Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe: A book review

 

This book made me feel secret things in secret places that I didn’t know I had.

A gentle love, a gentle cry, a little laughter and a lots of sad.

But it was a good sad, you know.

The sad you feel when you meet your friend in a long time. The sad when you see the sky bright and want it to last forever. A nostalgic sad. I liked this sad.

This book is a gentle love letter to Dante and I love that.

Hi everyone. This book review is on Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. I had been wanting to read this book for a long time, so when my sister brought it home I jumped at the chance. She borrowed it from her friend who has a review blog as well. Apparently, I also found out that my sister also has more interesting friends than I do. Hmmmmmm……. Interesting. Do go and check out her blog.

Click to check out her blog

The book starts with “The problem with my life was that it was someone else’s idea.” This is also where my love affair with this book starts. I think I love everything about this book. The writing style, the slow burn, the characters, and the way the story proceeds.

In terms of the plot it’s not revolutionary, in fact it has been done before so many times that I could almost predict what happens next. But the point of this book was not the plot. This is a very character driven book. We see the development of both these people and it is a heart-warming journey to be a part of. One of the things that I really really like about this book is that none of the characters are caricatures. Every single character in this story is fully fleshed out and have a character development arc.

The thing is I already knew that the main characters were gay before going into the book, so watching them slowly realise their thoughts about their sexuality and their crush on each other was beautiful. The book gives its characters time and space to grow and realise their sexuality on their own. Granted Ari needed a little bit of push from his parents but that’s because he is obstinately thick headed. Some people do need a push in the right direction sometimes to come up with the truth own their own. LOL.

The chapters are generally short and some chapters are short enough to be called cute. I love the writing style. I mentioned that already but here I want to give you a sample and hopefully tempt you to read it.

Example 1: “Words were different when they lived inside of you.”

Example 2:

 “When Dante read the word “bastard” he smiled. I knew he loved saying it because it was a word he was not allowed not use, a word that was banned. But here in his room, he could read that word and make it his.

 All afternoon, I sat in that large comfortable chair in Dante’s room and he lay down on his newly made bed. And he read poems.

 I didn’t worry about understanding them. I didn’t care about what they meant. I didn’t care because what mattered is that Dante’s voice felt real. And I felt real.”

This is what I meant when I said that the whole book is a gentle love letter to Dante. Ari is whipped from the moment he meets Dante, but being as dense as he is, he doesn’t realise it. Does that stop him from talking like Dante is his whole world? No, of course not. I love me a main character who talks like Ari when he is taking about Dante. I mean just look at those words. I picked up a random page and a random paragraph and got this masterpiece because the whole book is filled with them.

I want to give you more examples. In fact, I want to copy paste the whole book so that you might read it. Because you see my heartu, its gone. Smush. Puddle. All I have is Ari and Dante, and the way Ari talk about Dante.

This book is like a series of snapshots of someone’s life. It’s like a photo album, but in words. It jumps from one event to another telling stories about each of them. Reading through it, you feel like you are looking at Ari’s album where he is telling you about each photo, where it was taken and the story behind it. (The when it was taken is a little blurry, like when you see a photo you remember the general time frame but you can’t pinpoint the exact time and date.) It takes through the journey of two years where each chapter is a different day.

This book not only deals with sexualities but also deals with the struggle to connect with your roots. I think everyone, regardless of the place they belong to struggle with the traditions of their place and religion. This is a struggle that you always have regardless of your age or maturity. This is written in such a way that even though I am neither Mexican nor Christian, I could relate to it.  

Have I convinced you to read the book yet? 

I may not give valuable life lessons, but my book recommendations are gold. I have converted 3 people into bookworms with my book recommendations and I consider that my biggest achievement in life. Listen to me when I say you have to read this book. You HAVE to. Please read this book. Please.  

Happy Reading

REaD tHe BoOK. Please.

Toodles

P.S. You can trust me. I am your friendly neighbourhood book blogger.