Reviews tagging 'Violence'

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

80 reviews

eveofthestars's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful 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

I'm so sad I finished this book and yet I didn't want to put it down. I flew through this book, I read it in one weekend and throughout it I thought: "I want to read this book forever, I don't want to do anything else and above all I don't want it to end." I don't think I'll ever find books as beautiful as these, that speak to me in such a way. I could praise the writing for days — you can feel the poet in Sáenz and it's part of what makes these books so gorgeous. I'm so happy to see the journey Ari went through, with all its hardships, and the person he's becoming. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go grieve the fact that there're no more books in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: War, Transphobia, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content

heidipretzel's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent, Bullying, and Alcohol

Minor: Transphobia, Violence, and Deadnaming

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

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

julieta_sc7's review

adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, Transphobia, Homophobia, Death of parent, Racism, Grief, and Murder

classicalhell's review

adventurous 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? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Confinement, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

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

davbat's review

emotional hopeful 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

Amazing and made me cry on the bus. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Homophobia

Moderate: Transphobia, War, Death of parent, and Death

kirsten_marie's review against another edition

2.25

I had so high hopes for this one because I loved the first book so much. It had this special atmosphere to it, and I couldn't keep myself from caring deeply for those boys and their story. sadly, I feel all that is lost after reading the sequel. 

From the beginning, the writing felt awkward and as the author has tried to compose some beautiful text, but completely missed the mark in the process. It is an extreme case of tell and not show. It felt like watching a bad play. The characters only play their roles and never feel like fully developed souls. There is little to no emotional build-up in serious scenes either. It lacks subtlety and depth. Only on a number of pages I could count on my fingers did I feel invested in the story. I would also argue that there are several very illogical choices and events. 90% of it's entirety is also direct dialogue, which I find unbearably dull. 


Should have DNFed this one, but I'm too f*ing stubborn.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Death, Sexual content, Murder, Violence, and Transphobia

jerrysaywhaaa's review

emotional 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

4.0

My first though reading this book was that not all great books need sequels and this was one that didn’t need one. It has a very slow start in my opinion, but finally caught my attention in part four. It had me bawling my eyes out reading the final two parts and the ending was so cute. I appreciate the book even more after reading the author’s acknowledgments and seeing why he felt the need to write this book to finish their story. He is a very talented writer for sure. I do, however, wish we got a bit more Dante in the book that has his name in the title. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Homophobia, and Transphobia

Minor: Murder