Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

For a lot of readers, [b:Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe 12000020 Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle and Dante, #1) Benjamin Alire Sáenz https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328320260l/12000020.SY75.jpg 16964419] was one of those amazing, life-changing books that rock your world. Personally, I liked it but didn't quite understand what the fuss was about. So the stakes were much lower for me with this sequel, and I didn't have expectations of a transformational reading experience.Which was good. Because I thought the book was.....fine. Saenz does a good job of portraying the experience of being a teenaged boy coming out as gay at the height of the AIDS epidemic. There were no “it gets better” videos, just the knowledge that gay men were dying and a lot of people thought it was a just punishment for their “perverted” behavior. Ari realizes he is fortunate to have parents who are 100% supportive and loving, and Dante is similarly blessed, but they quickly become aware of the unfairness of not being able to hold hands in public, and they worry about what awaits them outside their family bubbles. But other than that, I was underwhelmed and somewhat annoyed. The book was too long and filled with Ari's Deep Thoughts that were both unlikely for a 17 year old boy and highly cliched. Ari and Dante make love for the first time, and Ari begins to surround himself with friends after years of being a loner, but it doesn't feel substantial enough to build a 500 page book around. There is a tragedy late in the book that lands like a gut punch, and the question of what “Ari and Dante” will mean once the boys leave for colleges in separate states looms large, but you have to wade through a lot of long speeches and rambling diary entries to get there. I did not come away from the first book in the series believing that the boys were the OTP or #relationshipgoals, but those readers who embraced them fully will likely be more charitable in their ratings.