Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

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

62 reviews

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

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Blood, Violence, and War

Minor: Outing and Deportation

anxieteaandbiscuits12's review against another edition

emotional funny sad 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

4.25

I did enjoy the book overall but I did find it a little difficult to get into for the first 100 pages, but that could be because this had been sitting on my shelf for about a year before I made myself read it, I felt that the beginning was quite slow and a little repetitive as we were introduced to Dante and Ari’s friendship, thought the characters were established quite well. I did struggle with the time transition between sections and sometimes having to double check who was speaking during long periods of dialog. However, after a ‘incident in the rain’ I found that both grew a little more and matured and I found it easier to invest myself in the book and by the end I was wishing I had brought the sequel so I could read more about Ari and Dante’s new relationship as it was such a beautifully written transition and I loved how the change between relationships was written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Mental illness, Alcohol, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content, Outing, Death, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Body horror

Minor: Animal death and Bullying

greek_book_wanderer's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.5

This novel managed to capture my heart. I read it in less than 24 hours and from the first page, I knew that I would like it. 

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.

I didn't like it that his parents had to point out that he was in love with Dante in order to realise his real feelings for him. That was really undeveloped and I'm not gonna lie, I was disappointed to see that.

I still liked the way the book ended and I teared up during the last page. 

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Hate crime, War, and Death

Minor: Car accident, Drug abuse, and Transphobia

avriel212'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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Hate crime

Moderate: Transphobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, and Violence

Minor: Murder

tezariah's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Animal death, Car accident, Drug use, Grief, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and War

vicgurd's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Homophobia, Drug use, Hate crime, Bullying, and Murder

purplepenning's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Hate crime

Moderate: Car accident, Cursing, War, Violence, Racial slurs, Grief, Racism, Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty and Cancer

idajoh's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

At the beginning of the book I felt like I wasn't the intended audience. And then I really loved the second half of the book.

But the author is a transphobe so please do not support him<33 (I purchased my copy before I was aware of that)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Transphobia, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Drug use, Murder, Homophobia, and Alcohol

ellasara'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? It's complicated

5.0

ITKETTÄÄ!!!!!!! parempi nyt kun luin tän toisen kerran. en tiennyt että se on mahdollista. mitä mä nyt teen…


kolmas kerta
joka kerta tää kirja tuntuu suuremmalta kuin mikään 
ja huomaan aina jotain uutta

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Grief, Cancer, Death, and Blood

chris_reads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-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

Thoughtfully and beautifully written. There was a distinct setting and tone throughout the novel. I got a strong sense of the personality and mindset of each character, especially the main two. I loved the depth in which it conveyed familial relationships. All the parents in this are A++

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Car accident

Moderate: Alcohol, Homophobia, Violence, Bullying, and Medical content

Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug use, and Transphobia