Reviews tagging 'Deadnaming'

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

94 reviews

stephanieswilley's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence

Minor: Deadnaming and Racism

meghan4's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Racism

Minor: Violence, Deadnaming, and Religious bigotry

thebookpaiges's review against another edition

emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, Racism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Deadnaming, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Terminal illness, War, Pregnancy, and Child abuse

letiross's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Transphobia, Racism, and Death

Minor: Deadnaming

georgie321's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Homophobia

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Deadnaming

ruth22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Death of parent

Moderate: Transphobia, Racism, and Grief

Minor: Deadnaming

nikexistiertnik's review against another edition

emotional reflective

• 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

first of all, i am happy i read this book, and i am happy it exists.
i loved ari's personal development - seeing him evolve, build friendships, open up for love, made me very happy, especially the relationship he came to have with his father and his mother.

meeting bernardo was one thing i had really hoped would happen in the first book, so i was excited that it finally happened now; and while i appreciated that it wasn't a fantasy meeting and that he wasn't suddenly a wonderful and misunderstood man - because sometimes people we used to love turn out to be horrible and memories can't change that -, i was really uncomfortable with how mentions of his victim were handled. i understand why bernardo would misgender her, but i really don't get why it would be necessary to mention her deadname and then have ari misgender her afterwards.

this sequel also made dante feel more human and less idealised, but i still would have wanted more of his perspective, he feels like such a slippery and blurry character to me, regardless of all the flaws and mannerisms we learn about.
although i appreciated a lot of the topics that played parts in the story, like the aids pandemic or the impact the vietnam war had on veterans etc., it seemed rushed, like there was just too much content for this book, while also being very repetitive.
as a result, i feel like waters of the world could be 150 pages shorter, but at the same time it could discuss and deal with its topics for another 150 pages - the balance is just kinda off.
the ending is another example for that; i feel like it could've been cut short

and had them be broken up, because that's what happens with teenage relationships and there's no shame in that

or it could've been explored in greater length

and had them have better communication etc.

overall, i enjoyed the writing - even though there were kind of a lot of errors that could've been avoided by reading over it one more time - and the relationships ari was able to build over the course of the book. i couldn't fully get lost in the story, but i did feel with him, i did relate to lots of his thoughts, and i appreciated some of the political content that was brought up.
it was just not exactly what it could've been.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Homophobia

Moderate: Racism, Pregnancy, Violence, War, Cursing, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Deadnaming

kriti's review against another edition

reflective

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Racism, Deadnaming, and Homophobia

annaki_laila's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

Impossibly, it's even better than the first book. Beautiful, just so beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Homophobia

Moderate: Transphobia and Death

Minor: Deadnaming

chris_reads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, and Homophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, and Racism

Minor: Terminal illness, Deadnaming, and Religious bigotry