Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Summary: Ari and Dante, two young hispanic boys, who become friends one summer despite being complete opposites. The story follows their friendship with themes of self-identity, coming-of-age, friendship, discovery, and adventure.

Thoughts: Yes! Finally a book that gave me the feels again.

I became attached to the characters and the friendship between Ari and Dante was fantastic, I loved the chemistry and contrast between them. I can't say if I liked Ari or Dante more because they each had special qualities and were so different. Ari is faced with the difficulties of being a teenager and the frustration of not knowing who he is and instead keeps his emotions bottled up. Dante wears his heart on his sleeve and freely says what he is thinking.

The writing is beautiful. For me, this book was less about the plot and more about the writing. The way situations presented themselves, the relationship between characters and the development was where this book really shined.

The author does an excellent job getting in Ari’s head and saying exactly what I would be thinking in situations. I teared up in several scenes, for good and bad moments. Even after finishing the book, I was constantly thinking about it. I ended up rereading some passages and favorite scenes.

Conclusion: I related to this book way to hard. Now one of my favorite books of all time! Highly recommend to those who enjoy coming-of-age books.

5/5 stars 

Note: I reviewed this on my other blog so some parts maybe repititve.