Title: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Pages: 359
My Rating: 5/5
This novel tells the story of Ari - an angry boy who has never really had any friends. Until he meets Dante, who tries his best to teach him how to be a friend and how to get rid of his anger.
This is probably the most beautiful novel I ever read about a basically normal boy, dealing with everyday problems. Ari as well as Dante are such real characters: they are amazing but also have quite significant flaws. This makes it easy to empathise with both of the characters, even though Ari may seem like an unlikable person at first.
Benjamin Alire Sáenz is a poet, and that is evident when looking at the writing in this novel: it's gorgeous. Every sentence is well thought through, there are so many interesting quotes in there, and there is a lot of imagery: it's not just a simple Young Adult novel - there are events one has to think about, but also sentences, words even.
Mostly, the story made me feel so calm when reading it, but at one point I did get truly angry. When reading other peoples' reviews, however, I felt like they did not feel the same way. I would like to know, if you've read the book, did you feel angry at some point? I do not want to spoil anything but I think that if you felt the same way I did, you would know what I am talking about.
I find it difficult to properly review books I really like: I think it's important to consider both positive and negative points in a good review. However, I can really not think of any negative aspects to this novel - so I am sorry I cannot provide you with an adequate review.
Anyway, if you have not yet gathered this from what I wrote: I just loved this book and I think everyone should read it. It's not a difficult read (I read most of it within a day), yet it has so much depth to it. It's just beautiful.
No comments:
Post a Comment