![\"Aristotle](\"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Aristotle-and-Dante.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I don’t typically like books that aren’t plot-driven. \u00a0Most of the time, I find that books without a plot just drag along.\u00a0\u00a0I can’t truly say this book “doesn’t have a plot”… I mean, it has a sequence of events and the characters do things over a period of time.\u00a0 But there’s not a big build up to a climax followed by a tidy resolution. (Which I tend to prefer.)\u00a0 \u00a0Rather than some huge event that the book centers around, it’s just a description of what happens to these two characters over a length of time.\u00a0 A snapshot of their lives, if you will.\u00a0\u00a0 An absolutely beautiful snapshot!<\/p>\n
With all the recent talk about the lack of diversity in publishing<\/a>, I was reminded that I have yet to review this amazing book, which features two main characters of Latino heritage. \u00a0I thought this book was an especially refreshing read because the main characters were both (1) distinctly different from one another and (2) realistic without becoming cliched stereotypes. \u00a0Although Aristotle (aka Ari) had an older brother who was in prison, he was not the typical thug\/gangsta type we often see depicted in books and on TV. \u00a0He was conflicted and angry, to be sure, but he didn’t embrace his anger so much as recognize it and hope to find a way to get past it.\u00a0 It was clear that Ari was so uncomfortable expressing emotion because his parents hadn’t modeled effective communication, but that seemed to be much more an explanation than an excuse.\u00a0 Dante, on the other hand, was very close to his parents and had a very open relationship with both his mother and father.\u00a0 Because of his friendly demeanor, positive outlook, and ability to express his emotions, Dante was quite possibly the best person with whom Ari could have become friends.\u00a0 And, though this book was an excellent read for many reasons, I was most impressed by the exploration of the fine line between the love of friends and romantic love.\u00a0 If you’re looking for a book to restore your faith in humanity, this would be a good place to start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don’t typically like books that aren’t plot-driven. \u00a0Most of the time, I find that books without a plot just drag along.\u00a0\u00a0I can’t truly say this book “doesn’t have a plot”… I mean, it has a sequence of events and the characters do things over a period of time.\u00a0 But there’s not a big build … Continue reading Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire S\u00e1enz<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-books-for-young-adults","category-fiction","category-reviewed-by-chrissie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2998\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}