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Reviews tagging 'Drug use'
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
247 reviews
adam_ski's review against another edition
- 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
An absolutely a beautifully written story that follows the protagonist through his journey of life and the valauble lessons he learns on his way to find the greatest mystery of the universe.
Graphic: Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Car accident
Moderate: Bullying, Violence, and Medical trauma
Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Murder, and Alcohol
Mostly appropriate with some key elements of the story potentially triggering - including a car crash and physical abuse (caused by homophobia). A side character also suffers from trauma after a war. Also includes some minor mentions of drug use, alcohol consumption, the death of an animal, and a mention of a murder that happened years before the story begins. The story is on the whole happy and hopeful, albiet not appropriate for some.rowanjude's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Alcohol
lauradanby's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War
anxieteaandbiscuits12'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
4.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Outing
Minor: Animal death and Bullying
elizlizabeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I feel like the author has some shit to unpack because afaik he 's part of both the communities portrayed in the book (mexican-american and gay), but the whole thing is plagued with cliches and stereotypes of what it means to be either and both. I don't usually get upset when I see my culture written slightly off because at least it might come from a place of either ignorant admiration, or outright malice. For this book though, I feel like Alire-Saenz is coming from a place that's trying to be admiring and respectful but because of whatever issues ends up projecting hatred and malice.
See, it's hard to tell if he's celebrating being of mexican descent because he's constantly using the "rapist, violent, gang-member, drug addict, macho" stereotype to both make a joke or advance the plot; most of those are completely unnecessary and (at least for me) not funny at all. And don't even get me started on the sexist jokes.
I also can't tell if the author's celebrating being gay and in love because bad things keep happening to people in the plot just because they're gay. Which is I understand, a reality for many of us, but the way it's handled here is clumsy if not malintentioned. Gayness it's used not as self-discovery but as a curse and a source of drama to keep the stakes high with no resolution. Not to mention that if I wanted to really rock the boat, I could make a case of how this whole book was queer-baiting and not LGBTQA+ rep because
Very dissapointed by the conclusion of the book too, as the premise was that Ari was searching for the "secret" that would reveal what's "wrong" with him, and somehow he finds out that what was wrong with him was that he was gay. Sure, that's a healthy message.
Even if I were to ignore all of the above, the writing is objectively bad, dwelling on platitudes to land some quotable moments. I honestly felt that the characters were cut short from being fully distinct and even contradict themselves because the author wanted to keep them a blank canvas to make the reader project onto them. Recommend it to your toxic gay friends to make them worse, y'all.
Graphic: Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, and Outing
One mexican-american character gets described as a "hungry coyote". Use of other negative stereotypes to mexicans are recurrent throughout (ie. they join gangs, they are obsessed with their cars, they know how to hotwire cars because they're mexican, etc)One of the characters gets outed while unconscious and without his knowledge. This is not discussed later, but it's implied that the outed character is not upset for it.
schivakumaran's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
yohhhanna's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Grief, Car accident, and Alcohol
Minor: Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
2busyreading's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, and Car accident
Moderate: Violence and Murder
Minor: Drug use, Transphobia, and Alcohol
sofiadanielle's review
- 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
A lot of character background stories aren’t very well delved into, and while the book is told in Ari’s POV, I still feel like the reader doesn’t get to know him much, either. Maybe I just had high expectations of the book…
Was an easy and light read, though. The story telling is fast paced, and I can see why some can feel rather connected to this story.
Graphic: Drug use, Homophobia, and Violence
nomoneyallcowboy's review
- 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
Moderate: Racism, Transphobia, and Car accident
Minor: Drug use