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

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.

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garrettcz's review against another edition

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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.

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tendermusings's review against another edition

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I don't usually like "slice of life" style fiction and unfortunately this is not an exception !
I didn't like the vibes and the story felt very flat. I read the plot summary to see if I wanted to stick with it and it turns out theres some key plot points around homophobia and homo/transphobic violence which I wasn't prepared for so glad that I looked it up. I'm sure its a sweet story about these lads finding themselves but it's just not for me at all.

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kitkatkatdog's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

So sweet. I loved the journey of both boys. I would love to read Dante’s POV. It was wonderful. And thought provoking.

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tueller42's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

Very pretty writing and very good characters

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thewinterwillow's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

finished it in 2 days. goddamn that was good.

i’m crying.

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deremie's review against another edition

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funny inspiring

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

As a coming of age story, this was beautiful. A great book for teens about friendship, adolescence, societal expectations of men and a family dealing with trauma.

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sadie_g's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

4.25

This was such a beautiful and emotional book. I loved reading it and learning more about the characters and their relationship.

When I was reading this, I completely got into the book and just read.

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