Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle and Dante, #1) in Reads With Friends

May 06, 2014 Antonia rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own, young-adult-books, contemporary-books

I don't know what happened between this book and me, but I didn't love it as much as I thought I'd do.

"Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" has been going around Goodreads and Youtube for a few years now and I finally decided to pick it up and read it because, let's be honest, I was ashamed of not having read this book for such a long time. Considering the fact that it has won numerous awards and prizes, I had high expectations while going into it and I must admit that these I don't know what happened between this book and me, but I didn't love it as much as I thought I'd do.

"Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" has been going around Goodreads and Youtube for a few years now and I finally decided to pick it up and read it because, let's be honest, I was ashamed of not having read this book for such a long time. Considering the fact that it has won numerous awards and prizes, I had high expectations while going into it and I must admit that these expectations weren't met.
This book doesn't have a main "plot". And, believe me, this was one of the things that I loved about this book. It was more character-driven and less plot-driven and it stood out from some other YA books that focus more on a strict and unoriginal plotline and forget -or merely ignore- the growth of their characters and how they become maturer, wiser, more open-minded and endlessly true to themselves and to their social environment. This book included detailed and beautiful character development, even though I didn't agree with the author on every choice he decided to use for his characters.
I loved the relationship between Ari and Dante and the ending was absolutely mesmerizing, romantic and picturesque, the setting was utterly beautiful. The dialogues between these two teenagers was quirky and I laughed out loud many times while reading the conversations between Ari and Dante, but also between Ari and his parents (mainly) and Dante and his ones.
My main problem with this book, and the reason that I decided to rate it only with 3 out of 5 stars and not with 4 or 5, was the fact that it seemed to me that Benjamin Alire Saenz tried too hard to write a book that would inspire millions of teenagers and young adults out there, that somewhere he lost it. I'm not saying that he isn't a talented writer, because he definitely is and I will read more of his books. There are some really pretty and inspiring quotes in this book and I'm sure I'll bookmark the passages to keep me inspired whenever I need to be. It's just that the theme of the book didn't "click" with me. Some of the thoughts seemed too philosophical to belong to a 17-year-old boy and the sadness that Ari had to cope with throughout the whole book seemed too repetitive and somewhat meaningless. I know it's supposed to be a story about growing up, discovering who you are and what your sexual orientation is, but it seemed a bit theatrical to me (at least at some parts of the book) and I don't mean it in a good way. A similar thing happened to me while reading a book with another LGBTQ character, the "More Happy Than Not" book by Adam Silvera. I liked the plot and the characters, the relationships between them, the quotes and most of the social background, but not enough so as to give more than 3 stars to both of these books.
Overall, 3 out of 5 stars as I mentioned before. I definitely recommend "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" to all readers out there who love reading books about LGBTQ characters and who are fans of John Green (and the new really talented author Adam Silvera). This is a book about growing up, discovering and analyzing your true self, who you want to be and how you turned up to make certain choices and love certain people. It's a poetic story about true love, real friendship and genuine family bonds. ...more

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Oct 26, 2014 Christina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, read-in-2015, series-i-need-to-finish

I've heard amazing things about Aristotle and Dante for months now, and decided to pick up the Kindle book when it was the Teen Daily Deal a few months back. I knew nothing about the story going into it, besides the fact that Ari and Dante were best friends. I am so glad I picked up this beautiful book, and highly recommend you do the same!

Aristotle and Dante is told from the first person in Ari's point of view and takes place over the course of two years beginning in 1987. Readers follow Ari a ...more

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Dec 26, 2014 Alreem rated it really liked it

" A novel about family and friendship "

With this book I fell in love with the writing style, I actually realize that I loved this book after I finished reading it. This book was a fast read I read it within 24 hrs, its really a beautiful book.

First of all, I would like to say that I loved the narrator, Aristotle who nicknamed him self Ari - is an angry fifteen year old boy, who doesn't feel comfortable being around people his age. Everyone around him think that he's lonely and sad but what they ...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Allison rated it it was amazing

Shelves: physical-read, lgbtqap, read-pre-2023, favorites

When I first read this book in 2012, I loved it. I laughed, I thought, I cried. No, really, I cried so much, it was insane. Anyways, I immediately bestowed upon this lovely story the title of My Favorite. For some reason, though, I wasn't doing reviews in 2012 and, for some reason, I hadn't picked up Aristotle and Dante since then. Well, now I'm doing reviews and, this month, I decided to read this once again. Maybe I was overreacting the first time. Maybe it wasn't as good as I remembered. What When I first read this book in 2012, I loved it. I laughed, I thought, I cried. No, really, I cried so much, it was insane. Anyways, I immediately bestowed upon this lovely story the title of My Favorite. For some reason, though, I wasn't doing reviews in 2012 and, for some reason, I hadn't picked up Aristotle and Dante since then. Well, now I'm doing reviews and, this month, I decided to read this once again. Maybe I was overreacting the first time. Maybe it wasn't as good as I remembered. What if it wasn't as good?!

Spoiler alert: it was just as good. It was better. This book will still have the label of My Favorite bestowed upon it because it is simply so deserving of such a label. If you haven't read this book, stop reading this and go start reading it. Seriously. 2 and a half years later, I still loved it. I still laughed, I still thought, and I still cried. So much.

It's hard for me to put this book into a box. Is it a coming of age story? Is it a love story? Is it a family story? The answer is: yes. It is all of these things all at once. It can't be clearly explained. Here, let me try. A 15-year-old Mexican-American boy navigates family secrets, friendship, and his own identity. Is that a good sentence to explain this story? Nah. I'm going to stop trying.

Speaking of family, though, this book is the best portrayal of familial relationships that I have seen in young adult fiction. Hands down. It is truly incredible. These parents are so present and so real and so accessible to the reader. They don't disappear, they aren't the source of constant angst and drama. The family situations are believable and interesting. Put that down as another reason to read this book.

The writing is beautiful. There are sections with lengthy prose and internal thought and there are chapters entirely of dialogue that is beliveable for these characters. There are some truly wonderful lines in this story. If you like gorgeous writing with dialogue that is real, read this book.

Basically, read this book. That's all I can say. It is My Favorite and it is lovely. I would recommend going in with little knowledge of what it is about. It's hard to put it all in one description, anyways. ...more

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Sep 02, 2014 Michelle (Bookaholic Banter) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

This was a beautiful story!

Friendship, family, relationships, self-discovery, acceptance. These are the topics this book discusses.

Aristotle(Ari) is a teenage boy who feels like a loner. He doesn't have any friends until one day he meets Dante. He finds Dante to be different just like him. The relationship between Ari and Dante grows into a strong friendship. Things happen along the way that brings Ari and Dante's families together and strengthens their bond.

This story is one that all teenage ...more

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Dec 15, 2014 Onka rated it it was amazing

Shelves: english, audiobooks, own, favourite, y-a-contemporary, lgbtq

What should I say about this one? That it's funny and sad and heartbreaking and absolutely beautiful? I don't think it's enough... But right now I just can't think of anything. I simply LOVE it!!! ...more

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Mar 04, 2015 Janet S rated it it was amazing

"If you keep running, it will kill you.." ...more

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Jul 28, 2014 Emma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, 2015-read, realistic-fiction

I open this review with a confession: I underlined so many quotes in this book. I'm generally not a person who underlines or annotates novels for the simple reason that I'm an English Literature student so any time I do annotate, I'm probably doing required reading. Call me crazy but I like to be able to read leisurely too. But within the space of maybe 20 pages this book just begged me to start underlining it. Why? Because this coming-of-age, relatively simple story, told via the first-person n ...more

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Jan 27, 2015 Sylvia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

4.8 out of five stars

"'Dante's not the only one who missed you.' It was the most beautiful thing an adult who wasn't my mom or dad had ever said to me. And I knew that there was something about me that Mrs. Quintana saw and loved. And even though I felt it was a beautiful thing, I also felt it was a weight. Not that she meant it to be a weight. But love was always something heavy for me. Something I had to carry."

I feel like I have been overusing the word beautiful in my reviews lately, but I ca ...more

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Jun 07, 2015 Candice rated it really liked it

I lived the writing style of thus book. The two main characters were very realistic insightful. Although, this want necessarily the type of book I normally read, I did like it.

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Nov 19, 2014 Lauren rated it really liked it

This book was definitely a beautiful coming of age story. The parents in this book where wonderful whereas a lot of parents in contemporary young adult literature I simply can't stand. The parents in this story showed their child unconditional love. Even if I couldn't really tell wether or not they accepted their child's choices they accepted them for who they where. Makes me want to hug any children I ever have. ...more

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