Reviews tagging 'War'

Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

65 reviews

avadear's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-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

3.5

I truly love the characters of this book and have for years but part of me was disappointed with this book. especially at the very end i wish there were some things that would’ve been more “resolved”? overall i love how this book makes you think about life and hope and love and it’s an enjoyable read. i adore every single character and they are all pretty well developed although i truly wish i could’ve seen more of dante’s development. ari is completely developed basically by the end of the first book and the second book really starts to get into dante’s flaws and insecurities but i feel they are left completely undealt with at the end. but i definitely highly recommend this series if you need a hopeful, inspiring love story and also a very reflective and insightful series.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death of parent, Transphobia, War, Grief, and Racism

lisa_m's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.5

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is one of my all time favourite books. It has stuck with me and ever since I've read it for the first time I can't stop thinking about it. When I heard that there was going to be a sequel I was incredibly excited. I adore Saenz's writing style and he always manages to make me think and feel.

This book was a long one I'm not gonna lie. 516 pages of slow paced writing are probably not for everyone but I loved it. I love the characters and the families and the friendships and relationships. It's truly beautiful.

I also cried my eyes out while reading this book. I have to say though that I'm very emotional and I had a strong connection to the characters which made it even more painful for me.

When Ari's dad died I was sobbing so much I had to take a break. Their character development was beautiful and his death so incredibly unsuspected. But that made it realistic and raw. And when Dante and Ari had a fight I cried again. When Ari talked to Dantes parents and they gave him the painting Dante drew I completely lost it again. There is so much detail and it just felt so real.

My only critic about the book was the ending. It felt very rushed in the end. The last 70 pages just felt weird and like they didn't fit in. The usually so well thought out dialogue felt like a 5 year old wrote it and the whole ending was kind of frustrating. Still I loved this book with all my heart and if 70 out if 500 pages are bad I guess that is still a good quota.

The part that I found weird was the one about that boy from school who was crying at the party and telling Ari that he's gay. It felt so strange and unnecessary. Idk I just didn't get it and the dialogue felt cheap.

I don't know who I would recommend this book to but I think everybody has to make that decision for themselves. It fit perfectly into my life and helped me because I could connect with it and think about it. If you are just expecting a cute gay romance you will for sure be disappointed by this book though. I would describe it more as philosophy and poetry than a love story. The relationship is in my opinion not even the main focus if the story. Just the two people in the relationship and their lifes, worries, fears etc.

Oh and one more thing that I found strange. The general talk about outing. At one point Ari's mum says somethung like 'she is his mom and can therefore tell anyone anything about her son if she thinks it is important.' She uses that argument to justify outing Ari to his sisters and she also says that he would never have done it on his own and that's why she had to which is just a crappy thing to say.

And when that boy from school comes out to Ari he just says he should tell his friends and not him. The boy tells him he's scared (which makes 100% sense since we know people have been beat up for that) and Ari basically pressures him into coming out by telling him he needs to be brave and then bringing his friends to him so he has to say something. Like I said earlier that whole scene just felt weird and unreal but yeah shitty behaviour still.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Death of parent, Transphobia, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Murder, War, Deadnaming, Bullying, and Racism

Minor: Domestic abuse and Misogyny

I want to add that the AIDS pandemic is talked about quite a lot and in detail throughout this book so if that is a triggering topic to you if might be better if you skip this one. There are some instances of deadnaming a trans woman who was also murdered which is committed and defended my one person in this book. He is portrayed as the bad guy and his actions are condemned but it is a pretty big plot point which could be triggering to a certain audience.

kyrstin_p1989's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad 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

Aristotle and Dante give me hope, make me laugh, make me cry. Rarely does an author so clearly understand and intimately describe what it means to be human and more importantly, what it means to love and be loved. This book made me feel so many things. I can’t express how important this book is — for so many people. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Homophobia, Hate crime, Murder, Outing, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, and War

ocelitaussi's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Deadnaming, Medical content, Racism, Transphobia, and War

Minor: Suicide and Biphobia

smrj's review

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: War, Transphobia, Death, Bullying, and Murder

alyssadavis's review

reflective slow-paced

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

0.25

My father traced his name on my heart. And his name will remain there. And because his name lives there, I will be a better man for it.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Violence, Sexual content, and War

bbellabeee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

4.25

I beautiful end to Ari and Dante’s story. It wasn’t all happy love, it had the harsh reality that can come with it. The length was daunting compared to book one, but it’s one of those books that had a natural division between each section of pages that made reading it very easy and relaxing. Overall: gorgeous, but a one-time-read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, Outing, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and War

abigail_bowling's review against another edition

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

4.75

i cried a lot… i haven’t cried reading a book in a while.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Death

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Homophobia, War, Xenophobia, and Terminal illness

Minor: Deadnaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Outing, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Transphobia

mirireads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Homophobia

Moderate: Grief and Racism

Minor: War, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, and Transphobia

rosita's review

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

I will add a longer review later, but this books deals with the aids pandemic.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Deadnaming, Transphobia, Hate crime, Xenophobia, and Grief

Minor: War, Child death, Bullying, and Vomit