Review: Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle and Dante #1)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle and Dante #1)
By Benjamin Alire Saenz

Published By: Simon and Schuster Publishing
Publication Date: February 21, 2012
Date Read: December 7, 2022
Genre: YA – Contemporary
Source: Bought
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 359

From Goodreads:
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.

Aristotle and Dante Discovers Secrets of the Universe is a book that I have seen around for a number of years. Honestly, I didn’t know anything about this book prior to going into it. I got this one on audiobook, and I only got it because it was in one of Audibles sales and Lin Manuel Miranda narrated it. I love him, so I was like… yeah, why not.

I was completely expecting some sort of adventure kind of book based on the title and the cover, but that is definitely not what this book is. It’s a coming-of-age contemporary story about two unlikely friends as they commandeer their way through their early teenage years. It’s much more raw and sad to what I was expecting. This book tackles some real sad issues, but in a really good way. There was one particular moment where I gasped and sat there with tears in my eyes. Parts of this book are traumatic y’all!

A part of me does feel like I was a little bit old to fully appreciate this story. Reading it as a 31-year-old woman… it probably didn’t have the same impact that it would have on a pre-teen or a teenager… but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate it’s importance and the impact that it could have. I think this is a beautiful tale of friendship, belonging and finding out just who you are. If there’s any teenage boys reading this then you definitely need to check this one out.

I’m not 100% sure if I will be picking up book 2 of this series, but I am glad that I finally gave this one a go. It was brilliant and while it was traumatic and sad in places, it did leave me feeling happy and having a little bit more faith in the human race.

Follow K-Books on WordPress.com