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Reviews tagging 'Outing'
Aristotle e Dante si immergono nelle acque del mondo by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
27 reviews
trycerabel's review against another edition
- 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
Minor: Deadnaming, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Death of parent, and Outing
maedae4's review against another edition
- 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'll also always be grateful for the true sense of hope and the true wisdom this book gave me. These are a couple of the things that, as expected, Benjamin Alire Saenz does so well. Even this relationship fraught with fear and uncertainty, even this juncture where Ari is doing things and communicating in ways that are terrifyingly new and vulnerable, even these moments that could feel miserable and scary are still overflowing with hope. Ari and Dante are happy together. Loving Dante cracks open Ari's world and connects him to other people in ways he never could have fathomed, and so everything that happens is charged with the beauty of that. Saenz can uniquely capture Ari's emergence from his shell, and the book reflects that just by how many characters join the cast of Ari's life and receive his careful attention. Even if only for a page. Ari, Saenz, and this sequel all find a lot of people who matter a lot to them, and they know that the world becomes beautiful in a different way when you unlock an ability to love and appreciate others.
I loved seeing Ari find a context for himself, moving from a feeling of marginalization to a feeling that he and those he's lost are all inevitably connected. They share a world that is his simply because he is also in it. He can feel small and insignificant--which he often does throughout the first book in a way that hurts him--but still feel a part of something greater than himself. There are painful parts of this process of contextualization: Ari is sensitive to racism, homophobia, and transphobia in ways he never was before, and he's suddenly aware that his country wants him dead. But ultimately I think he's able to understand from his father that, because we are connected, to dismiss another life is to dismiss our own. Even though I felt surprised by the discussion of racism, I think it also makes sense for Ari to gain a new sensitivity to it now that he's more aware of his own positionality and the power of his own voice, and I'm grateful for the inclusion.
As Ari's world expands, he provides more of his poignant words and his wisdom, and he's also more receptive to the wisdom others can offer him. Ari does a lot of listening in this book, and I listen with him. I listen to his mom, to his dad, to his teachers and to his new friends. They all have amazing things to say, many of which I hope to remember and think about for a long time to come.
Not everything is perfect. First of all, typos!! Come on, managing ed and copyediting! I also felt that the book was so full of love that the battles Ari frequently refers to in his journal entries didn't actually come across to me. Ari keeps writing that he's scared to love Dante and that the two of them are learning lessons together. But they don't actually have a lot of conflict (which is part of why Dante's departure at the end feels so sudden). There are things that feel sudden--Cassandra's inclusion in the book, the sisters getting more attention--and there are some things that feel possibly underdeveloped--Bernardo's inclusion and the way he just sort of vanishes afterwards, Ari's exposure to the AIDS pandemic, certain teacher relationships. But I think the book also wasn't going for plot points A to Z. It meanders, more like life does. And in the end maybe these pacing things were decisions meant to mirror the suddenness with which Ari becomes aware of the world around him.
All in all, of course I love the book. Of course I do. I will miss reading it. It made me feel whole, and I feel more connected to Ari than I feel to most protagonists. Seeing him grow and become more aware of his goodness, seeing him build a safe community, seeing him envision a future for himself--all of this made me so happy and gives me hope for myself.
Graphic: Outing
grboph's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Transphobia, Pregnancy, and Outing
Minor: Deadnaming, Sexual content, and Violence
The father of one of the main characters passes away, which the main character is present for and grapples with emotionally for a while afterward. The main characters of this book are two gay teenagers, and the book occasionally describes some of the homophobia they face in the world. Additionally, a major plot point is that the brother of the main character is in prison for murdering a transgender woman, and this is talked about at certain points of the book as well.lisa_m's review against another edition
- 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 a long one I'm not gonna lie. 516 pages of slow paced writing are probably not for everyone but I loved it. I love the characters and the families and the friendships and relationships. It's truly beautiful.
I also cried my eyes out while reading this book. I have to say though that I'm very emotional and I had a strong connection to the characters which made it even more painful for me.
My only critic about the book was the ending. It felt very rushed in the end. The last 70 pages just felt weird and like they didn't fit in. The usually so well thought out dialogue felt like a 5 year old wrote it and the whole ending was kind of frustrating. Still I loved this book with all my heart and if 70 out if 500 pages are bad I guess that is still a good quota.
I don't know who I would recommend this book to but I think everybody has to make that decision for themselves. It fit perfectly into my life and helped me because I could connect with it and think about it. If you are just expecting a cute gay romance you will for sure be disappointed by this book though. I would describe it more as philosophy and poetry than a love story. The relationship is in my opinion not even the main focus if the story. Just the two people in the relationship and their lifes, worries, fears etc.
And when that boy from school comes out to Ari he just says he should tell his friends and not him. The boy tells him he's scared (which makes 100% sense since we know people have been beat up for that) and Ari basically pressures him into coming out by telling him he needs to be brave and then bringing his friends to him so he has to say something. Like I said earlier that whole scene just felt weird and unreal but yeah shitty behaviour still.
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Outing
Moderate: Bullying, Deadnaming, Racism, Murder, and War
Minor: Domestic abuse and Misogyny
kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, and War
bbellabeee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, and War
drraytay's review against another edition
It was very emotional but it still felt surface level, try hard, and repetitive. The emotions weren’t believable for me because everyone was constantly crying and gushing over each other. I kept finding myself thinking “no one speaks like this all of the time.”
It was also really difficult to pick up the tone of the conversations because there was no description of mood until the end of a conversation if at all. Dante was either suddenly enraged or laughing and every time I thought “that came out of nowhere.” Everything was just over the top.
I honestly wanted to finish this book for the sake of completeness since I read the first in the series but it felt like a struggle even though it’s a fairly quick read.
From other reviews it sounds like this book gets biphobic and transphobic. The first book was already deeply misogynistic so that’s really not surprising. Also I HATED that Ari’s mom outed him to his sisters. That was extremely out of character for her and it was glazed over as if that isn’t a massive violation of trust.
Moderate: Biphobia, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Minor: Outing
abigail_bowling's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, and War
Minor: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Outing
luluslittlelibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Outing and Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content
megplant's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Terminal illness and War
Minor: Outing