Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Aristóteles y Dante descubren los secretos del universo by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

255 reviews

kat_in_a_tree's review against another edition

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hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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lalluvia's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I love this so much. It made me cry. There are some weird parts that I didn’t really enjoy but they were short and kinda necessary for the main character. It reminds me of the perks of being a wallflower. Both have similar vibes (like that numb sort of feeling) but are different. Ari is just a boy trying to figure out his life but he doesn’t really know how to talk, not even to himself until later. Dante is just a boy trying to figure out his life but he does know how to talk, and he talks a lot. 
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perfectcupoftea's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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timmi_prvt's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don't know what it is about this book that made it so different from other coming of age stories but over the last 4 days it has become one of my absolute favourites iterations of the "gay teenagers have to find themselves" genre. 
The fact that the protagonists really do seem to be teenagers is certainly a big contributor as they are also allowed to struggle with other things than their sexuality. This makes them feel authentically "teen" and not like characters that feel and act as if they're in their early 20s.
Sáenz style of writing might be another reason. His language is poetic and descriptive without being too complex or unfitting for the characters. 

Reading this book was a delight and even though I felt like the ending came a bit abrupt it absolutely deserves a 5/5 star rating!
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suzyvee's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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deathmetalheron's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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bluelien's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I really loved this book - it has become my favorite coming-of-age story! All the characters were complex, which made the story nuanced and more interesting (had only Dante's and Ari's characters been developed, the book would have lost much of its impact). I loved Ari's POV a lot, it was my favorite thing. He feels so intensely, and he's an overthinker too, and although, it can be hard, this mix is something beautiful. I appreciate it when a book makes me reflect on life (society, relationships...), which this book managed. And lastly, the most beautiful of all was seeing their relationship develop and bloom. Seeing the beginning of their friendship was precious, seeing them become close friends was lovely, and seeing that beautiful relationship grow into something romantic was sweet. Although I hesitated a lot on picking this book up, I'm glad I did, and I guess I have to thank my ex-friend for that. It's interesting how, even though we're not friends anymore, and even though our ending hurts, I still feel like we're connected by reading this book. 
Update 1: I initially gave it 4.5 stars, but since I kept thinking about the characters and missing them, I upped the rating to 5 stars.
Update 2: Rereading 2 months after the initial read haha. 
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aurora_454's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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garrettcz's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I like the story a lot, and a lot of it really resonated with me. I think it could have been tightened up quite a bit, though. Especially the dialogue. The characters speak oddly a lot of the time, which took me out of the story over and over. One thing that really bugged me was they constantly say each others’ names to a wild degree. Not sure how that made it through editing. 

The story itself was beautiful and emotional and powerful. I really enjoyed it. 
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thewinterwillow's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

finished it in 2 days. goddamn that was good.
i’m crying.
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