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A review by sweetrosegirl76
Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I go back and forth with how I wanna rate this. 3.5? 4? I lean towards 4 bc I liked it, and it was really poetic and beautiful in so many parts, but then I compare to other books I've gives 4 stars too and I wouldn't say I like this more than those... Idk I'm really torn on my analysis of the book which is why I'm hiding it under the spoiler tag in goodreads lol
Some parts made me cry, esp the teacher letter. Wow. It was so beautiful. This book feels like a love letter I think that's why I rounded to a 4 on goodreads
Idk about you, but you know how you can tell a book was written during covid? 😂 after the awakening of america? Idk how to explain this; my only other example coming to mind is The Extraordinaries book 1 and 2, but I think I did read another that gave those vibes. I don't know how to explain this because it's such a weird vibe, but what I mean by this is that the we talk about race, social issues, racism in books taking place in America is such a different way pre and post 2020. I don't think it's a bad thing because these are conversations that we should be having. I can just tell when the author realizes it should have been a part of the book from jump and that they want to suddenly include this in their work bc it does feel forced or too much when i read it after the fact. I can't tell when the author themselves has changed, which is, of course, a great thing. It's just something I notice, and I noticed it here. This book is supposed to take place in 1986? 88? If it wasn't included in the first book, so it's presence is very much noticed. Again, it's not a bad thing to include, I'm purely speaking of a technical writing perspective.
There was a lot of wisdom in this book reguarding the topics I just mentioned and honestly about life too, which is why I want to give this book a little bit of a higher rating, but then when I think about the plot I'm kind of like was there one? I didn't really know the direction where this book was going VS I felt like with the first one. There was a little bit more of a journey, but at the same time there is a journey that's happening here, I guess it was just kind of harder to see? I feel so conflicted because I feel like even this is not a good or fair thing to say because Aristotle went through such a journey when it came coming out of a shell and allowing himself to be loved like there is definitely some great character development here, all because of Dante and Aristotle's love for him. That is beautiful.
There are beautiful and poetic lines, its a soft book, its a loving book, with loving characters, and loving relationships. There is so much wisdom, love, heart, and soul in this book which is why I wanna give it a 4, but then I think about just the story itself and I think about doing a 3 bc of previously mentioned points about post 2020 writing and what is the plot. The running metaphor and theme about the cartographers of the world was kind of overplayed and tired imo it was getting SLIGHTLY annoying bc it's just not how teens talk.
Some parts made me cry, esp the teacher letter. Wow. It was so beautiful. This book feels like a love letter I think that's why I rounded to a 4 on goodreads
Idk about you, but you know how you can tell a book was written during covid? 😂 after the awakening of america? Idk how to explain this; my only other example coming to mind is The Extraordinaries book 1 and 2, but I think I did read another that gave those vibes. I don't know how to explain this because it's such a weird vibe, but what I mean by this is that the we talk about race, social issues, racism in books taking place in America is such a different way pre and post 2020. I don't think it's a bad thing because these are conversations that we should be having. I can just tell when the author realizes it should have been a part of the book from jump and that they want to suddenly include this in their work bc it does feel forced or too much when i read it after the fact. I can't tell when the author themselves has changed, which is, of course, a great thing. It's just something I notice, and I noticed it here. This book is supposed to take place in 1986? 88? If it wasn't included in the first book, so it's presence is very much noticed. Again, it's not a bad thing to include, I'm purely speaking of a technical writing perspective.
There was a lot of wisdom in this book reguarding the topics I just mentioned and honestly about life too, which is why I want to give this book a little bit of a higher rating, but then when I think about the plot I'm kind of like was there one? I didn't really know the direction where this book was going VS I felt like with the first one. There was a little bit more of a journey, but at the same time there is a journey that's happening here, I guess it was just kind of harder to see? I feel so conflicted because I feel like even this is not a good or fair thing to say because Aristotle went through such a journey when it came coming out of a shell and allowing himself to be loved like there is definitely some great character development here, all because of Dante and Aristotle's love for him. That is beautiful.
There are beautiful and poetic lines, its a soft book, its a loving book, with loving characters, and loving relationships. There is so much wisdom, love, heart, and soul in this book which is why I wanna give it a 4, but then I think about just the story itself and I think about doing a 3 bc of previously mentioned points about post 2020 writing and what is the plot. The running metaphor and theme about the cartographers of the world was kind of overplayed and tired imo it was getting SLIGHTLY annoying bc it's just not how teens talk.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying and Homophobia
Minor: Hate crime, Racism, Cursing, and Transphobia