Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe: Tenth Anniversary Edition

Ari and Dante are two Mexican-American boys navigating teenage-hood. It’s a quiet simmering novel. To pick this up means you’re peering into the mind of a boy in the suburbs, a stream of consciousness of sorts. And it is equal parts introspective, light-hearted, elusive, and devastating. Mind you, not devastating in all the ways queer people are all too familiar with. It’s devastating because it sees you, it understands you, and it aches because it’s nothing you’ve ever felt before. At least, that’s the only way I can rationalize why I end up in snot-filled disgusting tears every time I finally finish this book. Its chapters are short and its prose is quip to match.

Ari is as insular and alone and freedom-seeking as one constantly is in the gripes of young adulthood. It’s one of the few novels I feel capture this feeling so perfectly. The anguished and flighty hormonal mood swings, mixed in with the specific flavor of repression you experience as a gay teenager. I’m admittedly wary of the sequel since nothing I feel can rival this. Nonetheless, its existence doesn’t change the fact that I’ll always have this warm little moment with Ari and Dante to go back to whenever I so choose. I love it I love it I love it I cherish it. To read this is to peer into my soul just a little bit—it's a looking glass. It reminds me to be kind to what I see.

Content Warnings

ryankaybee's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

tezariah's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

alreads13's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

purplepenning's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

matheo's review against another edition

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emotional reflective

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

Content Warnings

bugzandthingz's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

5.0

Content Warnings

davidbythebay's review against another edition

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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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