Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

This was...odd, I guess I could say. To be honest, this book feels like The Aristotle and Dante story, the first book, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, being simply the prequel.

Where I did not enjoy the first book, in terms of plot, I loved this one. The first book felt like a lot of Aristotle just moping around and being grumpy and miserable, which made me feel grumpy and miserable reading it. However, in this book, Aristotle manages to come to terms with his brother's prison sentence, and his new found sexuality with the support of his parents, Dante, and his parents.

I do love how much Dante and Aristotle love their parents and how much they come to appreciate them, which makes the death of Aristotle's father that much more tragic. Although, I do find it a bit strange that the blurb of the book advertises this dramatic and unexpected death as the main plot of the book, when it actually happens about 3/4 the way through the book? I found this a bit odd.

But I love how this book is about Aristotle and Dante just being in love. It's heartwarming to see them together after the difficulty of the first book, despite the theme of the threat of AIDS.

However, there were a few things that keep this from being 4 or even 5 stars. First of all, is the fact that this book does feel like The Story. It makes the first book feel even worse, as I know that the story can be so much better and more enjoyable, but it isn't and that bothers me.
Second, is the odd debate Aristotle has with Cassandra about sexism and how it's presented. Cassandra seems to be presented as the annoying stereotype of the extreme feminist. I get that it's the 80's and views on women were more sexist, but I don't like how Cassandra's ideas about the patriarchy and the way society takes advantage of women are presented as being over the top and extreme. Cassandra's perspective as a woman who experiences sexism and is frustrated by it should not be seen as annoying or anything negative. The points that Cassandra brings up are all valid! And what really, really annoys me, is that it's turned into a debate, with a winner. And Aristotle wins...because he's gay? Does Benjamin Alire Sáenz not know that being gay and being sexist are not mutually exclusive? It's really annoying to see Aristotle shut down Cassandra's arguments by playing the gay card, which isn't even relevant to what she's saying, but is still presented like homophobia is equal to sexism. Both are just as bad as each other, but, again, are not mutually exclusive and not the same, therefore one cannot be used as an argument against the other.

Finally, there's the issue around Bernardo and the woman he killed. I am happy to say that this book handled her transness quite well. Apart from a few lines such as Aristotle calling her ‘he' when saying ‘he' fooled you when talking to Bernardo, although I understand that this instance, the misgendering is used ironically, and not meant harmfully (even though it always is). The second instant that makes me a bit uncomfortable is where Aristotle asks his mother if she knew the trans woman's name and her mother replies with ‘yes' but then says her birthname. Sure, some people do love and keep their birthname as their own, but the majority do not, and as the woman was dead, they couldn't ask her so it would be logical to assume she would've changed her name, especially from a clearly male name like Solitario. Also, if you know a person's birthname, then say ‘I know her birthname' which shows that you know that her birthname likely did not match with her actual name. Sorry to have such a big rant about, like, two lines, but as a trans person, those particular lines made me feel uncomfortable.
I do like how, as he did not know her name, Aristotle gave the trans woman a name, Camila, in a lovely letter that he gave to her grave. That made me smile.

I did like this book, despite its problems and I would recommend that if you enjoyed the first book, then you should read this one! And, even if you didn't enjoy the first one, I would still recommend it, as the tone of the book is a lot different and more positive than the first.