Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
☆☆☆☆☆
"Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be."
Plot/General Notes
The plot line of this novel get me guessing throughout, and gave me "OH!" moments of surprise more than a few times. I really enjoyed the writing style, and the way the author let us get to know so much about the characters, including their family and close friends. This was a hard-to-put-down read, and I would recommend it to all readers; young and old. I don't want to house any spoilers here on this blog, but I will say this is much more than a coming of age tale.
Character Notes
Dante: the eternal optimist, the dreamer ["escapism"], emotionally driven, loyal to a fault. Dante's character spoke to that little light in each of our souls that wants everything to end just the way we imagine in our dreams.
Aristotle: angry, disconnected, anxious about mostly everything. In the beginning Ari reminded me of a cornered dog acting very tough and untouchable but seems to be this way out of fear and anxiety.
Favourite Quotes
"I bet you could sometimes find all the mysteries of the universe in someone's hand."
"Words were different when they lived inside of you."
Other Books to Read by This Author
The House of Forgetting
[Looking through the author's list of previous works, I wasn't struck by any of them really which surprised me because I loved this book so much. The synopsis of The House of Forgetting sounds pretty interesting however, and I'm sure I'll check it out sometime.]
Our next read will be Yours Truly by Annabel Pitcher. See you soon!
Here marks the beginning of something beautiful!
A dear friend of mine, and one of her closest, have decided to involve ourselves in a book club. The long and short of it will be one book a month, pacing yourself as you see fit. Each member takes turns choosing the read monthly, as long as no other member is absolutely in objection to a suggested title. We have agreed (and thus far been unsuccessful) to meet after each novel to have discussion and choose the next read.
So with that, the following will be a short review or "journal entry" on the book, as guided by Well-Read Women: A Reader's Journal. This is a fantastic tool if you are like me and tend to fly through books, without holding onto those small moments or characters that you cherished so much during the read. For the first novel, we all collectively decided upon Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. The review will be up today!
Thanks for reading!
