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

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.25

I Have a lot of thoughts that still need to marinate after just finishing this book. While it wasn’t essential for another book to be written, there were certain elements that were important to the growth of Ari after Dante and him become a couple. Things such as him learning to love, having friends, becoming closer to his father, getting closure from Bernardo, were all essential to his character development that I absolutely LOVED seeing. The focus wasn’t always all about Dante and the inner monologue Ari had compared to the last book. 
My only critique is that I think the book could’ve been better off without some of the chapters in it.
One being Rico and his death. I see how bullying and homophobia and the AIDS pandemic sort of plays into it, along with Danny ending up with Gina (as far as I can remember). It was never really fully explained how he died, whether it be that he was beaten to death or something having to do with AIDS. And it’s sort of like a one off thing where it wasn’t really addressed again until the final chapter where Ari meets Dante at the Louvre. I wish it could have been removed entirely or more to it. But as seeing how long this book was already, I can see where some cuts probably would have been
. Other times I wish that other chapters or events would have been fleshed out more that seemed more important to the characters.
Ari and Dante would occasionally go back and forth on waiting to have sex and to shower together in the first half of the book. But when it happens later on, it simply is what it is. They made love, they showered together. It never was Ari describing the new feelings he felt, how he would describe Dante in that moment, nothing compared to the camping trip earlier in the book really. Which wasn’t much to begin with, but it was something more than “we did x,y, z” without getting too detailed about the act itself
. 
I will say, even though the book came with such a happy and moving beginning half and a sad, tears never stopped flowing second half, I’m glad it was written. And although the ending feels kinda flat like the first book ended, right before more relationship development, it does leave it up to the reader to imagine what happened between the two boys. 
While it’s left up to the readers, my imagined happily ever after for these two are that they spend the summer in Paris together. Adventures, adventures, adventures all throughout the summer. And once they go off to college, they write so many letters to each other. They call almost everyday. They meet up for the holidays with their parents. Cassandra, Susie, Gina, Ari, and Dante all get together during the summer to spend time with each other telling stories about their college days. Ari shows Dante the journal he wrote in during senior year and all of his thoughts he wanted to share with Dante. Dante has so much art dedicated to Ari that ends up in museums in New York. Ari has written books about two boys in love. Baby Sophocles loves his older brother and Uncle Ari. I’d like to think they got married and moved somewhere like LA or NYC because of the progress of LGBTQ+ acceptance over the years. They volunteer their time with different projects and organizations that help lgbtq+ youth. Maybe they even adopt kids and have a little family. And I really believe that when same-sex marriage was legalized in all states in 2015, the both of them just held each other and cried… because people like them finally are able to be with who they loved without fear. Without the fear they faced when they were teenagers
. 
Needless to say, I’m excited for the movie based off the first book since it recently premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and its only a matter of time before Ari and Dante come to the big screen <3
Expand filter menu Content Warnings