Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Book Review

AAAAAAAAAH. This book was absolutely amazing!! AMAZING. The narrative voice. The themes. The characters. The EVERYTHING. AAAAAAAAAA. If it gives you any idea of how much I enjoyed this book, please know that I took up colour-coded annotations specifically for it.

Okay first of all, I was absolutely in love with the way that this book (which I will refer to as AaDDtSotU since the title is a little lengthy) explored the characters as they grew up and changed. The little paragraph thingy at the start of the book summed up AaDDtSotU really well. And the idea that the characters were discovering 'the secrets of the universe' as a sort of metaphor for growing up was beautiful. I don't really know how to explain it, but the way that AaDDtSotU explored the process of growing up was absolutely stunning. I think it's the most accurate coming-of-age type of book I've read. 

And linking to that was the narrative voice, which I loved too. The book was written in a really beautiful way, but the first-person narration really seemed to fit in the way that it didn't sound too grown-up. If that makes sense? There was a child-like quality to the narration, and I think that fit Ari's character and the novel really well. The book contained a lot of questions and a lot of 'maybe's but I think that really fit in well with the whole premise of the book, because AaDDtSotU is about growing up and discovering the world. I also really liked how connected the characters were to their environment -- like the desert and the rain. It really made the novel feel like an escape from my own urbanised world. 

AaDDtSotU is set in the 80s -- a time period which I'm a little fascinated by. Even though I was not alive in the 80s, I feel that the author wrote it really well. My parents always tell me stories from when they grew up in the 80s and I saw a lot of parallels to those stories in the book. So yeah, I believe that the setting was written really well. I loved it. 

Relationships were a big focus in AaDDtSotU, which is kinda to be expected since it's a coming-of-age novel. But still, I was kinda taken off-guard by the detailed way in which relationships were explored. I will come to the relationship between Ari and Dante but first I wanna talk about the other relationships in the book. First of all, Ari's relationship with his parents was really sweet. Like sure they had their problems but the love between Ari and his parents was heartwarming. I think that good parents in books almost always make them worth reading. The same goes for Ari with Dante's parents -- they were wonderful humans and they seemed to genuinely care for Ari. I have always loved the trope where a character's best friend's parents are like secondary parents to that character. It was really sweet!!

I wanted to also touch on Ari's relationship with his older sisters. Although I don't have older siblings, I related to that relationship dynamic -- where the older siblings suddenly kinda just go off and live their own lives and you never see them. I have had a similar relationship with my cousins -- we used to be really close but once they left school they just kinda disappeared. I know they still care about me but sometimes it doesn't feel like that because I never see them. 

Also: LEGS THE DOG. I love her so much. I related very deeply to Ari because he loved his dog so so much. I think there was a part in the book where someone asked Ari if he'd ever been in love, and he said "does my dog count?". THAT DESCRIBES MY WHOLE LIFE AAAAH. I know that this may be a little concerning but I love my dog more than nearly anyone else in the world. I think that dog love is the most deep and pure type of love to exist. I really really appreciated that theme in AaDDtSotU because, now that I think about it, that type of love isn't explored too much in the media despite its significance. 

ARI. AND. DANTE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAH. I loved how a random interaction at the pool became such a beautiful relationship. The idea that the two were discovering the secrets of the universe together was just so sweet aaaaah. I don't think I can put the thoughts into words actually. Their relationship. Was. Amazing. That's all my brain can come up with. I am not gonna give spoilers but the ending scene of the book blew my mind. Imagine reading AaDDtSotU in 2012 and then having to wait until 2021 for a sequel. Geez. It's not like it was a cliffhanger -- it was very cathartic -- but still. Aaaaaaaaaaah.

I enjoyed how, even though the book was queer, it didn't consume the entire plot. I think that the gayness was woven into the book really well -- it was a bit more realistic than some other books. I guess AaDDtSotU depicted the self-discovery process really well. A lot of queer books start off with a character who already knows they're queer -- and that's fine but I think that reading about the self-discovery process is a bit more rewarding. Obviously this book was about self-discovery, but there were heaps of components to this, rather than being focused on just sexuality. It made the whole thing seemed a lot more natural in my opinion. I'm interested to see where the sequel goes though, because from the 120 pages I've read so far it definitely seems a lot more sexuality-based. Which makes sense.

Another part of the self-discovery was cultural. I found it really interesting how Dante wasn't confident in the fact he's Mexican since he didn't really interact with the culture. I sort of experience a similar thing -ish so I was surprised when I saw that depicted, because I didn't realise it was something other people actually experienced.

Anyway. I really really liked this book, as you can probably tell. I think it's an important book to read.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, 13+* ★★★★.5


*This age recommendation is only my opinion. Some younger people might feel comfortable reading this book, and some older people might not. That's fine, either way. Warning for sexual references, discussions of murder and prison, swearing, car accidents and resulting injury, drug and underage alcohol use, depictions of homophobic violence, homophobic characters, and physical fighting.