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A review by lilshelly
Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Well, I finished. I might return with a more full review at a later date, but these are my broken thoughts post-read.
There's so much in this book. So many stories and so much love and so many people to discover. I will say that I like the first book alot more. That isn't to say this one is bad -- but I do feel there was alot that could have been done. The pacing was very quick, which I'm not always a fan of. And some events that happened felt very sudden and disconnected. Some scenes that we anticipated and were done in a few pages and never brought up again. It felt very much like the author envisioned a ton of important plot points and forgot how to link them together. 3/4 of the book could have been cut out because of this.
Also, many editorial errors that left me confused. (At one point, we see Aristotle Quintana which made me reread for several minutes trying to figure out what that meant before deciding it was a clerical error.)
And everyone spoke in eloquent quotes, CONSTANTLY, which takes me out of the realistic aspects of the narrative. People are not profound in every conversation they ever have. It was honestly exhausting. They spoke like the sole purpose was for us to quote them on pinterest boards and photo captions.
I had trouble figuring out who was speaking half the time and how we were meant to understand the tone. So. Much. Dialogue. And so. Much. Profundity. It honestly didn't feel like a story about high schoolers anymore. High schoolers do not speak this way every second of every day to every question they are asked.
And everyone is always crying and always kissing Ari on the cheek. What's up with that? The only dialogue descriptors we get are "tears, crying, sobbing."
The whole book was setting up Legs to die. We had countless notes of her not being able to run anymore. She couldn't jump on the bed. And it had me so confused because, didn't Ari adopt her as a puppy like a year ago, if that? Dogs don't age that quickly. It left me confused on if I remembered her age correctly. It felt super strange and inconsistent, and then she didn't die. No, Ari's dad did, shortly after the two had a bonding trip. He died over the span of a few paragraphs from a heart attack. No prior discussions of declining health or anything. And considering this tragedy was alluded to in the book summary, it's odd that it took until like page 400 for it to happen. It was meant to be a pivotal point and it only impacts the last 100ish pages.
Also, Dante is basically a background character in this book. And it really feels like Ari doesn't like him much? He hardly says it or really shows it. I expected Ari to give Dante his journal or something at some point considering Ari writing in the journal was massive in his development. But, no. It never comes up.
I also was thrown off by Rico's death. I honestly forgot who Rico was because this book introduces so many characters that it's hard to keep up. It's hinted that Rico killed himself, but I couldn't find any discussion really. His funeral was just plopped in to show, I presume, the death of another gay man.
Also, can we talk about Ari visiting Bernardo? Oooooh brother. I expected this scene to be long and pivotal. Ari yearned after his brother the whole first book. It was such an important aspect of his identity. And then we get to prison, they talk for a page, and that's it. It's done. And barely referenced again. Ari says he found the missing piece of himself there, but there's no narrative discussion of what that means. He just drops it and the dreams stop. That's not how things work.
This book is SO dialogue heavy that I had no idea what the world looked like anymore.
Also, Bernardo killing a trans woman was an important point. And during that conversation between Ari and Bernardo, Ari consistently refers to the woman as she, correcting Bernardo's misgendering. Yet later, like at the end of the book, Ari asks his mom the name of the person Bernardo killed and visits her grave. And in this time, refers to the woman as "he" SEVERAL times before correcting himself. I found this incredibly strange as Ari made it a point to correct his brother. Why did he suddenly "forget" that? It reeks of transphobia, I fear.
I think there is a beautiful story here. I do, however, despise the thread of queer stories being laced with tragedy. That need not always be the answer. There's a hallmark in our stories, too. But I do like the approach with cartography. It gave an interesting spin to the story, even if it felt hammered to death.
I like Ari and Dante a whole lot, and I'm happy to have witnessed their growth. But this book feels like it could have used more time on the editing table.
There's so much in this book. So many stories and so much love and so many people to discover. I will say that I like the first book alot more. That isn't to say this one is bad -- but I do feel there was alot that could have been done. The pacing was very quick, which I'm not always a fan of. And some events that happened felt very sudden and disconnected. Some scenes that we anticipated and were done in a few pages and never brought up again. It felt very much like the author envisioned a ton of important plot points and forgot how to link them together. 3/4 of the book could have been cut out because of this.
Also, many editorial errors that left me confused. (At one point, we see Aristotle Quintana which made me reread for several minutes trying to figure out what that meant before deciding it was a clerical error.)
And everyone spoke in eloquent quotes, CONSTANTLY, which takes me out of the realistic aspects of the narrative. People are not profound in every conversation they ever have. It was honestly exhausting. They spoke like the sole purpose was for us to quote them on pinterest boards and photo captions.
I had trouble figuring out who was speaking half the time and how we were meant to understand the tone. So. Much. Dialogue. And so. Much. Profundity. It honestly didn't feel like a story about high schoolers anymore. High schoolers do not speak this way every second of every day to every question they are asked.
And everyone is always crying and always kissing Ari on the cheek. What's up with that? The only dialogue descriptors we get are "tears, crying, sobbing."
The whole book was setting up Legs to die. We had countless notes of her not being able to run anymore. She couldn't jump on the bed. And it had me so confused because, didn't Ari adopt her as a puppy like a year ago, if that? Dogs don't age that quickly. It left me confused on if I remembered her age correctly. It felt super strange and inconsistent, and then she didn't die. No, Ari's dad did, shortly after the two had a bonding trip. He died over the span of a few paragraphs from a heart attack. No prior discussions of declining health or anything. And considering this tragedy was alluded to in the book summary, it's odd that it took until like page 400 for it to happen. It was meant to be a pivotal point and it only impacts the last 100ish pages.
Also, Dante is basically a background character in this book. And it really feels like Ari doesn't like him much? He hardly says it or really shows it. I expected Ari to give Dante his journal or something at some point considering Ari writing in the journal was massive in his development. But, no. It never comes up.
I also was thrown off by Rico's death. I honestly forgot who Rico was because this book introduces so many characters that it's hard to keep up. It's hinted that Rico killed himself, but I couldn't find any discussion really. His funeral was just plopped in to show, I presume, the death of another gay man.
Also, can we talk about Ari visiting Bernardo? Oooooh brother. I expected this scene to be long and pivotal. Ari yearned after his brother the whole first book. It was such an important aspect of his identity. And then we get to prison, they talk for a page, and that's it. It's done. And barely referenced again. Ari says he found the missing piece of himself there, but there's no narrative discussion of what that means. He just drops it and the dreams stop. That's not how things work.
This book is SO dialogue heavy that I had no idea what the world looked like anymore.
Also, Bernardo killing a trans woman was an important point. And during that conversation between Ari and Bernardo, Ari consistently refers to the woman as she, correcting Bernardo's misgendering. Yet later, like at the end of the book, Ari asks his mom the name of the person Bernardo killed and visits her grave. And in this time, refers to the woman as "he" SEVERAL times before correcting himself. I found this incredibly strange as Ari made it a point to correct his brother. Why did he suddenly "forget" that? It reeks of transphobia, I fear.
I think there is a beautiful story here. I do, however, despise the thread of queer stories being laced with tragedy. That need not always be the answer. There's a hallmark in our stories, too. But I do like the approach with cartography. It gave an interesting spin to the story, even if it felt hammered to death.
I like Ari and Dante a whole lot, and I'm happy to have witnessed their growth. But this book feels like it could have used more time on the editing table.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Grief