Benjamin Alire Saenz’s Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is about a young teenager, Aristotle a.k.a Ari and no one in his family talks about his brother so sometimes he has difficulty in understanding strict rules of the universe. Dante, on the other side of the mountain, has a strange perception about the world. When they both meet with each other, they don’t have anything in common; however, as the time went by, they started to share a special bond. Through their special bond, they discover many beautiful things on a way and that brings them another challenge what they want to achieve in their lives.
Ari is such a wonderful and relatable character to read about. He struggles to understand certain things, which are completely nonsensical to him and so he looks at the situation in a negative way. In contrast, Dante is a complete opposite of Ari as his way of thinking is philosophical that is the highlight of his chapters, which shows that he deeply understands the world as well as himself. Even though they are poles apart, they still bring out the best in each other. Because of Dante, we were able to discover Ari’s spunky and studious side. Therefore, I love their journey and especially it is amazing to see Dante to talk in so much depth, which gets thought provoking from time to time. Another awe-inspiring aspect is dynamics of family relationships. Benjamin presents us plausible performance of families as they look very realistic. The relationship between Ari and his mother seem very real, their arguments and their settlement. Most of all, Benjamin’s idea of writing in short paragraphs is fascinating, which really shows that a teenager is narrating this story.
Overall, this book is captivating so I enjoyed it thoroughly because I laughed and cried at the same time so it was really good reading experience learning about their cultures. Also, It was enchanting to see them becoming mature, and going through all kinds of experiences. Other than their beautiful friendship, I admired both of these families, their relationship to their kids, and their interaction with each other. We would really like you to pick this book up; it would not disappoint you. And we assure you it not is not sciency at all. Happy Reading! 😊