Reviews tagging 'Racism'

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

55 reviews

coldsoup13's review

dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, Transphobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Hate crime, Car accident, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Racial slurs

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, Homophobia, Murder, Blood, Car accident, Cursing, Dysphoria, Death, Drug use, Grief, Hate crime, Violence, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, and War

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Classism, Pregnancy, Addiction, Transphobia, and Racism

s1ck4n's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Violence, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

Minor: Racism

d00rframe's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted 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

4.5

I love this book, currently reading the second one :3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Medical content, Racism, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Bullying

Moderate: Blood, Ableism, Body horror, Gun violence, Hate crime, Outing, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, and Dysphoria

Minor: Self harm

koplomps's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted 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: Lesbophobia and Homophobia

Moderate: War, Car accident, Transphobia, Racism, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Cancer, Alcohol, and Drug use

delisouseyelids's review

emotional inspiring lighthearted 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: Cursing, Medical content, Alcohol, Hate crime, Pregnancy, War, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Racism, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Car accident, and Homophobia

wiktoria_bojda's review

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: Homophobia

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, and Violence

Minor: Murder, Transphobia, and War

erikagibson126's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Car accident

Moderate: Drug abuse, Outing, Alcohol, Death, Confinement, Sexual content, Classism, Drug use, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Lesbophobia, Biphobia, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

sighclopss's review

adventurous emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Look, honestly, it wasn't the worst queer book I've ever read, but it certainly wasn't the best. Definitely a let down from all the hype it receives.

Reading it felt like seeing a never ending stream of consciousness from Ari. Funnily enough though, for all of his thinking and wondering, not once did he show an inkling of same gender attraction? So buried under internalised homophobia, he had suffocated his own feelings beyond existence I guess?

I did enjoy the relationship dynamics of the boys with their respective parents, and subsequently the relationship Ari formed with Dante's parents. Aris' Dad's growth throughout the novel was also very moving. Ari and Dante themselves however barely felt like friends, let alone two youths coming into a new love with each other.

I also find that many YA novels fall into this glaring issue; of having an adult author who fails to realistically convey their teenage characters. 

This book had (spoiler alert) both internalised and physical homophobia (yay double whammy!), internalised racism and self hate- that's never resolved, pages of dialogue that do nothing to move the plot forward and a continued obsession/idealisation with a deadbeat brother who did an unforgivable crime. 

I'm honestly sick that our limited resources of LGBT+ content always seem to have depictions of hate crimes and trauma.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Racism and Transphobia

robinks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

I’m so happy there is a sequel haha. And I want to see the movie! It was difficult for me to understand Ari in the first half of the book or so, but maybe it’s because I don’t have the experience of being a teenage boy growing up under the constraints of toxic masculinity/machismo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Misogyny, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, War, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Racism, Drug use, Car accident, Cursing, Dysphoria, Lesbophobia, Grief, and Medical content

Minor: Murder, Pregnancy, Transphobia, Death, and Sexual assault