Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Benjamin Alire Saenz’s Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a coming-of-age novel set in 1987. You guessed it. It centers on two 15-year-old boys, Ari and Dante. They are struggling with finding their place in the world and claiming their identity with respect to love, gender, and being Mexican.
“In order to be wildly popular you had to make people believe that you were fun and interesting. I just wasn’t that much of a con artist.”
– Ari in “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe”
Ari and Dante are completely different people. Ari’s family doesn’t talk. His father is suffering from PTSD after serving in Vietnam, and Ari has a brother who is in prison. The family intentionally never talks about the brother and has removed all traces of him from the house. On the other hand, Dante’s family is very affectionate and likes to talk about everything.
The Good
The first half of this book starts out strongly, particularly the storytelling. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is very humorous, particularly in the first half. And it also has some great quotes. “The DJ was saying annoying, obvious things like, “It’s summer! It’s hot out there!”
Additionally, this book is quick to read with short paragraphs and short chapters. The conversations flow like a real conversation, and the book isn’t mired down by complex, flowery prose.
The Bad
The second half of the book is a bit slower. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a character-driven novel, and typically I don’t enjoy these types of novels as much as plot-driven books. By the second half, I was thinking, “I wonder where this is going.” Full disclosure: This is my personal preference so if you love character-driven novels, this might not be an issue for you.
Although titled Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, the book only follows Ari’s perspective. I think this book would have been better if it shifted perspectives between Ari and Dante (even if this style is really overdone in literature).
Another issue that I have with this book is that sometimes it reads like a corny, cheesy pamphlet on growing up. The comments regarding hair/body changes were a bit over the top.
Finally, the ending, in my humble opinion, is a bit too cliché.
Overall, this book is pretty entertaining, but the style (the character-driven focus and the ending) didn’t resonate with me.
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