Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
230 reviews
jlohnes's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Alcohol
Minor: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
twelve_taco'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
5.0
Absolutely loved this book! First time in a long time I felt like I couldn’t put a story down. The main characters were sad, and cute, and authentic, and awkward, and lovable; but above all, hopeful. Would read this again and highly recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, and War
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, and Death
Minor: Grief and Injury/Injury detail
nenya's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-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
3.25
I must say, as a total, this book was somewhat of a disappointment. It tackled teenage confusion, angst and the journey of sexual discovery but in a - to me - not very groundbreaking way. Rather, most of the time it felt insufferably basic and like I‘d read and seen pretty much exactly that before (which is kind of the case). Furthermore, I mostly disliked the writing style because to me, it made the impression of wanting to be edgy or alternative but just ending up being boring. It also made me feel quite detached from the story (I recognize that this was done on purpose to properly show Ari’s way of thinking and well… it is first person narration after all so that is overall a good thing but in this case, it just didn’t quite work for me most of the time) However, I wouldn’t say that this is a bad book - for one I believe that my expectations were set a bit too high (after all, not every popular book is something for everyone) and I might quite simply be older than the target audience, plus I think there were some things done and represented very well. The relationships Ari and Dante have with their parents for example - they are each uniquely different but yet the same in the sense that these children experience immense parental love and a generally healthy relationship with their parents and are furthermore able to recognize this and reciprocate - which I think is very beautiful and also new to read about, since a good parent-son relationship is not very often written about in coming of age or YA pieces of fiction. It also showed parents as people with their flaws and traumas and how it is a part of growing up to stop idealizing one’s parents and instead seeing them for who they are.
I also liked reading about the Mexican-American experiences of the two (however, I as a non-Mexican am not qualified to judge about how well this was done. Since the author himself is Latino, I imagine it to be quite authentic and hopefully relatable to a certain audience), because this once again seems generally under-represented in YA fiction. I also have to admit, despite the (for me) unappealing writing and narration style, the characters - and I mean each of them, even the dog (who has my whole heart btw) most definitely have a lot depth, authenticity, show flaws as well as growth and courage. The ending (which I won’t spoil here) also seemed very fitting and I actually liked it a lot more than the rest of the book. Once again, this isn’t a bad or superficial book but it just didn’t really catch me - I think I‘d recommend this to people between the age of 14 and 16/17 (and I mean, everyone is different, so I wouldn’t exclude people older than that, but as someone who is older, it didn’t seem like quite the right book)
I also liked reading about the Mexican-American experiences of the two (however, I as a non-Mexican am not qualified to judge about how well this was done. Since the author himself is Latino, I imagine it to be quite authentic and hopefully relatable to a certain audience), because this once again seems generally under-represented in YA fiction. I also have to admit, despite the (for me) unappealing writing and narration style, the characters - and I mean each of them, even the dog (who has my whole heart btw) most definitely have a lot depth, authenticity, show flaws as well as growth and courage. The ending (which I won’t spoil here) also seemed very fitting and I actually liked it a lot more than the rest of the book. Once again, this isn’t a bad or superficial book but it just didn’t really catch me - I think I‘d recommend this to people between the age of 14 and 16/17 (and I mean, everyone is different, so I wouldn’t exclude people older than that, but as someone who is older, it didn’t seem like quite the right book)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Grief, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Medical content, Murder, and War
solo_shelf's review against another edition
I stopped reading this last year bc I didn’t like the writing style and Aristotle was so depressing, it felt like looking at a mirror and … that was not good for me at the time lol.
I picked it up again bc the book has been sitting on my bedside table and I wanted to get rid of my TBR alphabetically.
Giiiiiirl.
Me realizing that the writing style is either fanfic-y and/or like my stream of consciousness: 👁️👄👁️
And although sometimes Aristotle is funny and relatable, I definitely started pushing myself around pg 170 and started skipping whole paragraphs to try to finish. Aristotle is very relatable to me and it absolutely makes me #depressed bc it was too close for comfort.
I know lots of people liked this book, and I kept pushing myself bc I wanted to see what happened between the boys but… once I noticed that I was skipping so much and not attention, I just had to stop :/
I picked it up again bc the book has been sitting on my bedside table and I wanted to get rid of my TBR alphabetically.
Giiiiiirl.
Me realizing that the writing style is either fanfic-y and/or like my stream of consciousness: 👁️👄👁️
And although sometimes Aristotle is funny and relatable, I definitely started pushing myself around pg 170 and started skipping whole paragraphs to try to finish. Aristotle is very relatable to me and it absolutely makes me #depressed bc it was too close for comfort.
I know lots of people liked this book, and I kept pushing myself bc I wanted to see what happened between the boys but… once I noticed that I was skipping so much and not attention, I just had to stop :/
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
jasmineslibraryy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
ari was so incredibly relatable. i love best friends to lovers. i love slowburn. this book was perfect for me. alexa play midnight rain by taylor swift <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and War
Minor: Outing and Deportation
elflein's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It just wasn't for me I think.
It had moments that gripped me and I loved the family dynamics.
But it was too YA, too 15-year-old boy for my personal taste.
And what really irked me was the story of the brother, which hang as this big secret in the air and then in about half a paragraph we get this completely wild story with no further context and that's it...
That took me completely out of the book.
And a bit of self-reflection on Ari's part in the end would have been nice, not his family having to explain his own feelings to him.
It had moments that gripped me and I loved the family dynamics.
But it was too YA, too 15-year-old boy for my personal taste.
And what really irked me was the story of the brother, which hang as this big secret in the air and then in about half a paragraph we get this completely wild story with no further context and that's it...
That took me completely out of the book.
And a bit of self-reflection on Ari's part in the end would have been nice, not his family having to explain his own feelings to him.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
barbarella85's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Homophobia and Violence
Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Hate crime, War, and Injury/Injury detail
scribblesandsuch's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
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
This lived up to the hype for sure. It's so incredibly tender that honestly as someone who is very similar to Aristotle it was a little oppressive how intense the emotions it provoked were.
Very beautiful book, grogeous characters, the most delicate and fierce handling of painfully strong feelings
Very beautiful book, grogeous characters, the most delicate and fierce handling of painfully strong feelings
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia and Injury/Injury detail
avagrossman's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
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? N/A
4.0
i really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it.
a lot of important topics are covered yet it doesn’t feel overwhelming.
a lot of important topics are covered yet it doesn’t feel overwhelming.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Minor: Murder
kaitlin444's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Minor: Murder