![]() But when Ari is faced with a shocking loss, he’ll have to fight like never before to create a life that is truthfully, joyfully his own.Īs long time followers of this blog might now, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2012) is one of my all-time favourite books. The boys are determined to forge a path for themselves in a world that doesn’t understand them. And, always, there is Dante – dreamy, witty Dante – who can get on Ari’s nerves and fill him with desire all at once. Suddenly he finds himself reaching out to new friends, standing up to bullies and making his voice heard. But something in him cracked open when he fell in love with Dante, and he can’t go back. He expected his senior year to be the same. Now they must discover what it means to stay in love and build a relationship in a world that seems to challenge their very existence.Īri has spent all of high school hiding who he really is, staying silent and invisible. ![]() I hope you like it, and if you do, pass it on.In Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, two boys fell in love. Upon reading it, she marked it as a favourite in Goodreads and did a Google search for other books by this author. I read it, absolutely loved it, and recommended it to my sister. Turns out I’d bought the last copy he had in stock, and I discovered on Twitter the next day that there was someone after me who also wanted to buy it. Without hesitation, he handed me this book. I asked the bookseller for the best novel he’d read recently. I discovered Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universeat Glad Day Bookshop. Each time, not talking about something is the easy choice, and each time, it also turns out to be the more problematic one. Similarly, when Dante gives Ari his sketchbook, which he has never shown anyone else, and Ari refuses to look at it, it’s because of what Ari fears - and knows - he’ll find inside. The refusal of Ari’s parents to talk about his brother causes Ari to have nightmares, all these memories struggling to surface and yet being held back. Then an accident alters Ari and Dante’s friendship, and forces both to face things they may have been much more comfortable keeping hidden.Īnd yet there are consequences to keeping silent, and the characters understand that all too well. The contrast between the boys’ families is sharp, and Ari understandably finds it difficult to trust that Dante’s family’s warmth toward him is genuine. In both family and friendship, while the connections that form may be easy, the relationships are never quite that simple. ![]() So when Ari meets Dante, a friendly, open book of a boy who is casually affectionate with his parents, it almost makes no sense for them to get along, and yet they click immediately. His older brother is in jail, for a crime Ari has never been told his parents never want to speak of the brother, and his father, a stoic, distant man, is struggling with PTSD from the Vietnam War. He has no friends, literally, and always feels out of place when talking to boys his age. One late afternoon, Dante came over to my house and introduced himself to my parents. Like Aristotle and Dante, we sense the depth of secrets the universe has to offer, and as they eventually realize, we find the answers much closer than we might expect. The prose invites the reader to reach deeper, to attempt to grasp what lies between the lines, and yet the story works because there is so much more than what is within our grasp. ![]() Saenz’s gift is subtlety - beneath a story ostensibly about a friendship between two Mexican American boys is so, so much more. It’s about silence, and the consequences of that silence, and it’s told in lovely, heartfelt prose. It’s a story about friendship and family and all the things people don’t say. This is by far one of the best books I’ve read all year. ![]()
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