Summary
of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
This
is a story about two boys, Dante and Aristotle (Ari), one of the boys, Aristotle
is angry while the other, Dante is open and laughs easily. Dante is angry because his older brother is
in prison and his family never talks about his brother. In addition to that, his father, a Vietnam
Vet, did not talk to him, but kept his thoughts bottled in. On-the-other hand, Dante is an open, easy to
laugh and love—the person who tends to, in most situations, see the best. During a boring hot summer, they became best
friends when Dante offered to teach Aristotle to swim. From the beginning of the friendship, Dante
understood and embraced his sensuality, while Aristotle on-the-other-hand, only
became aware of his sexuality—that he too is gay, and that he really love Dante
in more ways than he thought, at the end
of the story.
This
story is told from Ari’s perspective. It
is a beautifully told story about two people who found each other by chance and
realize that they do have a lot in common.
One character, Ari, sees the world as a dark lonely place. The other character, Dante is enthusiastic about
life, love, friendship, philosophy, and the arts. He would introduce all these things to his
friend Ari, who too realize that he appreciates such things, when he let go his
anger. This story explores the idea of
being a teen, the complexity of same sex relationship, especially from the
perspective of being Mexican-American. I
want to close this review by sharing a quote that really stuck out with me
during this week’s reading:
“Scars. A sign that you had been hurt. A sign that you
had healed. Had I been hurt? Had I healed? Maybe we just lived between hurting
and healing. Like my father. I think that's where he lived. In that in-between
space ... my mother too, maybe. She'd locked my brother somewhere deep inside
of her. And now she was trying to let him out. I kept running my finger up and
down my scars”. – Ari (6,14)
Ari reflects on the physical scars left behind by his accident, and the emotional
scars left behind (on him and on others) by situations and circumstances in his
life. I can attest to the scars that Ari reflects on, not necessarily the
physical scars by accidents, but by the ones that I have due to situations and
circumstances that I have experienced. The scars have taught me a lot about my
life and it is now evidence that I have survived difficult times. I am certain
that these are the same lessons that Ari has learned. 
Book Trailer
5 Reasons to Love Aristotle & Dante
http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Benjamin-Alire-Saenz/44544494
No comments:
Post a Comment