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A review by sammymilfort
Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
dark
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Vomit, Bullying, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Medical content, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death of parent, and Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Car accident
I love Ari and Dante so much!
I am conflicted how I feel because this series and story means so much to me, and it felt like a 5 star to me.
Ari’s growth was so beautiful to see. Benjamin’s writing will always tug at my heartrings
At the same time, I understand there is a nuance and problematic aspects to these characters that make it questionable and uncomfortable for people to read
To me Ari and Dante are imperfect people who can learn from their views and our curious about the world
I wish Saènez took from a note of compassion and love that he imposed on his characters into his own world view. The hate he has shown towards the trans/gender nonconforming community is honestly unacceptable and goes against many of the themes he writes about in his book. I am not part of this community but I stand with the community, who has given this author many chances to change or apologize and learn from his behavior, but he has shown no heart to some of the harmful damage he has has done
After this I am no longer reading any books by this author