Reviews tagging 'Racism'

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

192 reviews

delisouseyelids's review against another edition

emotional 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

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Misogyny, Violence, War, Alcohol, Car accident, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Child death, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug use, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Transphobia, and Cursing

mcfeinics's review

emotional 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

There are very few books that on the first read I know it will be a book I read again and again, this is one of those. Ari's thoughts and letters hold so much in them, so much that could be meditated on even. This may be labeled as a YA but this book holds depth far beyond justa YA audience. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Homophobia

Minor: Drug use and Murder

emiliarosep's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death of parent, and Racism

Moderate: Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, and War

wiktoria_bojda's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad 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 of parent

Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Xenophobia, and Racism

Minor: Transphobia

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.5

This book was somehow hopeful and melancholy at the same time, and the result is just beautiful. While reading this, I really wanted to reread the first book. To say that this was a love story (in the sense that this is a romance book) would severely diminish the impact and honesty this book has. It has a simple, yet poetic writing style that makes every topic addressed in this book (self-love, grief, belonging, hate, etc.) so accessible and resonate within the reader.  There were a couple of times that I thought the writing style was too simplistic for the situation it was discussing, but for a majority of the time I thought it was perfect.  There are many everyday, meaningful conversations, and that is right up my alley.  This is a beautiful exploration of what it is like to love in a world so filled with hate, both in general and specifically for your identity.  Ari struggled a lot with self-hatred in the first book (so the first one is much more melancholy than this one), and he really deals with that in this book.  The character progression is heart-warming to see as he grows and learns.  Even if things can't last forever, it's impact will linger and become a part of who you are; it is just up to you to determine how it will change and influence you.  It is just wonderful.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Racism and Transphobia

Minor: Sexual content, Deadnaming, and War

Internalized homophobia, AIDs crisis

julieta_sc7's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, Transphobia, Homophobia, Death of parent, Racism, Grief, and Murder

classicalhell's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Confinement, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

joisaddler's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Racism

Moderate: Death

robinks's review

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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

3.25

The pacing of this book was really strange, as there were parts I didn’t think needed to be drawn out so much and others that I wish could’ve been drawn out more. I liked the new characters and what the book had to show about platonic intimacy. I also liked how we got to see the teens empowered to advocate for themselves and each other.

What I didn’t like was how the relationship between Dante & Ari progressed, and I think part of it was due to the fact that Ari seemed to be a totally different person from the first book. If we had seen more of his growth, it would’ve been more believable. Also, I don’t know if I liked Miranda as the narrator of the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Violence, Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, Death, and Transphobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Deadnaming, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Cursing

Minor: Murder, Hate crime, Sexual content, Outing, and War

sunnylain's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective tense 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Racism, and Homophobia