A lyrical novel about family and friendship from critically acclaimed author Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be. This book has a 4.29 star rating on Goodreads and a number that high is really rare to see, but this book definitely deserves it. Now, some may be put off by the cover and think it's a junior reading level book, but it's definitely YA which means everyone can and should read it. It falls into the LGBT genre and if you're interested in reading something from this genre, this is a great book to start with. The story is about the relationship between two friends rather than heavy controversial issues though it does bring the problem to our attention, but doesn't make it the core of the story. It is, in the simplest terms, a story about two friends growing up and discovering themselves (and the universe, of course). The story is told from Ari's point of view though it could be argued that both boys are equally the main character. The boys themselves are complete opposites of one another, yet the same in their boyish fun. They spend their days during the summer at the pool and live in a Mexican prevalent society in El Paso, Texas where the two of them don't exactly fit in, Dante for not being "Mexican enough" and Ari for just not caring about anything or anyone. This, if nothing else, brings them together. It's a very character-driven book rather than plot-driven which is possibly the reason why it's so appealing. Read on for more discussion of the characters and spoilers -Alise Side note: The story takes place in the eighties, I believe, but it's not very relevant to the story since it doesn't affect it negatively or positively. Dante is an only child with two very doting younger parents who are very close to him whereas Ari has two older sisters who are much older than him, a brother that has been in jail since he was four, a mother he is close to, and a father that's been distant since coming back from the Vietnam War. This accentuates their differences since Ari craves Dante's relationship with his parent's whereas Dante doesn't really understand the hardships in Ari's family and is more naive in this way and has a touch of Only-Child Syndrome. Thus, when he doesn't get what he wants and doesn't understand why, he becomes very needy which consequently pushes the more stoic and apathetic Ari away. But, thankfully, the two always come back together. Both boys have mainly remained friendless for most of their life until they found each other so when Dante moves away at the end of the first summer, Ari is left friendless again at the beginning of his junior year in high school and this is the point where I believe the two boys begin discovering themselves and their first summer together was the pushing off point for them. Dante definitely fares better in his new town, going to parties and experimenting with drugs and alcohol while Ari works and fends off two very nosy girls. With the paradigm shift the summer with Dante had left Ari, he began to dig into his family, creating a relationship with his father and discovering what really happened to his brother. If you're prone to falling in love with fictional characters, you will fall in love with these two boys no matter what their or your sexuality is. The author won multiple awards for this book for a reason. He makes the characters so real and readers feel every little pain and anger the boys feel and even somehow Ari's apathy that covers up all the issues he has inside. I, and everyone else that I know that have read the book, are in love with Ari and Dante and subsequently the whole book. Though it's suspected at the beginning of the novel, the boys' sexuality is never confirmed until the middle and end of the book. Their relationship is at first just like any other bored young teenage boys, mischievous and playful. But when Ari and Dante end up at the hospital, and their relationship becomes a little more complicated, the reader knows there is without a doubt something more to their relationship. Dante, the sweeter of the two, comes out first and states his love for Ari though he knows (believes) that it's not reciprocated. Ari firmly states that he is not a homosexual though he supports Dante in every way so that killed every hope (of mine) that Ari was gay and that they would be together. And from then on, until the big beautiful reveal at the end, I believed Ari was as straight as a stick and that there was no changing him. What I love is that the author was able to keep Ari in denial of his sexuality throughout the novel without us knowing until the end and we can look back and see that everything makes sense and both boys had a happily ever after with each other. This book shows that even though you may not believe it yourself first, it's okay to be different, it's okay to be queer because it's part of what makes you you as Aristotle figured out. Above all though, the boys kept their friendship despite the romantic complications so this story is not a romantic love story, it's a story about a love two boys share as friends and how it changes and develops as they do.
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