Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

Oh I loved this book. I think it might have been even better than the first one--it certainly made me more emotional, and touched me in deeper places. I looked at the content warnings partway through the book because I wanted to be prepared for if a certain thing would happen, and those made me realize a different thing would happen. Even knowing that, it really got me and I was so wrecked by it. Overall though this book is beautiful and hopeful and real.

Content Warnings

tatianars's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

Content Warnings

monbeam's review against another edition

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emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

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grboph's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

I LOVED this book. I had read Secrets of the Universe three or four times before I found out this book existed, and the day I found out it did I drove half an hour to buy it. I am very glad I did. I think this book did a really good job of tying up some of the loose ends that were left at the end of the first book. I found the character development to be stronger and more significant in this book than it was in the first one, particularly in how Ari makes new friends and

deals with the death of his father

. I also really liked that the plot of this book was contextualized a bit more and dealt with important social issues, particularly the AIDS epidemic, homophobia, transphobia, and racism (which are as prevalent now as they were in the late 1980s when this book takes place). The only reasons I removed half a star were because I found the writing to be trying too hard to be "deep" in some places and because I don't quite know how I felt about Dante's choices towards the end of the book (they were sort of immature, and for a book where maturity and the concept of "becoming a man" is so central, I'm not sure his actions were correct or made sense). All in all, however, I really enjoyed reading this book and I am so glad I went to the lengths I did to get it. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me think very deeply about life. It was everything I could have hoped for in a sequel to Secrets of the Universe. I would recommend this book to anyone who read the first book, even if they did not enjoy it very much, and I would recommend this series to anyone in the world looking for an emotional book to read.

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lisa_m's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.5

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is one of my all time favourite books. It has stuck with me and ever since I've read it for the first time I can't stop thinking about it. When I heard that there was going to be a sequel I was incredibly excited. I adore Saenz's writing style and he always manages to make me think and feel.

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.

When Ari's dad died I was sobbing so much I had to take a break. Their character development was beautiful and his death so incredibly unsuspected. But that made it realistic and raw. And when Dante and Ari had a fight I cried again. When Ari talked to Dantes parents and they gave him the painting Dante drew I completely lost it again. There is so much detail and it just felt so real.

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.

The part that I found weird was the one about that boy from school who was crying at the party and telling Ari that he's gay. It felt so strange and unnecessary. Idk I just didn't get it and the dialogue felt cheap.

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.

Oh and one more thing that I found strange. The general talk about outing. At one point Ari's mum says somethung like 'she is his mom and can therefore tell anyone anything about her son if she thinks it is important.' She uses that argument to justify outing Ari to his sisters and she also says that he would never have done it on his own and that's why she had to which is just a crappy thing to say.

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.

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