Reviews with content warning for Car accident - ARISTOTELES Y DANTE DESCUBREN LOS SECRETOS DEL UNIVERSO

Benjamin Alire Sáenz put so much heart into this book. I wish I read this when I was a kid - I think I would’ve enjoyed it more when I was younger. The way he writes dialogue is fun. The way he writes emotional availability (and unavailability) feels so textured you can almost touch it. The character dynamics - especially Aristotle’s and Dante’s - have a whimsy that makes you feel young while you’re reading.

This is a quick read if you’re in the mood for a pick-me-up coming-of-age with substance!

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natkbailey's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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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shirarweiss's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

This was beautiful and heartbreaking. I found myself in Ari and his experiences of emotion.

While I loved the way it wrapped up with Ari accepting his love for Dante, it felt very sudden. I understand that Ari was confused but it didn’t seem like that’s how he was feeling? It felt a bit forced by his parents?

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lambclown's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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sarafer13's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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minervacerridwen's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective relaxing medium-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? Yes

2.5

This was a fast read and I enjoyed most of it. It was interesting to follow the experiences of two queer Mexican-American teenagers in the eighties. However, the ending seriously dropped the rating for me.

The whole book had built up to the discovery of who Ari's brother was and how he had ended up in prison. The big reveal was that the brother had killed a prostitute he'd picked up as a 15-year-old because she turned out to be a transvestite. In the same breath, Ari and his parents decide to put up framed pictures of this bigoted brother Because He Is Family After All, and not another thought is spent on that (while thus far, the whole book had been all about Ari's thought processes, so it definitely wouldn't have been out of character or slowing the story down).
I also didn't like the intervention of the parents telling Ari that he Had To Be In Love with Dante for a number of Logical Reasons that would perfectly have been explained by friendship. I'm sorry the author didn't have close friends he would have jumped in front of a car for. If Ari had been ace, that type of amatonormativity would have been confusing as hell (and so it may be for young aromantic or asexual readers who pick this up). I wish Ari would have gotten a chance in the story to figure out his identity in his own time. It really is a beautiful example of boys loving boys, but in terms of specifically romantic love, it had definitely felt one-sided up to that point. Surely you don't want the message of a coming-of-age book to be that your parents are right about everything and need to point everything out to you, including your own very personal feelings that you might not even be ready yet to study closely?

And on top of that, Ari had to out Dante to his parents. I definitely do see the value of them talking to each other about those subjects, but the way it was handled just didn't feel right for the type of book I generally had a feeling this wanted to be.

Considering how this was once lauded as a great book with a queer romance, I was surprised that it ended right after Ari acknowledged his feelings for Dante. It made me wonder even more if this really was the right decision for him. Which could have been intentional, but that doesn't quite match the way this book is marketed, which leaves me feeling weird about it all. It felt a little as if the author didn't quite know where to end the story and then just decided to cut it off after a quick tie-up.

I learned there is a sequel, so I could only hope some of these issues are resolved in that, but I don't think I have enough faith in it to pick it up.

Coming-of-age stories set in the real world are not my preferred genre, but if a little more thought had been put into the ending, I'd really have appreciated this one.

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melodyramirez's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

Beautiful

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