Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

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

529 reviews

perfectcupoftea's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, Medical content, Car accident, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Alcohol

felishacb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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

Devastated. In the best way.

This YA story is a Latine mix of Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy, and Call Me By Your Name (without the age/power dynamics). The author weaves a seemingly typical tale of two Mexican-American teen boys, lonely in their own ways, and their unlikely friendship into a masterful story about love and growing. 

There is a throughline of family secrets. At the same time, these two families support their children and show up in the hard moments. Many of us have to figure ourselves out without parents who care enough to see us, know us, and ask about our hearts. To be told that you are perfectly loved and that there is a place for the unique parts of you is a world I want for all young people.

There are so many kinds of love, and this book truly shows that well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Toxic relationship

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

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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

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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

frqnc22's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Cursing, Hate crime, Violence, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Death, Homophobia, and Transphobia

sofipitch's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.0

Ha sido mucho tiempo des de que leí este libro. Me gustó de adolescente y todavía recomendaría este libro a otros adolescentes. Las problemas con la identidad que tienen Ari y Dante era de las mismas cosas en que me preocupaban de chica. Recuerdo lamentando que mis padres no eran como los de este libro. Ese es la parte en que este libro es más forma de escape, gestura a la homofobia pero todo se arregla para los characteres. Las problemas más difíciles los characteres solo paran de pensar en ellos. Lo que Ari descubre de su hermano da la idea que odiara a alguien como el pero no piensa nada en eso

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Car accident

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. 

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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. 

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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

antoinewrites's review against another edition

hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This has been my 2nd time reading this, and I forgot how much did this book teach me about life and love.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Homophobia

kitkatkatdog's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Car accident, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Racism, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment