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Kristalia 's Reviews > Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle and Dante, #1)
by
by
Kristalia 's review
bookshelves: lgbt, type-standalone-story, favorites, favorite-couple, reviewed, why-u-no-longer-u-make-me-sad, age-young-adult, be-my-heroes-please, cut-my-heart-out, made-me-smile-or-laugh, sob-fest, they-are-so-awesome-hot-and-stuff, they-are-so-cute-its-unbearable, type-dulogy, own-physical-copy
Mar 03, 2013
bookshelves: lgbt, type-standalone-story, favorites, favorite-couple, reviewed, why-u-no-longer-u-make-me-sad, age-young-adult, be-my-heroes-please, cut-my-heart-out, made-me-smile-or-laugh, sob-fest, they-are-so-awesome-hot-and-stuff, they-are-so-cute-its-unbearable, type-dulogy, own-physical-copy
Read 2 times. Last read October 30, 2017 to November 1, 2017.
Final rating: 5/5 stars
And this is why I love young adult. This. This wonderful, beautiful, inspiring, smart book. I feel so damn happy just by reading it. Did you ever like... fell in love with a character? So damn much and you just wish they were real? I loved, I SO SO LOVED ARI. I loved being in his head. This book wouldn't have worked out in double POV or even in third view. No, the complete charm of this book is Ari. If you don't like him, you won't like the book either. And you know what? I LOVED him. Meaning, I LOVED THE BOOK too.
You either love this book. Or dislike it. And like I said before: I LOVED IT. Yes, there were some faults, but to me, I don't care about faults. I care about characters. I care about emotions a story makes me feel. I read it so fast that I was sad it was over. It was over and I needed more. I feel in love with those two, their families, their secrets, their discoveries.
It made me think about a lot of things. It made me think of how I have wonderful parents, and that I love them with all my heart and I'm not saying that enough to them. But also, Ari is very similar to me. The way we both hold our friends precious, the way we both love to have some time alone. Damn, there was one part I really understood him. I won't tell which, because of the spoilers. I understand him also about being closed person, but opening up to those we know. I understand him, I just do. I loved him for that. And I loved how he grew from someone so closed off, a person who didn't take initiative, (view spoiler). This all changes through the book and he accepted more things about himself. I don't say we are 100% same. No, I'm saying there are lot of similarities that we share.
For me, this book didn't mean discovering the secrets of the universe. No, it was more about discovering Ari - every time he keeps on surprising me, every single time. And Dante. Dante is precious too. He is complete opposite of Ari, but they get along so damn well.
The story is set in 1987-1988 - and it takes time span of 1 year. And yes, this is a lgbt book. But it's also a story of friends turning into something more. And they don't figure it out in a month. No, it takes a long, long time for them to sort out their feelings and work them out. This is what I loved.
This is quite emotional journey, and I enjoyed it so damn much. The only complaint I have is that after all this time, I didn't notice how they looked like at all (except for Dante having black hair).
Angel Aristotle Mendoza, aka, Ari, is a lonely teenager who doesn't need anyone else beside his family. But then he meets Dante Quintana.
They spend their days hanging out, talking about things, and realizing that they are as different as much as they are similar.
And then, on one summer day, something drastic happened that changed both of their lives.
But not just theirs. The lives of their families too.
And this is where it begins.
� Ari is lonely teen who believes he doesn't need anyone. He loves his parents, but he feels a certain distance with his father, who became closed off after returning from the war, but with his mother he has a functioning and understandable relationship. He just can't understand why they erased every evidence of his brother after he went to prison. He also has 2 older twin sisters, and he is a decade younger than them all, but he is not close to them. Sometimes, it feels for him like he is an only child.
Ari is a person people usually avoid, instead of trying to bully. He sometimes liked to fight, but he also knows that it will only hurt his own parents instead.
Even though he is closed off, he also shows emotions from time to time. And when he does, it's because he can't hold them in anymore. Once it starts, it's hard for him to stop. But deep down, he keeps on denying every change that seems drastic to him. There is a lot going on in Ari's mind. He is angry, and he hates it, he is sad because of it, he just keeps looking on life as if it has secrets he needs to discover in order to function in this world. No, I wouldn't say he is depressive, but before he met Dante, he was generally close to it. And then situation changed, something happened, and Ari was plagued with nightmares involving his brother, father and Dante, and they kept getting worse and worse and worse.
There was one particular part I loved. When some guys compared girls to a tree (“A girl is like a tree covered with leaves. You just want to climb up and tear all those leaves off.�), and this is what Ari thought:
I loved this.
� Dante is different from Ari. He is cheerful, stubborn, but also brave. When it comes to confrontations, he doesn't run. But he is also more emotional than Ari. He is not afraid to show his feelings. He is not afraid to be honest.
Dante is kind, nice, straight-forward, but he keeps his secrets. Some of them he is willing to share with his family. Some of them, he is willing to share with Ari only. But he is also afraid of losing Ari. Like Ari, he doesn't have many friends, and Ari is the only one who understands him. Understands his fears, pain, happiness and he is not afraid to show him exactly how he feels.He draws, he loves poetry, he enjoys reading.
� Others: I loved both of their families. Especially parents of both. These have to be one of the best parents I have ever read about in any book lately. I loved their support. I loved how they saw more than Dante and Ari did. I loved how supportive they were when it mattered and how they gave them space to adjust when needed.
Ari's dad, who started understanding Ari more because of their nightmares. Ari's mother, who knew when to involve herself, and when to give him space. Both of them, who kept their other son a secret, because it hurt to much to speak about it. Them, who were calm and thoughtful.
I also understand there are many different ways to control one's grief. Their defense was not talking about their firstborn son, hiding everything about him away. But I believe that was a wrong move. If anything, it only made Ari even more forlorn and curious and sad because he barely remembers him and he forgot how his own brother looked like.
Then Dante's parents... they are just... enthusiastic and accepting. Father who can't stay angry, who loves his wife and son. Then his mother, who is accepting and careful and thoughtful. And Dante loves them with all of his heart.
I cannot describe how I feel right now. I feel happy that I have read a story like this. I feel sad because it is over. It is definitely a reread material, and it will stay in my heart. And I loved the writing. This whole book was just... captivating.
The story is not over yet = there is a sequel too (There Will Be Other Summers). I can't wait to read about them again!
OTHER IMPORTANT INFO:
� Standalone: Yes, but there is a sequel too (There Will Be Other Summers).
� Point of View: First POV, 1 character
� Triggers: (view spoiler)
� Love triangle: No
� Angst: 50/50
� Supernatural: No
� Explicit content: No
� Ending type: (view spoiler)
� Recommended: Yes
Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer morning could end in a downpour. Could end in lightning and thunder.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
I wanted to tell them that I’d never had a friend, not ever, not a real one. Until Dante. I wanted to tell them that I never knew that people like Dante existed in the world, people who looked at the stars, and knew the mysteries of water, and knew enough to know that birds belonged to the heavens and weren’t meant to be shot down from their graceful flights by mean and stupid boys. 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 that he was the first human being aside from my mother who had ever made me want to talk about the things that scared me. I wanted to tell them so many things and yet I didn’t have the words.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
(view spoiler)
But Dante made talking and living and feeling seem like all those things were perfectly natural. Not in my world, they weren’t.
I went home and looked up the word “inscrutable.� It meant something that could not easily be understood. I wrote down all the synonyms in my journal. “Obscure.� “Unfathomable.� “Enigmatic.� “Mysterious.�
That afternoon, I learned two new words. “Inscrutable.� And “friend.�
Words were different when they lived inside of you.
And this is why I love young adult. This. This wonderful, beautiful, inspiring, smart book. I feel so damn happy just by reading it. Did you ever like... fell in love with a character? So damn much and you just wish they were real? I loved, I SO SO LOVED ARI. I loved being in his head. This book wouldn't have worked out in double POV or even in third view. No, the complete charm of this book is Ari. If you don't like him, you won't like the book either. And you know what? I LOVED him. Meaning, I LOVED THE BOOK too.
You either love this book. Or dislike it. And like I said before: I LOVED IT. Yes, there were some faults, but to me, I don't care about faults. I care about characters. I care about emotions a story makes me feel. I read it so fast that I was sad it was over. It was over and I needed more. I feel in love with those two, their families, their secrets, their discoveries.
It made me think about a lot of things. It made me think of how I have wonderful parents, and that I love them with all my heart and I'm not saying that enough to them. But also, Ari is very similar to me. The way we both hold our friends precious, the way we both love to have some time alone. Damn, there was one part I really understood him. I won't tell which, because of the spoilers. I understand him also about being closed person, but opening up to those we know. I understand him, I just do. I loved him for that. And I loved how he grew from someone so closed off, a person who didn't take initiative, (view spoiler). This all changes through the book and he accepted more things about himself. I don't say we are 100% same. No, I'm saying there are lot of similarities that we share.
For me, this book didn't mean discovering the secrets of the universe. No, it was more about discovering Ari - every time he keeps on surprising me, every single time. And Dante. Dante is precious too. He is complete opposite of Ari, but they get along so damn well.
The story is set in 1987-1988 - and it takes time span of 1 year. And yes, this is a lgbt book. But it's also a story of friends turning into something more. And they don't figure it out in a month. No, it takes a long, long time for them to sort out their feelings and work them out. This is what I loved.
This is quite emotional journey, and I enjoyed it so damn much. The only complaint I have is that after all this time, I didn't notice how they looked like at all (except for Dante having black hair).
� STORY:
My life was still someone else’s idea.
Angel Aristotle Mendoza, aka, Ari, is a lonely teenager who doesn't need anyone else beside his family. But then he meets Dante Quintana.
I had a rule that it was better to be bored by yourself than to be bored with someone else. I pretty much lived by that rule. Maybe that’s why I didn’t have any friends.
He looked at me. Waiting. And then he asked again. “I can teach you how to swim, if you want.�
(...)
“My name’s Dante,� he said.
That made me laugh harder. “Sorry,� I said.
“It’s okay. People laugh at my name.�
“No, no,� I said. “See, it’s just that my name’s Aristotle.�
His eyes lit up. I mean, the guy was ready to listen to every word I said.
“Aristotle,� I repeated.
They spend their days hanging out, talking about things, and realizing that they are as different as much as they are similar.
Dante became one more mystery in a universe full of mysteries.
And then, on one summer day, something drastic happened that changed both of their lives.
I remember Dante squeezing my hand. And I remember thinking, Forgive you? For what, Dante? What is there to forgive?
I don’t know why, but there was rain in my dreams.
Dante and I were barefoot. The rain wouldn’t stop.
And I was afraid.
But not just theirs. The lives of their families too.
“Remember the rain,� she said.
And this is where it begins.
“Do you think we’ll ever discover all the secrets of the universe?�
I was surprised to hear Susie’s voice answering my question. “That would be a beautiful thing, wouldn’t it, Ari?�
“Yeah.� I whispered, “Really beautiful.�
“Do you think, Ari, that love has anything to do with the secrets of the universe?�
� CHARACTERS:
� Ari is lonely teen who believes he doesn't need anyone. He loves his parents, but he feels a certain distance with his father, who became closed off after returning from the war, but with his mother he has a functioning and understandable relationship. He just can't understand why they erased every evidence of his brother after he went to prison. He also has 2 older twin sisters, and he is a decade younger than them all, but he is not close to them. Sometimes, it feels for him like he is an only child.
Ari is a person people usually avoid, instead of trying to bully. He sometimes liked to fight, but he also knows that it will only hurt his own parents instead.
It made me mad that I’d felt like I’d betrayed my family by mentioning my brother to Dante. It didn’t feel good. There were so many ghosts in our house—the ghost of my brother, the ghosts of my father’s war, the ghosts of my sister’s voices. And I thought that maybe there were ghosts inside of me that I hadn’t even met yet. They were there. Lying in wait.
Even though he is closed off, he also shows emotions from time to time. And when he does, it's because he can't hold them in anymore. Once it starts, it's hard for him to stop. But deep down, he keeps on denying every change that seems drastic to him. There is a lot going on in Ari's mind. He is angry, and he hates it, he is sad because of it, he just keeps looking on life as if it has secrets he needs to discover in order to function in this world. No, I wouldn't say he is depressive, but before he met Dante, he was generally close to it. And then situation changed, something happened, and Ari was plagued with nightmares involving his brother, father and Dante, and they kept getting worse and worse and worse.
I didn’t know what to do with that piece of information. So I just kept it inside. That’s what I did with everything. Kept it inside.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
And the best part of the whole thing was that I’d made the discovery all on my own.
All on my own. I was in love with that phrase. I wasn’t very good at asking for help, a bad habit I inherited from my father.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
I had a feeling there was something wrong with me. I guess I was a mystery even to myself. That sucked. I had serious problems.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
I guess I didn’t have it so bad. Maybe everybody didn’t love me, but I wasn’t one of those kids that everyone hated, either.
I was good in a fight. So people left me alone.
I was mostly invisible. I think I liked it that way.
And then Dante came along.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
“Will you show me the others {(drawings)}?�
“N.�
“W?�
“I can’t.�
“Why not?�
“For the same reason you can’t tell me about your dreams.�
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
In a strange way, my friendship with Dante had made me feel even more alone.
Maybe it was because Dante seemed to make himself fit everywhere he went. And me, I always felt that I didn’t belong anywhere. I didn’t even belong in my own body—especially in my own body. I was changing into someone I didn’t know. The change hurt but I didn’t know why it hurt. And nothing about my own emotions made any sense.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
I wondered what it would be like, to love a girl, to know how a girl thinks, to see the world through a girl’s eyes. Maybe they knew more than boys. Maybe they understood things that boys could never understand.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
I wanted them to hug me just because I was Ari and I would never be just Ari to them. But I had learned how to hide what I felt. No, that’s not true. There was no learning involved. I had been born knowing how to hide what I felt.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
But love was always something heavy for me. Something I had to carry.
There was one particular part I loved. When some guys compared girls to a tree (“A girl is like a tree covered with leaves. You just want to climb up and tear all those leaves off.�), and this is what Ari thought:
See, the thing about guys is that I didn’t really care to be around them. I mean, guys really made me uncomfortable. I don’t know why, not exactly. I just, I don’t know, I just didn’t belong. I think it embarrassed the hell out of me that I was a guy. And it really depressed me that there was the distinct possibility that I was going to grow up and be like one of those assholes. A girl is like a tree? Yeah, and a guy is about as smart as a piece of dead wood infested with termites. My mom would have said that they were just going through a phase. Pretty soon they would get their brains back. Sure they would.
I loved this.
� Dante is different from Ari. He is cheerful, stubborn, but also brave. When it comes to confrontations, he doesn't run. But he is also more emotional than Ari. He is not afraid to show his feelings. He is not afraid to be honest.
“Can I tell you a secret, Ari?�
“Can I stop you?�
“You don’t like knowing my secrets.�
“Sometimes your secrets scare me.�
Dante is kind, nice, straight-forward, but he keeps his secrets. Some of them he is willing to share with his family. Some of them, he is willing to share with Ari only. But he is also afraid of losing Ari. Like Ari, he doesn't have many friends, and Ari is the only one who understands him. Understands his fears, pain, happiness and he is not afraid to show him exactly how he feels.He draws, he loves poetry, he enjoys reading.
Who was this guy? He looked a little fragile—but he wasn’t. He was disciplined and tough and knowledgeable and he didn’t pretend to be stupid and ordinary. He was neither of those things.
He was funny and focused and fierce. I mean the guy could be fierce. And there wasn’t anything mean about him. I didn’t understand how you could live in a mean world and not have any of that meanness rub off on you. How could a guy live without some meanness?
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
I don’t remember ever winning an argument with him. He was a better debater. He was also a better reader.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
As Dante was watching me search the sky through the lens of a telescope, he whispered, “Someday, I’m going to discover all the secrets of the universe.�
That made me smile. “What are you going to do with all those secrets, Dante?�
“I’ll know what to do with them,� he said. “Maybe change the world.�
I believed him.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
“No, Dante, you like to make your own rules. So long as the rules are yours, you like them.�
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
You have to be who you are. And I have to be who I am. That’s the way it is.
� Others: I loved both of their families. Especially parents of both. These have to be one of the best parents I have ever read about in any book lately. I loved their support. I loved how they saw more than Dante and Ari did. I loved how supportive they were when it mattered and how they gave them space to adjust when needed.
Ari's dad, who started understanding Ari more because of their nightmares. Ari's mother, who knew when to involve herself, and when to give him space. Both of them, who kept their other son a secret, because it hurt to much to speak about it. Them, who were calm and thoughtful.
My mother laughed. I loved her laugh. And then my father was laughing. And then I was laughing.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
I thought she was really beautiful. She was beautiful. I envied her. She had always known exactly who she was.
I wanted to ask her, Mom, when will I know who I am? But I didn’t.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
I loved her for her silence.
Or maybe I just understood it.
And loved my father too, for the careful way he spoke. I came to understand that my father was a careful man. To be careful with people and with words was a rare and beautiful thing.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
All I did was smile at him. He’d told me something about himself.
I was happy.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
Mom, she got my sense of humor. I got hers. We were good that way. Not that she wasn’t something of a mystery. One thing that I completely got—I got why my father fell in love with her.
I also understand there are many different ways to control one's grief. Their defense was not talking about their firstborn son, hiding everything about him away. But I believe that was a wrong move. If anything, it only made Ari even more forlorn and curious and sad because he barely remembers him and he forgot how his own brother looked like.
Then Dante's parents... they are just... enthusiastic and accepting. Father who can't stay angry, who loves his wife and son. Then his mother, who is accepting and careful and thoughtful. And Dante loves them with all of his heart.
“You want me to tell you a secret?�
ٳܰ.�
“I’m crazy about my mom and dad.�
That really made me smile. I’d never heard anyone say that about their parents. I mean, no one was crazy about their parents. Except Dante.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
I liked the way he looked at me. I thought he was the kindest man in the world. Maybe everybody was kind. Maybe even my father. But Mr. Quintana was brave. He didn’t care if the whole world knew he was kind. Dante was just like him.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
This is what I understood: a woman like Mrs. Quintana didn’t use the word “love� very often. When she said that word, she meant it. And one more thing I understood: Dante’s mother loved him more than he would ever know.
� OVERALL:
I cannot describe how I feel right now. I feel happy that I have read a story like this. I feel sad because it is over. It is definitely a reread material, and it will stay in my heart. And I loved the writing. This whole book was just... captivating.
The story is not over yet = there is a sequel too (There Will Be Other Summers). I can't wait to read about them again!
OTHER IMPORTANT INFO:
� Standalone: Yes, but there is a sequel too (There Will Be Other Summers).
� Point of View: First POV, 1 character
� Triggers: (view spoiler)
� Love triangle: No
� Angst: 50/50
� Supernatural: No
� Explicit content: No
� Ending type: (view spoiler)
� Recommended: Yes
� SOME OTHER QUOTES:
Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer morning could end in a downpour. Could end in lightning and thunder.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
I wanted to tell them that I’d never had a friend, not ever, not a real one. Until Dante. I wanted to tell them that I never knew that people like Dante existed in the world, people who looked at the stars, and knew the mysteries of water, and knew enough to know that birds belonged to the heavens and weren’t meant to be shot down from their graceful flights by mean and stupid boys. 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 that he was the first human being aside from my mother who had ever made me want to talk about the things that scared me. I wanted to tell them so many things and yet I didn’t have the words.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
(view spoiler)
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Quotes Kristalia Liked
“I bet you could sometimes find all the mysteries of the universe in someone's hand.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer could end in a downpour. Could end in lightning and thunder.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“To be careful with people and with words was a rare and beautiful thing.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Maybe we just lived between hurting and healing.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“I renamed myself Ari.
If I switched the letter, my name was Air.
I thought it might be a great thing to be the air.
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.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
If I switched the letter, my name was Air.
I thought it might be a great thing to be the air.
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.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“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?”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Wow, a world without darkness. How beautiful was that?”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Your smile is back.' That's what Dante said.
'Smiles are like that. They come and go.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
'Smiles are like that. They come and go.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“I wondered what that was like, to hold someone’s hand. I bet you could sometimes find all of the mysteries of the universe in someone’s hand.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Sometimes, you do things and you do them not because you're thinking but because you're feeling. Because you're feeling too much. And you can't always control the things you do when you're feeling too much.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Sometimes, all you have to do is tell people the truth. They won't believe you. After that, they'll leave you alone.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Why do we smile? Why do we laugh? Why do we feel alone? Why are we sad and confused? Why do we read poetry? Why do we cry when we see a painting? Why is there a riot in the heart when we love? Why do we feel shame? What is that thing in the pit of your stomach called desire?”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“I don't always have to understand the people I love.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“It was good to laugh. I wanted to laugh and laugh and laugh until I laughed myself into becoming someone else.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Senior year. And then life. Maybe that's the way it worked. High school was just a prologue to the real novel. Everybody got to write you -- but when you graduated, you got to write yourself. At graduation you got to collect your teacher's pens and your parents' pens and you got your own pen. And you could do all the writing. Yeah. Wouldn't that be sweet?”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“But I had learned to hide what I felt. No, that's not true. There was no learning involved. I had been born knowing how to hide what I felt.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“I wondered if my smile was as big as hers. Maybe as big. But not as beautiful.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Do you think it will always be this way?�
“W?�
“I mean, when do we start feeling like the world belongs to us?�
I wanted to tell him that the world would never belong to us. “I don't know,� I said. “Tomorrow.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“W?�
“I mean, when do we start feeling like the world belongs to us?�
I wanted to tell him that the world would never belong to us. “I don't know,� I said. “Tomorrow.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“This is my problem. I want other people to tell me how they feel. But I'm not so sure I want to return the favor.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Everyone expected something from me. Something I just couldn't give.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“You should just sit them down and make them tell you. Make them be adults."
"You can't make anyone be an adult. Especially an adult.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
"You can't make anyone be an adult. Especially an adult.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“I decided that maybe we left each other alone too much. Leaving each other alone was killing us.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“He tried not to laugh, but he wasn't good at controlling all the laughter that lived inside of him.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“The problem with trying hard not to think about something was that you thought about it even more.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“I didn't care because what mattered is that Dante's voice felt real. And I felt real. Until Dante, being with other people was the hardest thing in the world for me. But Dante made talking and living and feeling seem like all those things were perfectly natural. Not in my world, they weren't.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Typically, I didn't know what to say so I didn't say anything.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“I have this idea that the reason we have dreams is that we're thinking about things that we don't know we're thinking about-and those things, well, they sneak out of us in our dreams. Maybe we're like tires with too much air in them. The air has to leak out. That's what dreams are.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Did anybody ever tell you that you weren't normal?'
'Is that something I should aspire to?”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
'Is that something I should aspire to?”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“I didn't know what to do with that piece of information. So I just kept it inside. That's what I did with everything. Kept it inside.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“It was like she understood something about me that she'd never quite understood before. I always felt that when she looked at me, she was trying to find me, trying to find out who I was. But it seemed at that moment that she saw me, that she knew me. But that confused me.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“In order to be wildly popular you had to make people believe that you were fun and interesting I just wasn't that much of a con artist.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Words were not things you could control. Not always.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“And I knew that there was something about me that Mrs. Quintana saw and loved. And even though I felt it was a beautiful thing, I also felt it was a weight. Not that she meant it to be a weight. But love was always something heavy for me. Something I had to carry.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“I wished it was raining," he said.
"I don't need the rain," I said. "I need you.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
"I don't need the rain," I said. "I need you.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Ari?� My father’s voice was soft. “Ari, Ari, Ari. You’re fighting this war in the worst possible way.�
“I don’t know how to fight it, Dad.�
“You should ask for help,� he said.
“I don’t know how to do that, either.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“I don’t know how to fight it, Dad.�
“You should ask for help,� he said.
“I don’t know how to do that, either.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“..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.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“The worst part about going crazy is that when you're not crazy anymore, you just don't know what to think of yourself.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“No wonder I stopped keeping a journal. It was like keeping a record of my own stupidity.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“I found myself whispering, "Do you think we'll ever discover all the secrets of the universe?"
I was surprised to hear Susie's voice answering my question. "That would be a beautiful thing, wouldn't it, Ari?"
"Yeah," I whispered. "Really beautiful."
"Do you think, Ari, that love has anything to do with the secrets of the universe?”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
I was surprised to hear Susie's voice answering my question. "That would be a beautiful thing, wouldn't it, Ari?"
"Yeah," I whispered. "Really beautiful."
"Do you think, Ari, that love has anything to do with the secrets of the universe?”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“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.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“I’m not into all this academic stuff. Too much analysis. What ever happened to reading a book because you liked it?”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“It made me smile, the way they got along, the easy and affectionate way they talked to each other as if love between a father and a son was simple and uncomplicated. My mom and I, sometimes what we had was easy and uncomplicated. Sometimes. But me and my dad, we didn't have that. I wondered what that would be like, to walk into a room and kiss my father.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
“Our parents are really weird,� he said. “Because they love us? That’s not so weird.� “It’s how they love us that’s weird.”
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
― Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Reading Progress
March 3, 2013
– Shelved
March 3, 2013
– Shelved as:
lgbt
June 6, 2013
– Shelved as:
type-standalone-story
November 24, 2015
– Shelved as:
to-read
March 17, 2016
–
Started Reading
March 17, 2016
–
Finished Reading
March 18, 2016
– Shelved as:
favorites
March 18, 2016
– Shelved as:
favorite-couple
March 18, 2016
– Shelved as:
reviewed
March 18, 2016
– Shelved as:
why-u-no-longer-u-make-me-sad
March 18, 2016
– Shelved as:
age-young-adult
March 18, 2016
– Shelved as:
be-my-heroes-please
March 18, 2016
– Shelved as:
cut-my-heart-out
March 18, 2016
– Shelved as:
made-me-smile-or-laugh
March 18, 2016
– Shelved as:
sob-fest
March 18, 2016
– Shelved as:
they-are-so-awesome-hot-and-stuff
March 18, 2016
– Shelved as:
they-are-so-cute-its-unbearable
March 18, 2016
– Shelved as:
type-dulogy
October 30, 2017
–
Started Reading
October 30, 2017
– Shelved as:
own-physical-copy
November 1, 2017
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-16 of 16 (16 new)
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message 1:
by
Izzy
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rated it 4 stars
Mar 18, 2016 05:53AM
Wow, really amazing review, Kristalia! I've been wanting to read this book for so long
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Izzy wrote: "Wow, really amazing review, Kristalia! I've been wanting to read this book for so long"Hehehe, I hope you love it as much as I do, when you read it :D
Thank you!
Lovely review! Can't wait to read this book !
Nikita wrote: "Lovely review! Can't wait to read this book !"Thank you! I hope you like it too :D
Oh Krist.. you seem to love this book very much. I even can feel how you happy of reading this and sad once it's over. Now I really curious why you love this Ari boy this much. To me, the character is the most impotant than plot. Characters make me want to keep reading or drop it. Make me want go read the book again when I miss them ( characters ) Thank you for this wonderful review, Krist. I will find times to read this book this year if I can. Another LGBT book I must read!!
Yeah! I do! I also love characters more than the story - if I dislike the characters, I dislike the story too :)I hope you like it too :D
I'm so glad because there will be a sequel too, and I just found out about that :)
The sequel! Aww... that's great news! ;)
Pang wrote: "The sequel! Aww... that's great news! ;)"Yes, but this one is also pretty much stand alone which is great
but i will definitely reread it before the sequel is out :D
I had this book on my TBR list till I read this. This is not the book for me in anyway. Great review
Really? What reason did you find here to abandon this ship? I am really interested :DI actually always read reviews for a book before i buy it - i need to see pros and cons and then decide if it's worth it
it's why i have so many 5 and 4 star ratings, with 3 in a tow, but rarely 2 or 1 stars :D
I loved this book and I'm so glad you did too! <3
Hershey wrote: "I loved this book and I'm so glad you did too! <3"Im glad too :D
^_^
I hope so too :D Because I really loved this book :D
Thank you :D
Yes, and an overly dramatic sequel would kinda spoil the pleasure of this one a bit. Ugh, anxiety :D
yeah we shall see :)
