Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire SáenzMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wait, it's been five years now since this book came out? And I slept on it for that long? Well, thanks to my friend Harry, no longer, and I'll soon be reading through the rest of Benjamin Alire Sáenz's bibliography on his advice.
There's a few reasons why this book shouldn't work as well as it does - like the prose style, consisting of about 75% dialogue in not even close to full lines at a time, which leads to the book getting tons upon tons of negative space. That negative space, while a major point against Our Dark Duet when I read it earlier this year, was a little more welcome here because Aristotle and Dante is more of a thinker's book - and a feeler's book too. Because truly, as Sáenz shows us here, contemplating what it means to be a man requires getting in touch with the strength of said man's heart and soul, not just his brains and brawn. As a guy, I related way too well to Ari. As a raised-Catholic guy, I related to him all too well too. As a queer guy, well, I can only hope that coming out to my parents is as unexpectedly easy for me as it is for Ari. Maybe I didn't relate to him perfectly, but then I've written my own Author Avatar with a few Ari-like traits - namely, propensity for self-sacrifice and violence in the name of those he loves - without even realizing.
And apparently Sáenz is planning a sequel. My question is, when the hell will that come out? And there better not be any overriding of the hope left at the end of this book!
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