Reviews tagging 'Outing'

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

45 reviews

genevieve_eggleston's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia

Minor: Blood, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug use, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Medical content, Outing, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Racism

minervacerridwen's review

emotional funny reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This was a fast read and I enjoyed most of it. It was interesting to follow the experiences of two queer Mexican-American teenagers in the eighties. However, the ending seriously dropped the rating for me.

Spoiler

The whole book had built up to the discovery of who Ari's brother was and how he had ended up in prison. The big reveal was that the brother had killed a prostitute he'd picked up as a 15-year-old because she turned out to be a transvestite. In the same breath, Ari and his parents decide to put up framed pictures of this bigoted brother Because He Is Family After All, and not another thought is spent on that (while thus far, the whole book had been all about Ari's thought processes, so it definitely wouldn't have been out of character or slowing the story down).
I also didn't like the intervention of the parents telling Ari that he Had To Be In Love with Dante for a number of Logical Reasons that would perfectly have been explained by friendship. I'm sorry the author didn't have close friends he would have jumped in front of a car for. If Ari had been ace, that type of amatonormativity would have been confusing as hell (and so it may be for young aromantic or asexual readers who pick this up). I wish Ari would have gotten a chance in the story to figure out his identity in his own time. It really is a beautiful example of boys loving boys, but in terms of specifically romantic love, it had definitely felt one-sided up to that point. Surely you don't want the message of a coming-of-age book to be that your parents are right about everything and need to point everything out to you, including your own very personal feelings that you might not even be ready yet to study closely?

Spoiler

And on top of that, Ari had to out Dante to his parents. I definitely do see the value of them talking to each other about those subjects, but the way it was handled just didn't feel right for the type of book I generally had a feeling this wanted to be.

Spoiler

Considering how this was once lauded as a great book with a queer romance, I was surprised that it ended right after Ari acknowledged his feelings for Dante. It made me wonder even more if this really was the right decision for him. Which could have been intentional, but that doesn't quite match the way this book is marketed, which leaves me feeling weird about it all. It felt a little as if the author didn't quite know where to end the story and then just decided to cut it off after a quick tie-up.

I learned there is a sequel, so I could only hope some of these issues are resolved in that, but I don't think I have enough faith in it to pick it up.

Coming-of-age stories set in the real world are not my preferred genre, but if a little more thought had been put into the ending, I'd really have appreciated this one.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Alcohol, Death, Hate crime, Outing, Transphobia, Drug use, and Murder

daringreader13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Biphobia, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Outing, Racism, Medical content, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Cursing, and Grief

redheadorganist's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Lesbophobia, Outing, Pregnancy, Transphobia, War, Animal death, Death, Homophobia, and Sexual content

justinareads's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Homophobia, Hate crime, Violence, and Outing

Minor: Transphobia and Murder

psitstorrie's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Transphobia, Hate crime, Outing, Car accident, and Homophobia

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Death, and Drug use

navayiota's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

For me, this was one of those books that I procrastinated reading cause I knew I would love it. And I did. I finished the audiobook in one day. I related to both of the protagonists quite a lot, but especially Dante... At times it hurt, cause we are just so similar. At times I found myself pausing to collect my thoughts, after the story clicked a little too perfectly with something that has happened to me, and it always felt profound. It was nice to read about healthy families for once. 

Spoiler

And I was so happy when they ended up together. I was worried that they wouldnt

 
This is a book I will continue to think about, and I will be reading the sequel asap.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Transphobia, Car accident, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Medical content, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual content

thesecretsapphic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Medical content, Xenophobia, Violence, Alcohol, Car accident, Cursing, Drug use, Grief, War, Transphobia, Physical abuse, Murder, Outing, Mental illness, Homophobia, and Hate crime

lmy612's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

You know what? If a book makes me laugh AND cry I think it deserves 5 stars. 

I am neither a teenager nor a boy, but this was a beautiful and engrossing story about family, friendship, hardships, self acceptance, trust, and love. 

I highly recommend listening to Lin-Manuel Miranda narration of the audio book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Racism, Homophobia, Alcohol, and Bullying

Moderate: Transphobia, Cursing, Drug use, and Outing

Minor: Pregnancy and Murder

bookhoarder93's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I found this book to be a really beautiful read. It is a great story about love of all types; friends, family, romantic. Also a great coming of age story.

Spoiler

I also really liked that it didn’t follow some of the tropes and stereotypes some stories with gay characters do.

The writer was able to tackle complex topics and ideas and articulate them with simplicity. My biggest criticisms are the end (last 30th he pages) felt very rushed and, because of that rush, the big moment for Ari at the end didn’t feel as authentic and emotional as I think it could/should have been. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Cursing and Outing