Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

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

239 reviews

sweetteaandfiction's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

You know how sometimes you just cry silently as you stare off into the middle distance while your soul gets completely wrecked? That is the experience of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by @benjamin.alire.saenz 

PROS: 
👟The fact that the story was less concerned with forcing a defined sexuality and more concerned with giving the characters space to find themselves. 
🐕Both families are top tier 
👟Ari’s slow acceptance of his feelings even when they were glaringly obvious to everyone around him 
🐕Dante just being himself, including the hatred of shoes

CONS: 
👟By the time we learn what happened to Ari’s brother, I was as frustrated as him by the secrecy. 
🐕I wanted to scream about the homophobia, but the book is set in the 80’s. It is frustrating but accurate for that moment in time. 

👟👟👟👟👟 out of five sneakers tossed down the road 

#bookstagram #books #book #booklover #booknerd #bookaddict #readinglist #readinggoals #readingchallenge #hungryminds #readingrecommendation #readingrecommendation #bookreview #bookreviews #aristotleanddantediscoverthesecretsoftheuniverse #benjaminaliresaenz #benjaminaliresaenzbooks #benjaminaliresaenzauthor 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia and Violence

bookishperseus's review

dark emotional funny lighthearted 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Pregnancy, War, and Classism

twingscb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Violence, and War

kat_in_a_tree's review against another edition

hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Outing, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

timmi_prvt's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

I don't know what it is about this book that made it so different from other coming of age stories but over the last 4 days it has become one of my absolute favourites iterations of the "gay teenagers have to find themselves" genre. 
The fact that the protagonists really do seem to be teenagers is certainly a big contributor as they are also allowed to struggle with other things than their sexuality. This makes them feel authentically "teen" and not like characters that feel and act as if they're in their early 20s.
Sáenz style of writing might be another reason. His language is poetic and descriptive without being too complex or unfitting for the characters. 

Reading this book was a delight and even though I felt like the ending came a bit abrupt it absolutely deserves a 5/5 star rating!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Violence

Moderate: Murder and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Drug use, Medical content, and Outing

suzyvee's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

deathmetalheron'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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Transphobia, Grief, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, and War

eschwake's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and War

bluelien's review against another edition

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? Yes

5.0

I really loved this book - it has become my favorite coming-of-age story! All the characters were complex, which made the story nuanced and more interesting (had only Dante's and Ari's characters been developed, the book would have lost much of its impact). I loved Ari's POV a lot, it was my favorite thing. He feels so intensely, and he's an overthinker too, and although, it can be hard, this mix is something beautiful. I appreciate it when a book makes me reflect on life (society, relationships...), which this book managed. And lastly, the most beautiful of all was seeing their relationship develop and bloom. Seeing the beginning of their friendship was precious, seeing them become close friends was lovely, and seeing that beautiful relationship grow into something romantic was sweet. Although I hesitated a lot on picking this book up, I'm glad I did, and I guess I have to thank my ex-friend for that. It's interesting how, even though we're not friends anymore, and even though our ending hurts, I still feel like we're connected by reading this book. 
Update 1: I initially gave it 4.5 stars, but since I kept thinking about the characters and missing them, I upped the rating to 5 stars.

Update 2: Rereading 2 months after the initial read haha. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol

Moderate: Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Misogyny, Violence, Lesbophobia, and War

garrettcz's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-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

4.0

I like the story a lot, and a lot of it really resonated with me. I think it could have been tightened up quite a bit, though. Especially the dialogue. The characters speak oddly a lot of the time, which took me out of the story over and over. One thing that really bugged me was they constantly say each others’ names to a wild degree. Not sure how that made it through editing. 

The story itself was beautiful and emotional and powerful. I really enjoyed it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail