Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

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

433 reviews

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

carrot2025's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

I can absolutely see why this book has so many awards and deserves to so many more. It was an incredible read with a lot of heartfelt moments that really showed the challenges of being young and realizing your gay. So many times I was left crying and feeling for the characters. Watching them struggle and change and grow. It was all amazing and I highly recommend it to everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Hate crime

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Toxic relationship and Death

I think this story is absolutely amazing at handling a lot of different triggering topics in a way that's respectful and is actually useful to the story.

I think the use of the Aristoles brother killing a transvestite was perfectly handled. It didn't go into too much detail and it gave a lot of context for why his partner were so hesitant to talk about Aristoles aunt being gay. A lot of the homophobia mentioned isn't too detailed but it really helps give context to the time period and gives an important insight into the characters and why they act the way they do.

mjadeh's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Car accident, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Alcohol, Animal death, and Cursing

Minor: Murder and Transphobia

dkguida's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

good if you want to reflect on your childhood, family, life. great coming of age queer story. gonna get the tears flowing.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Transphobia, Hate crime, Violence, and Homophobia

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

rafacolog's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, and Transphobia

atlasshrugged's review

challenging emotional sad tense 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 is probably the best M/M book i have ever read- it doesnt use the sexualities as a drama device, the characters dont go through constant suffering and pain and its just. Its so good. There ARE sad moments but thats just life. Its balanced and so well written and just ugh. Bonus points for two POC mlm bc im tired of white gays amen


Edit: just reread it- i must say sáenz did an amazing job building relatable and realistic characters. i found myself relating a lot to ari's struggles with his family, himself, his sexuality. it hurt a bit more when rereading because ari reminded me a lot of myself when i was around his age. And dante...the perfect boy honestly

EDIT 2: apparently sáenz is transphobic even without the scene in this book. Goddamn

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Content Warnings

Moderate: 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

thereistime's review against another edition

lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Outing, Car accident, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, and Cursing

Minor: Death, War, and Cancer

packedjam's review against another edition

emotional funny 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? Yes

4.25

ough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Hate crime, and Car accident

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Transphobia, and Medical content

Minor: War, Murder, Vomit, Drug use, Outing, and Alcohol