Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

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

20 reviews

tatianars's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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, Cursing, Homophobia, Bullying, Death of parent, Violence, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Alcohol, Grief, and Hate crime

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

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, and Death of parent

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

Minor: War, Child death, Bullying, and Vomit

mosaicbrokenhearts's review

challenging 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

4.0

Here we go. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is my favorite book of all time so i was obviously extremely excited for the sequel. I even decided to reread the first book before reading the second which was a big mistake. As we all know, the writing in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is absolutely gorgeous and my first thought while reading this book was: "what am i reading and who are these characters". I absolutely hated it at first if i'm being honest. The narrative and the relationships in the book just felt so forced to me, just like many things the characters said, specially Ari's parents. And unfortunely this feeling stayed with me for most of the book. But there were some parts that almost left me breathless. Sometimes i would just stare at a page and think: "yes, these are the people i know, this is my Ari, and everything feels right". 

One thing i absolutely loved in this book were the new relationships we got. Cassandra, Gina and Susie are the best girls in the world and i love them so much. Ari's relationship with his father was my favorite thing and i'm so glad we got to see them grow closer and start to understand each other.
 
Ari starting to accept the love people have for him was absolutely beautiful, and seeing him get the closure he deserves regarding his brother was very much needed.

I did miss Dante a lot though. As important as those new relationships were, when the went back to school it felt like Dante completely disappeared.

I honestly have so many thoughts on this book that i can't exactly put into words but overall this book was a rollercoaster. It doesn't even come close to the first one and while i have so many things that didn't exactly please me, i did like it a lot. I've been thinking about that last chapter nonstop ever since i finished the book because GOD!!! It was gorgeous. 

Please!! ignore any mistakes since english isn't my first language lol thank u <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, War, Violence, Xenophobia, Racism, and Death of parent

brennach's review

emotional hopeful reflective 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, and Violence

Minor: Misogyny, Murder, and Xenophobia

hungryheidi2013's review

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

3.5

it wasn’t bad i just expected more considering that the first book changed my life lol 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Deadnaming, Racism, and Xenophobia

kayladaila's review

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Misogyny, Murder, Outing, and Pregnancy

kapow9's review

emotional inspiring relaxing 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: Homophobia, Grief, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Transphobia

looney_moons's review

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad 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

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for sending me an E-ARC of this book for an honest review. 

While being back in the world of Aristotle and Dante, in the world of Aristotle's beautiful thoughts and Dante's magnificent words, was magical to say the least, this book felt rushed and flat for me. I understand that Saenz had a hard time writing this book - and unfortunately, that shows. Not only were there little to no connection between events, but the ending, happy as it may be, felt rushed and out of character. Ari kept talking about how he had changed, and while his action showed that that was the case, I felt like I was being told it too much. It was a beautiful sequel, but we did not need it. For fans of Ari and Dante, I would simply stick to our original masterpiece. I went into this book wanting nothing but more Ari and Dante content, wanted to see them love each other the way they both deserve, and ultimately I left this book feeling disappointed that I got just that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia

It simply must be noted that the author has tweeted transphobic things in the past few weeks, and that some readers may find that material in this book is transphobic. As a trans person, I do not find the writing to be transphobic - in fact, quite the opposite - but I am incredibly disappointed in the actions by the author. The author has since apologised and seems to be attempting to rectify his mistake.