Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

252 reviews

lacey_wi's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Car accident, Lesbophobia, and War

Moderate: Transphobia

ellasara's review

emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

ITKETTÄÄ!!!!!!! parempi nyt kun luin tän toisen kerran. en tiennyt että se on mahdollista. mitä mä nyt teen…


kolmas kerta
joka kerta tää kirja tuntuu suuremmalta kuin mikään 
ja huomaan aina jotain uutta

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Blood, and Grief

tmcphetridge4's review

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? Yes

4.0

This felt like a summer fun book that creeps up behind you and hits you with angst. I wasn't ever held back by any of the characters but this definitely wasn't what I expected. The ending gutted me. I'm excited to read the second book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Violence, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

emilyandherroomofbooks's review

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

wth this book took my heart out and ripped it into the tiniest of pieces, i love ari, i love dante and from the way they treat each other they just felt so real. see when dante got beat up cause of his sexuality you could just tell how much ari loved him from the reaction :(((

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Homophobia, and Violence

falseglue's review

adventurous emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Probably my favourite book I’ve read this year. I loved reading about these characters and watching them grow and figure things out. Surprisingly, I actually loved the way the book was written and find it really shows how Ari thinks about things. 5/5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Homophobia, Violence, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Medical content, and Grief

numbering_the_stars's review

emotional inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

nikexistiertnik's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

3.75

i loved the way this book was written so, so much. it felt really poetic and emotional, while at the same time somehow cold and detached, and that's a little how i feel on the inside.

there were lots of tears and lots of times when i realized i really wish i was like dante, as well as times when i related a lot to ari:

"but love was always something heavy to me. something i had to carry."

knowing that the author loves his dog a lot, also made the parts about ari loving legs so much more wholesome and beautiful.

the ileana stuff was unnecessary and rushed in my opinion, just because i couldn't really follow how their relationship progressed and then suddenly it was just over.

i am a little sad that we didn't get multiple povs - i would have enjoyed it a lot to get to know more of dante's thoughts and emotions.

for example i really wish i knew what went on in his head when he pushed ari to kiss him. it made me so uncomfortable.

what didn't really sit right with me was the way they talked about the fact that ari could've lost his legs, although i am in no position to really speak on that, it felt a little ableist to me, and i hope to find out more about what people think about that part who actually have a similar disability to the one he could've had if the surgery had went differently.

i also really hated the part about bernardo unaliving that prostitute, it was just so blatantly transphobic and hurt to read.

but overall i did like their friendship and the way they feel about each other a lot,

even though i didn't expect the romance stuff to take SO. LONG. which is not necessarily a bad thing though, i loved reading about ari's internal struggles, his and dante's families, just everything that was going on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Outing, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

bukephalos0603's review against another edition

lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Alcohol

amalie_andelova's review

adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious relaxing sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Violence, Outing, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Drug use and Grief

chris_reads's review

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

Thoughtfully and beautifully written. There was a distinct setting and tone throughout the novel. I got a strong sense of the personality and mindset of each character, especially the main two. I loved the depth in which it conveyed familial relationships. All the parents in this are A++

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Violence, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug use, and Transphobia