Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

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

41 reviews

sweetrosegirl76's review

emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

I go back and forth with how I wanna rate this. 3.5? 4? I lean towards 4 bc I liked it, and it was really poetic and beautiful in so many parts, but then I compare to other books I've gives 4 stars too and I wouldn't say I like this more than those... Idk I'm really torn on my analysis of the book which is why I'm hiding it under the spoiler tag in goodreads lol

Some parts made me cry, esp the teacher letter. Wow. It was so beautiful. This book feels like a love letter I think that's why I rounded to a 4 on goodreads

Idk about you, but you know how you can tell a book was written during covid? 😂 after the awakening of america? Idk how to explain this; my only other example coming to mind is The Extraordinaries book 1 and 2, but I think I did read another that gave those vibes. I don't know how to explain this because it's such a weird vibe, but what I mean by this is that the we talk about race, social issues, racism in books taking place in America is such a different way pre and post 2020. I don't think it's a bad thing because these are conversations that we should be having. I can just tell when the author realizes it should have been a part of the book from jump and that they want to suddenly include this in their work bc it does feel forced or too much when i read it after the fact. I can't tell when the author themselves has changed, which is, of course, a great thing. It's just something I notice, and I noticed it here. This book is supposed to take place in 1986? 88? If it wasn't included in the first book, so it's presence is very much noticed. Again, it's not a bad thing to include, I'm purely speaking of a technical writing perspective.

There was a lot of wisdom in this book reguarding the topics I just mentioned and honestly about life too, which is why I want to give this book a little bit of a higher rating, but then when I think about the plot I'm kind of like was there one? I didn't really know the direction where this book was going VS I felt like with the first one. There was a little bit more of a journey, but at the same time there is a journey that's happening here, I guess it was just kind of harder to see? I feel so conflicted because I feel like even this is not a good or fair thing to say because Aristotle went through such a journey when it came coming out of a shell and allowing himself to be loved like there is definitely some great character development here, all because of Dante and Aristotle's love for him. That is beautiful.

There are beautiful and poetic lines, its a soft book, its a loving book, with loving characters, and loving relationships. There is so much wisdom, love, heart, and soul in this book which is why I wanna give it a 4, but then I think about just the story itself and I think about doing a 3 bc of previously mentioned points about post 2020 writing and what is the plot. The running metaphor and theme about the cartographers of the world was kind of overplayed and tired imo it was getting SLIGHTLY annoying bc it's just not how teens talk.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying and Homophobia

Minor: Hate crime, Racism, Cursing, and Transphobia

death of a parent

d00rframe's review

adventurous emotional funny relaxing 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? No

4.5

I love this book!! its so sad yet comforting? highly recommend 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Grief, Cursing, Abandonment, Death of parent, Homophobia, Dysphoria, and Bullying

Moderate: Violence, Transphobia, Murder, Hate crime, Chronic illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Gun violence

kjm9773's review

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Cursing, Homophobia, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Sexual content, and Racism

Minor: Murder, Suicide, and Transphobia

sammymilfort's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Vomit, Bullying, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Medical content, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death of parent, and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Car accident

I love Ari and Dante so much! I am conflicted how I feel because this series and story means so much to me, and it felt like a 5 star to me. Ari’s growth was so beautiful to see. Benjamin’s writing will always tug at my heartrings At the same time, I understand there is a nuance and problematic aspects to these characters that make it questionable and uncomfortable for people to read To me Ari and Dante are imperfect people who can learn from their views and our curious about the world I wish Saènez took from a note of compassion and love that he imposed on his characters into his own world view. The hate he has shown towards the trans/gender nonconforming community is honestly unacceptable and goes against many of the themes he writes about in his book. I am not part of this community but I stand with the community, who has given this author many chances to change or apologize and learn from his behavior, but he has shown no heart to some of the harmful damage he has has done After this I am no longer reading any books by this author

delisouseyelids's review

emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Misogyny, Violence, War, Alcohol, Car accident, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Child death, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug use, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Transphobia, and Cursing

robinks's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.25

The pacing of this book was really strange, as there were parts I didn’t think needed to be drawn out so much and others that I wish could’ve been drawn out more. I liked the new characters and what the book had to show about platonic intimacy. I also liked how we got to see the teens empowered to advocate for themselves and each other.

What I didn’t like was how the relationship between Dante & Ari progressed, and I think part of it was due to the fact that Ari seemed to be a totally different person from the first book. If we had seen more of his growth, it would’ve been more believable. Also, I don’t know if I liked Miranda as the narrator of the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Violence, Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, Death, and Transphobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Deadnaming, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Cursing

Minor: Murder, Hate crime, Sexual content, Outing, and War

reemoony's review

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

4.5

idk what to say benjamins a god

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Racism, and Cursing

booknerdz28's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Grief, and Homophobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Minor: Deadnaming and Hate crime

vael's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

Benjamin writes poetry. I’m convinced he puts a lot of his soul in this pages, I’m always going to be grateful for the opportunity to read his words, his vision of the world.

This was a sad book. A book about love. And I could not stop crying while reading 

One time my best friend hold my hand after picking me from work, he told me how wonderful it was to do that without others staring at you with hateful eyes.
He was the one that gifted me this book.  I Could not stop thinking about that while reading, oh how I wish I could gift him a better world in exchange.

This book will always be in my heart as much as the first one. So many word are in my heart right now  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Deadnaming, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ronan900's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Alcohol, and Grief

Moderate: Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Transphobia, Violence, and War

Minor: Hate crime, Bullying, Murder, Sexual content, and Deadnaming