Reviews with content warning for Violence - Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

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

516 reviews

davidbythebay's review

challenging emotional funny inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

I am in awe of this book. This was NOTHING like I had anticipated it to be. I certainly expected a sweet coming-of-age novel involving LGBT issues of growing up in the 1980s. I expected it to be a bit of a sing-song romance with conflict. I expected a bit of a saccharine sweet story of young love. This was not that, but it was better. GO AND READ THIS NOW!

I went into this book blind. All I knew was that this was a YA book involving LGBT issues and people in the 1980s. Like I already said, it was so much more and absolutely fantastic. Aristotle and Dante have a story that involves a self-discovery that many LGBT individuals face even today. But it explores so many other topics - family secrets, homophobia, violence, acceptance, death, grief, war, mental health, etc. - which are each handled beautifully. Additionally, they are absolutely handled without a single one feeling like it was jammed in and forgotten, or like the book becomes bloated because of all of these topics.

This is potentially sort of spoilery, but really I don't think it is. For those who don't want to read about the message I got from this book, read the book first then come back here. It may be best that way.

Sometimes we don't accept what is before us. Sometimes we can't see what is real. Sometimes we need a push to get to the truth. We may not speak of the truths hidden deep inside us, but they are there and we can't run from them. We have to explore them and discover our truth in time. It's part of our journey as LGBT people. It's part of our journey as human beings. We all have to figure out that we cannot run from ourselves for the happiness of others. That doesn't make us happy, and it doesn't make the others happy either. Our happiness creates happiness for those we love. We cannot live unhappy in the hope it makes others happy. We can only live as us in all our beautiful glory. We are born as we are and we have to live that way.

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

I found the ending of this book (not the fact that Ari is in love with Dante, but the way in which he realizes it) a touch pat for a story so invested in the unspeakable ambiguity of adolescence--the feelings we have as teenagers that are simply too big and too deep for language. I certainly can appreciate Saenz reconstructing reality, writing the happy ending that teenagers like Ari and Dante deserve but rarely get, and I can see why this book is so beloved, how it could be incredibly meaningful and life-affirming to a young person who needs it! But it is a little disappointing to me simply from a narrative perspective.

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