book to savour, not rush through. There wasn’t a single page I did not enjoy reading.

Sáenz has crafted a wonderful coming-of-age duology and this book is a worthy successor to its award-winning predecessor. Aristotle and Dante will certainly go down as one of my most loved fictional couples.

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