Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire SáenzMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Originally I gave this book a 5 star rating, but upon further reflection I think I’ll downgrade that to 4 stars. Perhaps the initial rating was due to the immense pressure that one should absolutely love this book; it has amazing ratings and just look at those awards littering the cover screaming “I’m an awesome and highly acclaimed book and you’re an asshat if you don’t like me.”
Now I do have to admit that there are several months between the reading of the book and the writing of the review, but that’s just more time to think about it right?
I do have to give the book props for tackling some tough issues. Coming of age stories are almost always interesting because everyone comes into their own in unique ways and I can’t even imagine going through adolescence struggling with sexual identity; adolescence is hard enough trying to figure out plain old identity. Adding that extra struggle the main character Ari is going through is sort of mindboggling and causes some feels.
Although I had a hard time relating to the main characters (a problem I often have when it comes to teenage boy protagonists), I did find myself caring about both Ari and Dante a lot. I won’t lie, I often thought “quit being a whiny, little bitch” but that isn’t unusual for me. I guess its not really fair of me to pretend to know what life is like as a teenage, Mexican-American boy struggling with his sexual identity, but apparently its very difficult.
Despite not knowing what its like to be Ari, I still felt like I understood him on some level and really felt for him and what he was going through. I didn’t fully understand why he did and said the things he did. He can be a jerk at times, and he’s angry and sad, but doesn’t know why.. so that means I don’t know why. I did feel like the author used the tough life excuse for Ari’s behavior, he has a brother in prison and an emotionally detached, war-vet for a father.. and sure I don’t know what those would do to a person, but Ari seemed more level headed than he often acted.
I do really think that this book speaks to the human condition and holds true to what life is really like. Life is messy, relationships are complicated, sometimes people are hard to understand (including yourself), sometimes.. nay most of the time its easier to ignore a problem than to face it, and most importantly we as humans need other humans to care about and understand us.. even if we don’t think we deserve it.
I do genuinely think that this book deserves a read. Its quick, entertaining and thought provoking.. What else do you want?.. I guess there could have been a dragon or two to round things out.
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