You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Blood'
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
72 reviews
elliereadsthings's review
- 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
4.0
For some reason I absolutely LOVE the parents in this story, they’re amazing. I may even love them more than Dante and Ari themselves.
The start was a little slow, but I swear this book just got better and better the further in I got.
★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
“Dante. I really liked him. I really, really liked him.”
Graphic: Hate crime, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Classism
triangular_pascal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
jasmineslibraryy's review against another edition
- 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
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
journey2's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Minor: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, Classism, and Deportation
Tw: homophobia, transphobia (use of an out dated t word that would have still been in use in the 80s, although this does seem to be rectified by the second book and handled with more care), violence, car accident, death, incarceration, AIDS.anxieteaandbiscuits12's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Outing
Minor: Animal death and Bullying
moonheavn's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Homophobia
greek_book_wanderer's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the book tackles various themes, like family dynamics, ethnicity and identity. I expected to read a novel that would focus more on the romantic aspect of the book, but it was more complicted than that. The relationship between the two protagonists and their parents was an aspect of the book that I liked. While Dante's relationship with his parents is more open, Ari's relationship with his parents is more complicated, especially with his father who is “inscrutable” and he deals with his own demons. Their parents are by no means perfect, but they love them and their support was so heartwarming. It's really important to see parents who accept their children the way they are and they continue to love them no matter what.
I became very attached to Aristotle and Dante and I enjoyed seeing their growth, especially Ari's and their relationship's progress. I liked Ari as a character, he is very complicated and throughout the book, he was feeling self-doupt and was struggling with his feelings. In the end, he managed to explore them and discover himself and I felt really proud for him.
The writing was simple, quotable and sweet. I enjoyed the dialogues and I found it cute that sometimes Ari and Dante repeated the phrase the other said. Due to the writing and the short chapters, the book was very fast paced and I could hardly put it down.
However, even though I loved the book, I didn't feel like giving it 5 stars. As much as I enjoyed the writing, sometimes it was too repetitive and some dialogues were kinda dull. In some conversations between them, the characters seemed like robots when they communcated with each other and that made the dialogues seem unrealistic. In some chapters, the plot seemed messy and all over the place. I got the impression that the author wasn't sure about what he would write about and sometimes the book would get from one topic to another in a very sudden way. But my main issue was the ending. While I was reading the last chapters, I couldn't help but think that the plot was rushed. There was room for more development and the way Ari realised his feelings was very absurd.
In my opinion, this novel can be loved by young and older people. It's touching and I believe that many people will connect with it. It's perfect, but it's still a book that can make many people come in terms with their sexuality or identity.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Hate crime, and War
Minor: Drug abuse, Transphobia, and Car accident
purplepenning's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Animal cruelty and Cancer
matheo's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Alcohol
bugzandthingz's review against another edition
- 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
Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail