Review: Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of The Universe

Y'all I really have no idea what bullshit Goodreads is pulling on me these days but I'm pretty sure I don't like it one bit. It just won't lemme add books to the shelf of currently reading and I'm pretty sure I'm far less problematic than people who post thirst reviews on a public site.

Dante can swim. Ari can't. Dante is articulate and self-assured. Ari has a hard time with words and suffers from self-doubt. Dante gets lost in poetry and art. Ari gets lost in thoughts of his older brother who is in prison. Dante is fair skinned. Ari's features are much darker. It seems that a boy like Dante, with his open and unique perspective on life, would be the last person to break down the walls that Ari has built around himself.

But against all odds, when Ari and Dante meet, they develop a special bond that will teach them the most important truths of their lives, and help define the people they want to be. But there are big hurdles in their way, and only by believing in each other―and the power of their friendship―can Ari and Dante emerge stronger on the other side.

QUICK THOUGHTS AND REVIEW: 4.5/5, I JUST LOVED IT SO MUCH, KINDA REGRET PUTTING IT OFF FOR SO LONG.

Possible Trigger Tags:

1. Mentions of violence

2. Mentions of homophobia

WHAT DID I FEEL ABOUT THE  BOOK'S: 

1. Writing Quality: The writing quality isn't impressive. Especially in the beginning. It feels cliched and boring and so mundane. Mundane normally wouldn't be a word I use to describe a writing style, but that's what it initially came off as. Mundane. But as I went deeper into the story it felt more realistic to me. Like, if I was writing a diary, I wouldn't be using fancy af language [Anne Frank's a different story], but instead I'll just use simple language, and leave out all the fancy details, but then again I'm lazy like that.

2 .Character Development:  Ari and Dante, Dante and Ari. Not gonna lie, I kind of do keep thinking of Ariana Grande when I hear the name Ari. Sorry Ari. Dante wasn't as much of an impressive character as Ari is. Ari is your regular teen even though he doesn't seem to be. He's struggling with his identity and he struggles with the fact that he is not fitting into the norm of the society. And it's putting an internal pressure on him that he can't figure out who to tell. He's this mess of thoughts and feelings and hormones and teenage angst and he's just scared to tell them all for fear of being judged. He's always putting on this persona in front of people and putting up walls and he's scared when anyone gets through so he hurts them before they hurt him. His character seems so raw and real, I love it.

3. Couldn't put it down- Ness: 10/10. It's a wonderful and beautiful story and I'll recommend it to anyone who wants a good coming-of-age story.

4. Intellectual Depth: Coming of age. That's what the story is about. And I somehow love it so much. There isn't much to expect from the book and yet there is so much that this book tells you. Two young boys, both at the age of 15, meeting each other, hanging out together, becoming the best of friends and falling in love with one another. Teen years are scary and these are the times you'll feel burdened and overwhelmed by everything that happens around you. It's scary and it often feels like you're a failure. And it's fine because that's what you know up to that point. It's what you've experienced up to that point. You're scared and you push people away and its really just so relatable.

5. Plot: To be honest, reading the title of the book, I thought that this was gonna be a fantasy book where two children go on to find out something and fall in love with one another. Well, the boys are exploring a universe, they're just exploring their own universe while falling in love with one another. Damn, I just fell in love with the book, I don't have words to say. It's just reinforcing the fact that, "you don't need the big things in life, it's just the small things that matter the most". 

OVERALL, A WONDERFUL READ, I have an urge to reread it again.