Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

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

40 reviews

gabbygarcia'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

3.0

The second half of this book was significantly better than the first half. It had the momentum and powerful character arcs that I was looking for. I would've rated this book higher if not for the first half--it was quite slow, very repetitive, and not much happened. In my opinion, it could have been condensed significantly.

Additionally, I felt the discussion of AIDS was quite forced; discussion of AIDS did not exist in the first book at all, so it felt like the characters had never thought about it before, and all of a sudden they were experts on the subject. Also, the adults in this book were almost too accepting (??) and nearly always had the right thing to say about everything, which felt like an unrealistic departure from the first novel. People aren't perfect; they don't always know how to talk about difficult issues that are affecting their kids and students. 

That being said, I'm glad I finished it. It made me cry, it made me laugh. The second half was really beautiful and powerful. I just wish it was shorter (and a little less preachy... show! don't tell!!) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Grief

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, and Violence

AIDS epidemic

tiredzai's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Homophobia and Misogyny

Minor: Alcohol, Deadnaming, and Drug use

luluslittlelibrary's review

emotional 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

2.0

If you enjoyed reading Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. I enjoyed the original, but the sequel ruined it for me. My main issue with this book is that the writing was just bad. Ari and Dante seemed to somewhat lose their connection once they were in a relationship. The female characters were poorly written and underdeveloped. The dialogue felt fake. Overall, none of this book seemed very realistic. There were also so many plot holes and parts that were just skipped over. And it was way too long and felt repetitive. I'm really disappointed by this book, especially because I really enjoyed the first one so much.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol and Outing

Minor: Sexual content

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

toofondofbooks_'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

4.5

First of all, thank you Mr. Ben - I know that this book was a labor of love for you and how much it means to you that you finally have put it out into the world.

This is a sequel that I never thought was going to come, and when it finally arrived on my doorstep, I was so happy that I think I cried a little. This is a continuation of Ari & Dante's story, but it's a lot more than that. It's the story of Ari's journey to self acceptance, a story of love, loss, and growing up. It's about letting people love you even when you would rather be invisible. It's about closure, it's about romantic love, familial love, and the love of friends. It's all there. I annotated and highlighted the HELL out of this. I think I had a highlighted line on nearly every page. I just feel like getting to have read this is what I needed during this period of my life.

slight spoilers right here -

Having said all that though, I do share some criticisms and concerns that other people have about the story in general, specifically with the way transphobia presents itself and the way some characters are pushed to come out before they are ready. These were both things that occurred in the first book that I only realized were a problem years later, and I was slightly disappointed to not see them rectified.

Overall, however, I love this book. I love these characters and how they love and take care of one another. I love Dante Quintana more than I love any other boy in literature and I know that I will return to this again, just as I've returned to the original book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Outing, Pregnancy, Racism, Violence, Sexism, Blood, and Transphobia

Moderate: Alcohol and Drug use

Minor: Vomit, Self harm, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing

jasminawithab's review

inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

a lot of it felt like the author had many many things he wanted to mention but none of them went anywhere. there were definitely parts i resonated with but overall, its an unnecessary sequel to an phenomenal book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Outing, Death of parent, and Racism

Minor: Homophobia, Bullying, Alcohol, and Biphobia

kalin_grace's review

adventurous challenging lighthearted 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Deadnaming, Grief, Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Racism

xoodlebooks's review

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Violence, Racism, Cursing, and Transphobia

Minor: Sexism, Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Terminal illness, and Murder

samh's review

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: Homophobia and Death of parent

Moderate: Terminal illness, Alcohol, and Racism

Minor: Car accident, Deadnaming, and Transphobia

wordswoods's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

I got this as an ARC through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

ARISTOTLE AND DANTE <3 <3 <3 

This second book follows Ari and Dante. They have just discovered that they're in love with each other, but in 1980s El Paso, Texas, to be gay is not a walk in the park. The reader follows Ari's story of falling in love and navigating his first relationship, finally making friends and surviving his last year of high school against the backdrop of the raging AIDS pandemic that is on the news all the time.
The story builds up slowly and several plot twists make it to be an interesting story to tell, as we see Ari, Dante and their friends growing up from teens to young adults throughout this last year of school. 
Ever the romantic, Benjamin Alire Sáenz uses pensive, reflective writing about big topics that are beautiful, but do sound a bit jarring at times coming from a 17-year-old. As you get used to this as a reader, though, it allows the author to delve into important topics such as homosexuality, feminism, death, relationships with lovers, friends and family, and learning to let go.
A love story from beginning to end, this second novel - just as the first one - isn't just a cheesy tale of some teenagers falling in love. It explores deeper topics and shows the reader experiences that greatly impact these young characters, who try to navigate life among heavy and lighter, day-to-day, problems. 

I definitely recommend this if you read Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cursing, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol