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Reviews tagging 'Outing'
Aristóteles e Dante Descobrem os Segredos do Universo by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
57 reviews
theverycraftyvegan'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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Violence, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Transphobia, and Outing
Minor: Murder and Pregnancy
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. 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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Cursing and Outing
marla_a's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Car accident, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Grief, Alcohol, and War
jasmineslibraryy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? It's complicated
5.0
ari was so incredibly relatable. i love best friends to lovers. i love slowburn. this book was perfect for me. alexa play midnight rain by taylor swift <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and War
Minor: Outing and Deportation
emabelle's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Homophobia, Car accident, and Outing
Moderate: Murder and Pregnancy
a_sleepy_berry's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
slow-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
3.5
The plot was nice but the pacing was too slow and the writing style was confusing at times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Outing
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Death
akadie's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Violence
Moderate: Transphobia, Car accident, and War
Minor: Drug use, Murder, Outing, and Alcohol
bookmark3brodi's review against another edition
emotional
sad
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Homophobia, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Outing
anxieteaandbiscuits12's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
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
I did enjoy the book overall but I did find it a little difficult to get into for the first 100 pages, but that could be because this had been sitting on my shelf for about a year before I made myself read it, I felt that the beginning was quite slow and a little repetitive as we were introduced to Dante and Ari’s friendship, thought the characters were established quite well. I did struggle with the time transition between sections and sometimes having to double check who was speaking during long periods of dialog. However, after a ‘incident in the rain’ I found that both grew a little more and matured and I found it easier to invest myself in the book and by the end I was wishing I had brought the sequel so I could read more about Ari and Dante’s new relationship as it was such a beautifully written transition and I loved how the change between relationships was written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Outing
Minor: Animal death and Bullying
elizlizabeth's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Sometimes I'll read some YA book and think "you know, maybe this book wasn't meant for me at this age, maybe I could've enjoyed it when I was younger". This is not one of them :/
I feel like the author has some shit to unpack because afaik he 's part of both the communities portrayed in the book (mexican-american and gay), but the whole thing is plagued with cliches and stereotypes of what it means to be either and both. I don't usually get upset when I see my culture written slightly off because at least it might come from a place of either ignorant admiration, or outright malice. For this book though, I feel like Alire-Saenz is coming from a place that's trying to be admiring and respectful but because of whatever issues ends up projecting hatred and malice.
See, it's hard to tell if he's celebrating being of mexican descent because he's constantly using the "rapist, violent, gang-member, drug addict, macho" stereotype to both make a joke or advance the plot; most of those are completely unnecessary and (at least for me) not funny at all. And don't even get me started on the sexist jokes.
I also can't tell if the author's celebrating being gay and in love because bad things keep happening to people in the plot just because they're gay. Which is I understand, a reality for many of us, but the way it's handled here is clumsy if not malintentioned. Gayness it's used not as self-discovery but as a curse and a source of drama to keep the stakes high with no resolution. Not to mention that if I wanted to really rock the boat, I could make a case of how this whole book was queer-baiting and not LGBTQA+ rep because
Aristotle doesn't even get together with Dante until the last few pages (like the last 10 pages y'all), even though this is marketed as a gay coming-of-age or whatever. Well come out and come of age then, why don't you?!?
Very dissapointed by the conclusion of the book too, as the premise was that Ari was searching for the "secret" that would reveal what's "wrong" with him, and somehow he finds out that what was wrong with him was that he was gay. Sure, that's a healthy message.
Even if I were to ignore all of the above, the writing is objectively bad, dwelling on platitudes to land some quotable moments. I honestly felt that the characters were cut short from being fully distinct and even contradict themselves because the author wanted to keep them a blank canvas to make the reader project onto them. Recommend it to your toxic gay friends to make them worse, y'all.
I feel like the author has some shit to unpack because afaik he 's part of both the communities portrayed in the book (mexican-american and gay), but the whole thing is plagued with cliches and stereotypes of what it means to be either and both. I don't usually get upset when I see my culture written slightly off because at least it might come from a place of either ignorant admiration, or outright malice. For this book though, I feel like Alire-Saenz is coming from a place that's trying to be admiring and respectful but because of whatever issues ends up projecting hatred and malice.
See, it's hard to tell if he's celebrating being of mexican descent because he's constantly using the "rapist, violent, gang-member, drug addict, macho" stereotype to both make a joke or advance the plot; most of those are completely unnecessary and (at least for me) not funny at all. And don't even get me started on the sexist jokes.
I also can't tell if the author's celebrating being gay and in love because bad things keep happening to people in the plot just because they're gay. Which is I understand, a reality for many of us, but the way it's handled here is clumsy if not malintentioned. Gayness it's used not as self-discovery but as a curse and a source of drama to keep the stakes high with no resolution. Not to mention that if I wanted to really rock the boat, I could make a case of how this whole book was queer-baiting and not LGBTQA+ rep because
Very dissapointed by the conclusion of the book too, as the premise was that Ari was searching for the "secret" that would reveal what's "wrong" with him, and somehow he finds out that what was wrong with him was that he was gay. Sure, that's a healthy message.
Even if I were to ignore all of the above, the writing is objectively bad, dwelling on platitudes to land some quotable moments. I honestly felt that the characters were cut short from being fully distinct and even contradict themselves because the author wanted to keep them a blank canvas to make the reader project onto them. Recommend it to your toxic gay friends to make them worse, y'all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, and Outing
One mexican-american character gets described as a "hungry coyote". Use of other negative stereotypes to mexicans are recurrent throughout (ie. they join gangs, they are obsessed with their cars, they know how to hotwire cars because they're mexican, etc)One of the characters gets outed while unconscious and without his knowledge. This is not discussed later, but it's implied that the outed character is not upset for it.