Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

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

22 reviews

btrz7's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.0

It's been a while since I read the first book and I'm gonna admit I didn't re-read it before coming into this, but the feelings I got as I finished each one couldn't be more different. While I remember enjoying the first book and finishing it with a sense that it was worth my time, this one was a chore from beginning to finish.
It's sappy, disjointed, goes nowhere with its weird fragmented chapters, seems to be just a lot of amateur philosophy and quotable sentences that seem over the top in context.
To be clear, the book was so boring and, in my opinion, badly written, that I had to go back and read a chapter because I had mostly glossed over in my head one of the major events if the book, if you can say it has any. Also was getting tired of all these characters introduced out of the blue just to tell Ari how much of a man he is.
Overall, too many attempts at moralising for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Homophobia

Moderate: Racial slurs, Murder, Alcohol, Violence, Transphobia, and Racism

nathat06's review

adventurous challenging funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Homophobia, and Racial slurs

onemamareads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Child death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Transphobia, Biphobia, and War

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. 

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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

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.

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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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Homophobia

Moderate: Grief and Racism

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

gilliane's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-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? N/A

4.0

Being alongside Ari and Dante’s journey was an honour. Loved the symbolism of cartography, the world, the waters, and the universe; Sáenz’s beautiful writing never fails. He created a masterpiece within Ari and Dante’s story. 

Sure, I wished there was more—a deeper discovery between their love. Since it is considered a YA novel, their intimacy was censored, but I think it was known to play a huge part of the story. Maybe it was left up to our imaginations, but I would have loved to read through Ari’s perspective about it.

Nevertheless, the universe where Ari and Dante exist will forever be placed in a special place in my heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs

Minor: Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, and Racism

Mentions of the AIDS pandemic

saraordnez's review

emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.75

This book disappointed me. While the first one felt natural and mostly realistic this one tried too hard to be philosophical and most of the dialogue just felt so forced and unreal. It's like the author wanted to have edgy sad boy inspirational quotes EVERY PAGE. Like sometimes people would say things that felt out of character just for the sake of having another deep quote. It was just too much. The only things I liked were the friendship of Ari with Susie & Gina and some scenes of Ari & Dante and Ari & his mother. Also it was super weird how this books just starts with Ari being horny. And that's basically the theme of the book in its first 150 pages. Like I get they're 17 yo and they're horny but you could have waited a little... Or even better you could have made their sex scenes a lot less explicit taking into account that you're a 67 yo man writing about teenager boys. It just made me uncomfortable. 
The book has its sweet moments but they just weren't enough to make the sequel feel good or necessary. 
And this book is transphobic just like the author so if you're going to buy it do it second-handed please! But I wouldn't even read it, if you want to know how it ends I'll spoil it for you:

They end up together and living in Paris and Ari's dad dies. Also Dante's brother is born and they name him Sophocles Bartholomew, no it's not a joke.

Btw, if you're going to read it (against my recommendations) and English isn't your first language, this book wasn't hard to understand at all! Spanish is my first language and I had no problem reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Racism, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Homophobia

Moderate: War

Minor: Racial slurs

nextkt's review

emotional funny 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

Benjamin Alire Sáenz isn't a perfect writer. His prose is achingly beautiful and often funny in a way that makes you want to cry, but the plots of his books often err on the side of melodramatic and to enjoy them you must have a soft spot for bible-esque affirmations reflecting on life and how to live it right. Despite this: his writing is kind. Kind and honest. And both of these qualities are so prevalent in this book it almost made it difficult to read. It's an earnestness that makes you want to avert your eyes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, and Violence

Minor: War

alissq301's review

adventurous 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Outing, and Racial slurs