Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

You know art that is so beautiful it almost physically hurts? Like what I might imagine it would be like to be able to gaze on an original Van Gogh painting or to witness an astounding moment in history? That type of pain that stems from beauty? Yeah, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe made me feel that type of pain in droves. This book. THIS book. I cannot express how much love I have come to have for 350 pages. I knew around page 40 that this was going to be a 5 star read unless something made the whole story drastically turn south, but instead, each page only reaffirmed that this was a very good, very rare book. Those medal stickers on the dust jacket are there for a reason, one I think this book FULLY earned. The writing in this book is astoundingly beautiful. My favorite writers are the ones who can say something so profound in a simple way that lets it ring true for a reader in a way that lets the words stand on their own, without too much flourish. The writing is enchanting, and walks a fine line sometimes. I think in less skilled hands some of the things that Saenz writes could have come off as foolish or trying to hard, but since the narration is from Aristotle’s point of view, it works perfectly. Aristotle and Dante are the kind of characters who make your heart ache a little. Ari(Aristotle’s nickname throughout the book), has a lot of pent-up anger stemming from his questions about his brother. I got the feeling that Ari never felt quite sure of himself, always on thin ground and wanting to figure out the rest of his life before he had really lived to be wise enough for that. Dante, on the other hand, comes across as so self-assured as first, and as the book continues the layers to each character just deepen and they discover more about themselves and each other. Along with Aristotle and Dante come their families. And I have to say, I don’t know if I’ve ever read a portrayal of families I like more than in this book. There are no absence parents, but no perfect parents either. What IS present is really believable family dynamics. This is Aristotle’s story, and Dante’s story, but it’s also their families story too. Aristotle doesn’t understand his Dad, and while this was a sub-plot, I really enjoyed getting to know Ari more THROUGH his relationship with his father. Perhaps the reason this book works so well, the writing, the characters, the plot, is because it engages readers so easily. It’s the type of book you want to savor a bit, to really interact with it while you’re reading. As I was going along, my Dad(who was in the room while I was reading), even remarked that my emotions were on my face. I laughed, I (almost) cried, and sometimes I even shook my head. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is one of those books that become like an old friend–comfortable, but beautiful. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book(minor spoilers): “Words were different when they lived inside of you.” “I wanted to tell them that I’d never had a friend, not ever, not a real one. Until Dante. I wanted to tell them that I never knew that people like Dante existed in the world, people who looked at the stars, and knew the mysteries of water, and knew enough to know that birds belonged to the heavens and weren’t meant to be shot down from their graceful flights by mean and stupid boys. I wanted to tell them that he had changed my life and that I would never be the same, not ever. And that somehow it felt like it was Dante who had saved my life and not the other way around. I wanted to tell them that he was the first human being aside from my mother who had ever made me want to talk about the things that scared me. I wanted to tell them so many things and yet I didn’t have the words. So I just stupidly repeated myself. “Dante’s my friend.” “Even though summers were mostly made of sun and heat, summers for me were about the storms that came and went. And left me feeling alone. Did all boys feel alone? The summer sun was not meant for boys like me. Boys like me belonged to the rain.” Final Impression: I’m pretty sure my gushing review is proof enough, but I LOVED this book. It made me feel emotions in a way not many books do. It’s artistic and simple at the same time, with characters who have all these layers of complexity that just make me like them more. Add in excellent family dynamics and beautiful prose, and I was sold on Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.

First person perspective quickly became a non-issue once I got a few chapters into this book. This is probably the best first person story I've read. All the feels. So, so many feels. This story was so profound. I felt like I was Aristotle, or Ari to his friends. He was a lonely, lonely boy, and though I had good friends--great friends growing up, I remember feeling such an aching loneliness at times. I also remember being caught in my own private wars and living inside my head, keeping so many of my thoughts to myself. Ari was a beautiful boy who was confused not only about himself, but about the entirety of his family. His father returned from the Vietnam war a shell of his former self--not that Ari would know that because he was born after his father returned from the war. It was as if whatever haunted his father was inherited by Ari. He grew up being so bothered by the fact that he didn't know his father because he wouldn't let anyone in. He grew up as practically an only child because his siblings were so much older than him. He grew up hating that his brother, who was in prison, was treated as though he didn't exist. He hated that there were so many secrets in his family, yet he didn't want to share any of his secrets either. There was so much anger and confusion roiling around inside of Ari. And it really came through in the writing. I just wanted to hug him, and I remember being him. And then Dante came into his life. Dante was such a polar opposite of Ari, but like a light in the otherwise darkness of Ari's mind. They were a strange pair, Aristotle and Dante, but they fit so perfectly together. Dante taught Ari to swim, and became Ari's first ever real friend, let alone best friend. He immersed Ari int art, and books, and a different family life than he was familiar with. Dante made Ari feel things that he didn't want to. He made Dante want to share his mind, which was something Ari just didn't do. Watching them fall in love... It was amazing and beautifully written. This was like a slice-of-life, but with a plot. I wasn't always certain they were falling in love. The author, in my opinion, keep me wondering. I figured Dante out pretty easily, but Ari, as Dante called him, was "inscrutable". Just when I thought maybe he returned Dante's feelings I was like, oh maybe not. Even when Dante was beaten badly enough to be hospitalized, and Ari found out one of the boys who had done it, he went ballistic and returned the favor to the little punk. Maybe I'm just clueless, but I certainly would destroy anyone who hurt my bestie, and I would definitely have pushed her out of the way of a moving vehicle. That's what besties do, or at least I thought so. Which is why it made sense to me when Ari continually said he hadn't done it on purpose, it had just been a reflex. Protecting people you love-no matter the manner of love--is a reflex. You don't think about it, you just do it. I honestly believed for the longest time, that Ari loved Dante as a friend. Their experimental kiss threw me off because the author tried very hard to make the romantic feelings seem one-sided...or as I said, I'm just clueless. I'm not doing very well on this review. This book has got me shooketh. It was just a beautiful story, and I loved every page of it! It was sad and funny and exciting and heartbreaking. Dude, this book made me cry. Not full-on ugly cry, but I got misty and that's a good as tears when it comes to me. This book also triggered me a bit. But it was a me-thing. I was reminded, every time Ari thought about his father, of how much I miss mine. And like with many other books on my shelves, I can't believe it took me so long to read this.

I'm thinking long and hard about whether to give this book a 4 or a 5. It's not easy, because I am utterly in love with the book, but it isn't perfect. Let me rephrase that: it didn't give me what I needed towards the end. First of all, the likes. The prose, my god, the prose. Mr. Sáenz's words flowed through me like honey. I've always been a sucker for excellent voices on the page, and his prose has such character. It's like reading words from behind a haze of heat, like a hot day in El Paso. You could almost hear the shimmering of the voices through the heat. And the core characters were solid and a joy to accompany. The pace was pretty good, didn't really feel like it lagged at any point in the story. Many things to love about it. The dislikes were few but they were there all the same, hence the 4-star rating. As mentioned, that ending felt rushed and, dare I say it, unsatisfying. Only because I would have loved nothing more than to see the realized love between Ari and Dante unfold under the skillful writing of Mr. Sáenz. I feel deprived of it almost. Also, while the core characters were strong, the background characters were a bit uninspired. Particularly, I feel like Ari's/his family's dysfunctional relationship with the brother Bernardo wasn't that developed, so I didn't really care how it was resolved, or even if it was resolved. I'm not as mad about him killing a trans prostitute as much as the other reviewers, but my issue was I wasn't really given much incentive to care. So I didn't. For me, the whole brother dysfunction could have been omitted and nothing would change. But all-in-all, I loved this story. Mr. Sáenz writes like a dream, and makes me see how pedestrian my own writing is in comparison. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in gay YA and coming of age novels. However, if you have a sweet tooth like I do for romance, maybe temper your expectations a little. It really is a loss that we don't get to experience what happens after the confession through Mr. Sáenz sensuous, rich, writing.

I chose this book as part of a 30 Days of Pride Book Review project. This is that review: The problem with Aristotle Mendoza’s life was that it wasn't his idea. The book opens with Ari, a fifteen year old kid, starting out the summer of 1987, bristling with the very normal teenage feelings of boredom and abject misery. Then at the community pool Ari meets Dante, a kid who, to Ari’s own mind, is completely his opposite. In fact, Ari doesn't think Dante is like anyone else he has ever met: A boy who is crazy about his parents, a boy who cried over the death of a bird, a boy who believed he could discover the secrets of the universe by studying the stars. Ari takes the reader along with him through this summer of friendship, and then into a confusing winter and then right back out on the other side into the summer again. It is a novel of transition, from boyhood to adulthood from strangers to friendship, from feeling inscrutable to understanding. This is a beautiful book. There is a staccato almost poetic rhythm to the prose, each chapter is a sparse stanza that transforms into a deeper emotional truth. This novel just feels like reading poetry. I liked holding the words in my head. I don't usually feel that way about young adult novels. And I liked Ari. I liked him as a human. You know how you can like a character, for all kinds of reasons, without liking them as a human being? I liked Ari as a human being. I liked his self-deprecating narrative voice, his humor, his view of the world. I liked the person he presented as and the person he was becoming. Which I think is important,because, “becoming”, or more acutely existing in that space of transition was, to me, one of the strongest themes in this novel. Early on in the story Ari is re-reading a journal entry he wrote, which states, “ I don't like being fifteen. I didn't like being fourteen. I didn't like being thirteen. I didn't like being twelve. I didn't like being eleven. Ten was good…” Ari hates being a teenage guy, he hates the changes his body is going through, he hates other guys and he is afraid of becoming a jerk like the 18-year-old lifeguards at the pool. Because, maybe life was just a series of phases, as his mother suggested, and in a couple years he’d be just like them. He's worried that, in growing up, he will become a different person. A lot of times, in life, we accept it as a basic truism that people don't change. That there is no point trying to change someone or waiting around for someone to change because a person is who they are and people can't change. And maybe people don't change dramatically...or, you know, change who they are at their cores, but there is a very poetic truth to the idea that we all exist in a state of flux. That we are always in the process of becoming someone else, and that that process doesn't end with becoming an adult, who is no longer angry, confused, or capable of making big mistakes. Adulthood as a process that is never quite finished is a powerful theme. I really liked this novel, so the only thing I'm going to put in the negative column is the same old petty typo complaint. Typos are a fact of life, but I hate seeing them in published works… and I'll leave it at that. So...Do I recommend this novel? Yes, without hesitation, I do. You should read this beautiful book. All that's left are my scales for this project. I've dubbed my first scale the Queer Counterculture Visibility Scale….Which, I made up, and placement onto which is based on my arbitrary whims. Aristotle and Dante are both Mexican-American boys, struggling with what it means to be a part of that culture. In fact almost everyone in this book is Mexican-American and defining what that means to them. But I liked that one character pointed out to another, on the subject of whether or not “Real Mexicans” liked to kiss boys, that liking boys was not an American invention. There isn't an in depth exploration of sexuality here, because that's not what this book is really about, nobody is getting out the Kinsey scale and weighing their attractions. So I can't speak to whether it includes the possibility of bisexuality, but it doesn't exclude it, which I can appreciate. There was also a lesbian couple as peripheral characters. I'm going to put it at: 3 out of 5 stars Gay is the most visible letter in the LGBT acronym, but at least we got to enjoy some cultural diversity, and discussion of class issues as relates to that culture. The second scale, I’ve just been calling the Genre Expectation scale. Basically I judge whether or not I feel this book went above and beyond the typical expectations for its genre. This is, for all intents and purposes, a young adult, coming of age story, of which I’ve read a hundred. But there was something moving and poetic about the way this particular story was wrought. The character growth from seeming so much a child in the beginning to seeming so much an adult in the end and the slow, bending, poetic way it got from point A to point B was moving in a way few YA books tend to capture. It expected more from its audience then most YA books, I think. I'm putting it at: 5 out of 5 stars It exceeded my expectations for the genre.

“I wanted to tell them that I'd never had a friend, not ever, not a real one. Until Dante. I wanted to tell them that I never knew that people like Dante existed in the world, people who looked at the stars, and knew the mysteries of water, and knew enough to know that birds belonged to the heavens and weren't meant to be shot down from their graceful flights by mean and stupid boys. ― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe realistic fiction Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz is one of the most amazing books I have ever read. Aristotle, a 15 year old boy growing up in El Paso Texas, crosses paths with a boy named Dante, a boy who has a view on life that is very different from any way that Ari has seen it before. They immediately become friends through Dante teaching Ari to swim. They teach each other about life, and help each other discover themselves. The summer is soon filled with adventures and new experiences. Both of these boys views soon change because of each other, and there lives will never be the same. But all of these good times can’t last forever; luckily, they now have each other to help them through these hardships -- but that isn’t always enough. Ari is struggling with his brother being in jail, and him not being around in his life. His dad came back from a war, and doesn’t speak to Ari much anymore. This is very hard for a boy to take in all on there own. Having Dante there to help him makes a world of difference. They soon learn that their friendship is more than it seems. I thought that this book was all around incredibly well written, enjoyable to read, and an interesting story. Benjamin Alire Saenz wrote an incredible book that shows real important problems of a teengager (to a greater extent) that not many people will even notice are there. This coming-of-age novel shows true bravery, friendship, and a peek into the teenage mind. This book evokes many emotions and I found myself crying and laughing alongside the characters; I am sure you will as well. I truly believe that everyone of all ages and genders (not under the age of twelve) should read this book because it is a truly touching novel that will make you reconsider all that you know. I think that this book is a great book for everyone, because it can be interpreted in many different ways. It can be thought about at a very deep level, or it can be more of a fun read depending on how you look at it. This book blew me away, I was astonished by this masterpiece, and I would consider it my favorite book of all time. I think anyone could enjoy it as much as I did.

5 Brilliant Stars Talk about being late to the party! I’ve had this one on my TBR for years. I knew I had to read it eventually as its ratings are off the charts, especially amongst my many trusted Goodreads friends. Finally, 9 years after its publication date, I’ve read it. Good for me for waiting however as I only must wait 4 months now instead of almost 10 years for the sequel. This book is phenomenal! It is a slice of life. Ari Mendoza’s life. When he is 15 to almost 17 years old, Ari is angry but doesn’t understand why. He is also lonely and has no friends. He doesn’t know why, but his classmates just do not interest him. He doesn’t understand his parents. Hell, he doesn’t understand himself. At all. One day he meets another Mexican kid named Dante. They actually become friends. It takes over a year, a very rough year, but finally Ari (and Dante) discover the Secrets of the Universe. These characters won me over quickly. Not just Ari and Dante, but their parents as well. It was especially gratifying to see the growth, not just in Ari, but also in his father who is suffering PTSD secondary to two separate traumatic events. These people are so real. Their thoughts are real; their actions are real. Ari is so confused about life in general, being in that “ecotone” between childhood and adulthood. I really “got him,” having some of the same psychological issues when I was a teen. A book like this back in my days of confusion would have been a godsend. Ari is our narrator. My heart went out to Ari. To watch him slowly grow in front of my eyes was riveting. To me this book is the mother of all coming-of-age stories. The author writes simply, yet beautifully. He captures the essence of his characters perfectly. This is two books in a row now where I just couldn’t stop reading during the last 75% or so. All schedules be damned. I couldn’t leave my chair. Mercifully, the copy I had from the Libby App contains a couple of chapters from the sequel I could read right away; I didn’t want to leave Ari and Dante quite yet. I was pleased to see the sequel picks up immediately where this book ends and not years into the future. Perfecto! These characters are criers and they made me cry too. There is so much emotion in this story, yet there is not one ounce of sappiness. This is a strong treatise for all of us who feel different and want to understand why. This will assuredly be one of my very top reads of the year. I highly recommend it for everyone.

EDIT: Just changing my review for the expanded one published on the blog with the same grade and same sentiments. "ONE SUMMER NIGHT I FELL ASLEEP, HOPING THE WORLD would be different when I woke. In the morning, when I opened my eyes, the world was the same. I threw off the sheets and lay there as the heat poured in through my open window." I wanted to review this book for quite some time now, way before it won LAMBDA for children/young adults. I was just really worried that I won't be able to do it justice and I still worry about that even as I type my review. The only prerequisite for reading this book is that you have to like YA stories. It does not have sex scenes, but I would not call it kids' book, even though publisher's reading level is listed as Grade seven and up. I would say it is YA coming of age with a love story thrown in. Yes, even with Ari being so clueless for so long, I think love between these two boys is present on every page of the book. If I wanted to write a one sentence review, I would probably have said that this book sang to me. The language is lyrical, the gentle, touching exploration of two teenagers figuring out who they are and trying to figure out all the mysteries in the universe. Fifteen year old Ari narrates the story and the story is probably takes place during year and a half, because it does go till the guys are almost seventeen or seventeen. I was not exactly sure. Ari does produce sometimes funny, sometimes eye rolling examples of teenage angst, but this was the kind of angst that made me want to hug him instead of shake him. Yes, some of his worries are purely in his head, some are very real, some just require him to develop higher level of self awareness. However at times Ari does show the moments of self awareness like this one. I think I am just more forgiving of teenage angst, because I think that this is the time when you should be allowed to do that to a certain degree, if that makes sense. " As their voices ended I started feeling sorry for myself. Feeling sorry for myself was an art. I think a part of me liked doing that. Maybe it had something to do with my birth order. You know , I think that was part of it. I didn't like the fact that I was a pseudo only child. I didn't know how else to think of myself. I was an only child without actually being one. That sucked." Of course he was being adorably clueless as to how he felt about Dante for the vast majority of the book, but I thought it worked perfectly for this specific scenario. It was not even that he was an unreliable narrator, because he would describe with raw honestly how he felt and would just fail to make that one logical step and call it love rather than a deep friendship which they also shared. "He was funny and focused and fierce. I mean the guy could be fierce. And there wasn't anything mean about him. I didn't understand how you could live in a mean world and not have any of that meanness rub off to you. How could a guy live without some meanness?" The blurb talks about Ari and Dante having almost nothing in common. I am not sure whether that's entirely true. Yes, Dante is more self-aware as to whom he attracted to sexually, yes, Dante seemed more fragile at first. Yes, Ari seemed tougher in the fights. But it is funny how the more story unraveled, the more they seemed to have in common. Dante was extremely intelligent, his father called him an intellectual and that was of course true. But Ari was also very intelligent, one just have to be a bit more careful and pay attention to Ari's remarks about the books he read only because Dante read them? Or his dad liked it? Only Ari seemed to like it too. And he liked poetry, and he knew what "ecotone" was. And we could see that Ari had plenty of his own fragility hidden not so deeply in him, and Dante would not run away in a fight, no matter what it would cost him. These boys struggle with what being Mexican meant for both of them, for their parents. While their identities are not mine, I could absolutely relate to them trying to understand to what nation they belong and what that means to them. I did not feel that the book was ever preachy on this subject or any other. Everything was portrayed with such a delicate touch. The book Dante gives to Ari's parents suddenly becomes a reason for Ari to find out that his father studied art before he went to the Army. Boys' conversation Speaking about parents - it was lovely to see the families who love their kids, who would not abandon them no matter what. "I'm crazy about my mom and dad." That really made me smile. I'd never heard anyone say that about their parents. I mean, no one was crazy about their parents. Except Dante". Funny, Ari did not seem to feel anything less than love for his parents too. That did not mean that they did not have problems. Ari and his father had some communication problems which made sense to me, but I was happy that the significant improvement seemed to be achieved closer to the end of the story. "Okay, I knew when I opened my eyes, they would still be there. Dante and I were cursed with the parents who cared. Why couldn't they just leave us alone? What ever happened to parents who were too busy or too selfish or just didn't give a shit about what their sons did?" This book for me was a thing of beauty and I highly recommend it to everybody.

There are no words to describe how wonderful this book really is, but I'm going to try to describe my feelings. Ari and Dante are beautiful characters, they are both kind of lonely but in different ways I think that was one of the things that pulled them together in the beginning, how they felt lonely but when they found each they didn't feel that way anymore, their friendship grew in that summer of 1987, they had many adventures, some ended well and others not so much, Dante was excellent at making Ari open up about his life once in a while and Dante also found in Ari and amazing friend. They are both written perfectly, the pains of growing up, of trying to figure out who you are, of trying to be more that what people say you are or you should be, to accept yourself and love who you are all of this and more is captured in the actions and words of Ari and Dante and it was so easy for me to go back in time to when I was 15 or 16 and how that felt for me. Now I want to talk about the parents! The parents are incredible, seriously, I mean Ari's parents are a bit more conservative sort of speak but just in the way they show love and how they show affection, because they are both so accepting so ready to be there for their son that is wonderful. And Dante's parents are more like his friends and I love that he says that he is crazy about his parents, their relationship is so open and full of love, they are not afraid to laugh, love and show affection, that is a very difficult thing for Ari to understand but he always goes with the flow. The characters in the book feel alive to me, they are always about to have a major emotional breakdown, well, maybe that's a bit to harsh, I just mean that their feelings are right there for us to see, are right there for them to feel. I absolutely loved this book, so so much, all of the references to being Mexican and from Mexico made me smile, being Mexican myself it was interesting to see what happens when people from my country go to the US and the period of adjustment that they have, not only being in a foreign place but like Dante who is I don't know third or second generation Mexican - American, to not feel Mexican or Mexican enough for his family and sort of be jealous or wonder what is like to feel a part of something like that.

Ce livre était ma première lecture en version anglaise. Le texte est parfait pour ça, simple et composé de courtes phrases dans employer un style ou des tournures trop compliquées. Quant à l'histoire, elle se suit facilement, est pleine de rebondissements et de moments de vie qui s'entrecroisent, et je l'ai lu d'une traite. Belle histoire donc et très bon livre, que je ne peux que recommander. L'histoire est plus tournée "adolescents", mais peut se lire par des adultes sans problème.

lovely

Als Ari im Schwimmbad Dante trifft und ausgerechnet Dante ihm das Schwimmen beibringen will, verändert sich sein Leben vollkommen. Normalerweise verbringt er seine Sommer eher einsam. Er will nirgendwo so richtig reinpassen und fühlt sich oftmals allein. Er vermisst auch seinen Bruder, von dem er so gut wie nichts weiß, außer dass er im Gefängnis sitzt. Seine Eltern schweigen dazu und tragen beide einen Schmerz in sich, der sie nicht loslässt. Der Vater hat den Vietnamkrieg in sich und die Mutter verliert kein Wort über seinen Bruder, über den er so viel gerne wissen möchte. Dantes Leben scheint ein einziges Gegenteil. Wo Ari nicht die passenden Worte findet, weiß Dante immer was zu sagen ist. Er liebt Literatur und scheint immer stets beliebt und gemocht. Und trotzdem ist es die Einsamkeit, die beide zusammenführt und aus den ungleichen 15-Jährigen Freunde macht. Eine Freundschaft, die versucht die Welt zu verstehen und hinter die Geheimenisse des Universums zu blicken. Selbstsuche und das Erwachsenwerden Ari und Dante sind nicht nur durch ihre einmalige Art die Welt zu betrachten etwas besonders, sondern auch ihre authentische und liebvollen Wesenzüge bringen den Leser dazu sie in sein Herz zu schließen. Sie sind auf der Suche nach sich selbst, ihren Platz in der Gesellschaft, als Außenseiter, die nicht wissen, wohin sie gehen. Ari, der das Schweigen seiner Familie nicht ertragen kann und sich von der Welt abzusondern scheint und Dante, der sich hinter all der Poesie kaum selbst zu verstehen scheint. Zwei unterschiedliche Charaktere, die aufeinandertreffen und die Welt in einfachsten Sätzen zu erklären scheinen. Sie stolpern immer wieder über sich selbst und oftmals weiß man nicht, wohin der Weg sie führen wird. Man findet sich nicht zu selten selbst in ihren Gedanken wieder, in ihren Ansichten und Vorstellungen, die zu zerbrechen drohen. Die eigene Jugend wird auf einmal unheimlich nah und man weiß nicht, wohin man zuerst sehen soll. Trotz des unglaublichen Halts ihrer Familie, ihren wirklich großartigen und fast schon vorbildlichen Eltern, die ihre Kinder nach ihrem besten Gewissen zu helfen versuchen, sind es doch sie, die die Welt in die Hand nehmen müssen. Manchmal hat aber auch das Gefühl, Ari und Dante sind unglaublich unsympathisch. Dabei sind sie genau so wie jugendliche Charaktere sein sollten: Launisch, manchmal geradezu depressiv und dann wieder aufbrausend und irrational. Immer wieder reflexiv und grüblerisch, vor allem, wenn sie aus der Norm herausbrechen. Sie schwanken in ihren Launen hin und her, was Ari und Dante umso menschlicher erscheinen lässt. Simpel und einfühlsam zugleich Dabei wirft Benjamin Alire Sáenz nicht mit einer pathetischen und schweren Sprache um sich, sondern lässt Aristotle die Geschichte in einfachen und klaren Sätzen beschreiben. Dialoge ohne jeglichen Schnickschnack treffen auf eine einfache und simple Sprache, die aber ihre Wirkung nicht verfehlt. Denn auch wenn sie einfach erscheint ist so voller Poesie und wundervoller Gedanken. Die philosophischen Ansätze und die gleichzeitige Einfühlsamkeit gegenüber den Charakteren macht es schwer "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" aus der Hand zu legen, obwohl die Handlung nicht hetzt, sondern ruhig und gleichmäßig ist. Der Roman ist so unglaublich pur verfasst, dass man die Enegie dahinter spürt. Jeder Schmerz überträgt sich auf den Leser und jede Veränderung zwischen ihrer Freundschaft wird spürbar. Nicht zu oft muss man das Buch zur Seite lege und innehalte, um selber wieder zu Atem zu kommen. Man verliert sich selbst in diesen Gedankenwelten und wird mit jeder Seite nur tiefer in das Leben der Freunde gezogen. Ein Kampf gegen Tränen und das Schweigen. Nicht nur einmal hat man einen gefühlten Herzaussetzer, wenn plötzlich das Leben der Beiden sich verändert. Mit jeder Wendung, zerbricht einen fast das Herz. Innerlich wünscht man sich alles für sie, dass ihre Freundschaft für immer bestehen bleibt und sie immer der Anker sein können, den beide so sehr benötigen und sieht doch welche Steine ihnen in den Weg gelegt werden. Dabei könnte ihnen das Leben so viel einfacher gemacht werden, wenn sie alle die Wahrheit sagen würden, das Schweigen brechen könnten. Aber sie schaffen es alle nicht, woran Aristotle and Dante zu zerbrechen drohen. Und dann hat man das Ende auch vor sich, zückt das Taschentuch und weiß gar nicht mehr wohin mit den Bach aus Emotionen. Man sah es kamen, man hat die Anzeichen gesehen und es doch nie geglaubt. Es trifft einen mit einem Schlag. Weil man gerührt und berührt ist und gleichzeitig beeindruckt von Bejamin Alire Sáenz' großartigen Roman und diesen beiden außerordentlichen Persönlichkeiten. Fazit "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" ist eine Geschichte über Selbstfindung und Ehrlichkeit. Eine Geschichte über Einsamkeit und Freundschaft. Und vor allem ein einfühlsames Jugendbuch, das jeder einmal gelesen haben sollte. Atemberaubend und zu Tränen rührend!

A story for teens. Worked perfectly as a gift for a friend's daughter who loved it.

A lovely story of two boys who meet and become best friends. Ari & Dante are two opposites but that seems to be the secret to their friendship. It’s an easy read, maybe not my preferred genre (mostly into fantasy); but definitely did enjoy it. Loved the growth the boys went through and how their friendship evolves into something more.