![]() ![]() I wanted to tell them that I’d never had a friend, not ever, not a real one. I like just-friends story and they are so important but Ari and Dante’s friends-to-lovers story felt so right there is no resentment from this reader. It is a beautiful story of friendship – although their friendship does eventually develop into an AWESOME romantic relationship that comes from falling in love with a person you already love so much. Their friendship is a balancing act: sweet and tender, playful and serious, full of intellectual interactions and questioning about life, the universe and everything. It’s the story of two friends, Ari and Dante, who meet when they are fifteen, during a summer of utter boredom. You just need to be able to find them.Īnd what a find Aristotle and Dante turned out to be. In fact, Aristotle and Dante is the kind of book that gives me hope that the universe might be still be an ok place to live, that publishing is not only a heartless business but also a place where craft still survives and good stories live on. It is possible that Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is the antithesis to every single terrible book I’ve read lately. It’s funny how just the other day I was talking about writing craft, the combination of skill and care that is so important when putting together a story and how certain books unfortunately fail in every conceivable way. The problem with my life was that it was someone else’s idea. Until a couple of weeks ago it came into my radar again when it won a ton of awards: Stonewall Book Award (2013), Printz Honor (2013), YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults (Top Ten) (2013), Pura Belpre Author Award (2013) Why did we read this book: I had this book on my radar since last year – I saw some really good reviews for it but somehow it just slipped my mind. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship-the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young ReadersĪ lyrical novel about family and friendship from critically acclaimed author Benjamin Alire Sáenz.Īristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Love in many forms is a central theme to this film and I look forward to watching it over and over when it has a full release.Title: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe In the film, the love from their parents and the differences in their family dynamics and how they love, was the centerpiece as well. And the parents! One of the things I loved in the book was that Ari and Dante's parents were fully-fledged people (not just side characters tossed in) who loved their sons so fully. The acting was nuanced and they knew those characters so well. You'd never know this was either of their first feature films. Max Pelayo and Reese Gonzales as Aristotle and Dante were perfect in these roles. With any adaptation, parts of the story have to change, but I actually found myself wishing that two new scenes from the movie had actually been in the book because they added so much depth to the story. The screenplay and direction by Aitch Alberto was clearly created with such love for the story that it translated beautifully onto the screen. As a fan of the novel it's based on, it was wonderful to see this beautiful story come to life. I had the privilege of seeing Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe twice at the Palm Springs Film Festival in January 2023. ![]()
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