Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

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

41 reviews

jasmineslibraryy's review

emotional funny 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

almost DNF'd, really glad i didn't 

this sequel was kinda unnecessary in my opinion but it was beautiful. ari has one of the most beautiful character arcs i've ever read. the first one is still miles better but i still thoroughly enjoyed this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Religious bigotry, Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Death, Deadnaming, Cursing, Child death, Blood, Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Bullying, and Alcohol

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Terminal illness, Child abuse, War, and Pregnancy

Minor: Pedophilia and Cancer

marinasjd's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Racism, Bullying, Cursing, Grief, Pregnancy, Hate crime, and Homophobia

stephanieswilley's review

emotional hopeful 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence

Minor: Deadnaming and Racism

bg_oseman_fan's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

It’s rare that a sequel can measure up to the original, but this one does. The continuation of Ari and Dante’s story flows so beautifully from where the first book ended. You really feel for these characters as they navigate the transition between child and adult. I especially liked how they showcased the difficulty of confronting injustice and how joy and love and acceptance have to be fought for. a fantastic story that needed to be told and was told so well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying and Homophobia

Minor: Racism, Alcohol, Cursing, Murder, Car accident, Child death, Sexual content, and Violence

esme_28's review

emotional inspiring lighthearted relaxing sad medium-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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Racial slurs, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

nikexistiertnik's review

emotional reflective

• 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

first of all, i am happy i read this book, and i am happy it exists.
i loved ari's personal development - seeing him evolve, build friendships, open up for love, made me very happy, especially the relationship he came to have with his father and his mother.

meeting bernardo was one thing i had really hoped would happen in the first book, so i was excited that it finally happened now; and while i appreciated that it wasn't a fantasy meeting and that he wasn't suddenly a wonderful and misunderstood man - because sometimes people we used to love turn out to be horrible and memories can't change that -, i was really uncomfortable with how mentions of his victim were handled. i understand why bernardo would misgender her, but i really don't get why it would be necessary to mention her deadname and then have ari misgender her afterwards.

this sequel also made dante feel more human and less idealised, but i still would have wanted more of his perspective, he feels like such a slippery and blurry character to me, regardless of all the flaws and mannerisms we learn about.
although i appreciated a lot of the topics that played parts in the story, like the aids pandemic or the impact the vietnam war had on veterans etc., it seemed rushed, like there was just too much content for this book, while also being very repetitive.
as a result, i feel like waters of the world could be 150 pages shorter, but at the same time it could discuss and deal with its topics for another 150 pages - the balance is just kinda off.
the ending is another example for that; i feel like it could've been cut short

and had them be broken up, because that's what happens with teenage relationships and there's no shame in that

or it could've been explored in greater length

and had them have better communication etc.

overall, i enjoyed the writing - even though there were kind of a lot of errors that could've been avoided by reading over it one more time - and the relationships ari was able to build over the course of the book. i couldn't fully get lost in the story, but i did feel with him, i did relate to lots of his thoughts, and i appreciated some of the political content that was brought up.
it was just not exactly what it could've been.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Racism, Pregnancy, Violence, War, Cursing, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Deadnaming

chris_reads's review

emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, and Racism

Minor: Terminal illness, Deadnaming, and Religious bigotry

yush's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I’m very torn in my review if this book. 

This book was not an easy read for me. I don’t know if that’s because I could not relate to Ari as a narrator or that the topics covered felt personal and emotional or just the writing style of the novel itself. 

Even though the novel took me a while to read, I didn’t want to leave the book unfinished which also says a lot. 

Overall, I loved the plot and the growing circle of characters but I don’t think I could re-read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Cursing

Moderate: Homophobia and Bullying

bookwormbi's review

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

I'm so amazed by the fact that Lin-Manuel Miranda is probably the worst audiobook reader I've ever experienced, and yet the beauty and passion of this work still shined through. I cried reading this so many times. I loved all of the characters so much. Ari's character development from the beginning of Secrets of the Universe to this is truly such a marvel to behold. Saenz is a gift to this world. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death, Death of parent, Racism, and Homophobia

Minor: Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Colonisation, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Cursing, and Misogyny

jupiterlee's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Xenophobia, Transphobia, Death, Cursing, and Homophobia