Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

 Contemporary fiction, prose  - Ages 15 to older

“I wanted to tell them that he had changed my life and that I would never be the same, not ever. And that somehow it felt like it was Dante who had saved my life and not the other way around. (...) I wanted to tell them so many things and yet I didn't have the words. So I just stupidly repeated myself. "Dante's my friend.” 

I think I really gravitated towards this book while reading it because I could relate to it so much. This story let me take a breath between every word and reflect after each adventure in every chapter. Over the course of this story, Aristotle discovers the “secrets of the universe” while struggling and thriving through school and summers in High School as a Mexican boy. 

If I am going to be honest, some parts of this book made me mad, because I just wanted Ari to yell into the wind and finally face the truth that he isn’t going to be perfect and that he can’t keep continuing to push away his only friend. Though, I felt a little in Ari’s shoes when it comes to the fact that you fight and love your friends at the same time, and not everyone is going to like you for you, who you love, or where you come from. So Dante and Ari represent the youthful hurt and healing of one of the strongest relationships I have read about. I just can’t get over how beautiful this book was, how straightforward the dialogue was, and how I felt like I was dreaming while reading it the whole time. 

If yall love fiction and contemporary novels then you should definitely try this book, because it is 100% going on my top suggested books! 

Some of my favorite quotes: 

• “I could be something and nothing at the same time. I could be necessary and also invisible. Everyone would need me and no one would be able to see me.”

• “And it seemed to me that Dante's face was a map of the world. A world without any darkness. Wow, a world without darkness. How beautiful was that?”

• “It was good to laugh. I wanted to laugh and laugh and laugh until I laughed myself into becoming someone else.”

• “One summer night I fell asleep hoping the world would be different when I woke. In the morning, when I opened my eyes, the world was the same.”

• “The problem with my life was that it was someone else's idea.”

• “I guess I was a mystery even to myself.”

• “Water was something he loved, something he respected. He understood its beauty and its dangers. He talked about swimming as if it were a way of life.”

• “..and then it started hailing. It was so beautiful and scary, I wondered about the science of storms and how sometimes it seemed that a storm wanted to break the world and how the world refused to break.”

• “And the hurt was so deep that it was way beyond tears and so their faces were dry.”

• “I was getting an A for work. But not for talent. The story of my life.”

• “I wanted to close my eyes and let the silence swallow me whole.”

• “How could I have been ashamed of loving Dante Quintana?”