Aristóteles y Dante descubren los secretos del universo

The Aristotle and Dante series is a story about love, apart from being a love story.

I loved this book so much. From the beginning I clocked it as a great work. I think it took me so long to finish it because I struggled to be in the right environment to emotionally take it all in; and also because I didn't want it to end :p.

I somehow enjoyed this one even more than the first one. It may be because I read this one in the original English while the first one was a translation. But--and this is pure speculation--I believe that the success of the first book may have freed Alire Sáenz's prose in a way, gave him licence to write as he pleased, so to speak. This book felt like an essay into the more poetical aspects of literary expression, a rejection of the cheap and rote slop of contemporary YA "literature"; a very welcome breath of fresh air.

As for its plot and themes, I found them to be very profound and touching. I saw myself in the characters in this book in ways I haven't in a work of fiction for quite some time. The circumstances of the protagonist and mine are very similar in many ways, but I think anyone with a kind soul will see themselves in the main characters. I found its setting very pertinent to today; it is nice to see how far we've progressed on Queer liberation in such a short time, but also useful to find parallels between the struggles our elders experienced and the issues we are facing today. It has been a while since I read a work marked as YA fiction that had something to say, some kind of statement to make, however uncontroversial it may be.

I think often LGBT novels are pigeonholed into being simple permutations of the same fanfic tropes (but hey one of the dudes is Puerto Rican and also Catholic but like, progressive about it. Diversity win!), and that's fine if you want to pass the time. But sometimes one wants to read something more profound and less hand-holdy. But often these stories are not made as visible by publishers and the god-forsaken social medias. I am very glad to see this series receive the recognition it deserves.

To close, this is a very good story. One that won't leave my mind for a long time. A true coming-of-age story, but like, good instead of boring. Very narratively capable, held up until the very end, digestible, and lovable. I don't give it 5 stars only because I reserve that status for true literary masterpieces, but it is genuinely one of the best books I've ever read and has great personal significance

This book is an emotional roller coaster ride. I liked that it made me laugh in the end too! I hugged this book tight and close to me for a while because I knew Aristotle and Dante live inside this book. They are there. They are safe there. A lot of Aristotle is in me too along with some part of Dante. But that isn't safe as the book. I can preserve them in the book. I can cherish and be happy about this sincere love story. But can I preserve myself? Change can be hard. Ari was able to change. And what a remarkable character development it was! I am trying too. Thank you for this book. It did help me grow and will continue to do so. A few lines and moments from the book pop up at times and help me relax and control myself in the moment.

*Update: I no longer recommend this book because the way that the trans character is discussed and misgendered appears to be part of a pattern of transphobia on the part of the author and not just an area where the characters could learn better in later books. For this reason I no longer recommend the book and I will not be reading the sequel. My original review is intact below.

ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE is a slow burn novel about friendship, loyalty, and growing up, following two teenage boys who are figuring out who they are and who they want to be. 

I truly loved reading this. Normally I have trouble getting into realistic fiction, but I was totally absorbed and spent all day curled up with this book. The MC’s struggle to figure out his feelings was given the space to breathe and develop, nothing felt rushed. The narrative covers more than two years (approximately ages 14 to 17) and he grows up a lot during that time. The secondary characters change too, in ways that make evident the changes they’re going through behind the scenes. It means that when things about how people around him did or did not communicate gradually change, they change because the topic came up and then time passed and a bunch of stuff happened and then they were in a different place emotionally and able to do something different when it came up again. That's like, a normal thing in real life, I know, but the way it's written here felt good. The ways his parents answer his questions (or don't) when he's younger versus when they see him as more mature felt like it fit them as characters as well as being information he could handle by the time he received it. There's so much great stuff with the MC's parents and his friend's parent that make it clear that they have lives beyond him, and the way the MC thinks about his parents as people changes as he gets older.

The dynamic between Ari (the MC) and Dante (his friend) was very relatable to me as someone who struggled as a teen and young adult with whether I knew anyone enough to say we were friends. They obviously are, but Ari spends a lot of the book not sure if they're really friends, then not quite able to make the leap to say "best friends", even after a pretty major incident where his actions spoke more than his words were able to. There are so many parts of their relationship where Dante is very sure and Ari lets the perfect be the enemy of the good and can't quite do or say something that feels so obvious to everyone else. 

Content note: <spoiler> A background character who is never around in the actual story is in jail for the murder of a trans person. To me this was a disturbing but sadly realistic reason for someone to be absent due to incarceration, but please be aware that that's there. If I read any sequels I'll be on the lookout for how any possible redemption arc is handled for that character, as it has the potential to be additionally transphobic. </spoiler>