REVIEW / RECENZIE - Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

A lyrical novel about family and friendship from critically acclaimed author Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. 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. 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.

REVIEW:

It happened to you this thing, which is kind of weird, to want to read something, to watch something, to hear something, because you want to feel? To me it happened. For a few days I didn't knew what I wanted; I didn't like a movie, even it sounded good, I didn't like a song even it was my favorite, I didn't wanted to read even if I wanted to read something. Maybe because I didn't knew what I was searching for. And today I remembered about this book, and people telling that is was amazing and it makes you feel and all that stuff. 

I think that now I know what was missing all this time. I was searching, or my mind was searching, for a book with feelings, and  not for one full of adventures and vampires or any creature like that. My mind wanted something alive, a book that was breathing and crying and smiling. A book that slap you and shout in your face, and make you feel, and shake you until you start thinking and more importantly until you realise that you are alive. Because it's easy to live but is hard to feel that you are alive.

What I'm trying to tell you. This book is like a piece of soul, is full of emotions, it makes you laugh, cry, smile, it makes you sad, angry and confused. All the feelings that are in this book you are feeling when the pages are running. It's not an easy read, it's not something that you read for fun or because you're bored. You read this when you'are searching for a friend, or two, when you want to have your mind full of thoughts but you don't want to think. This is such an amazing story, it felt so real and now I'm so sorry because it ended. It ended too fast and even that I just finished it, I want to read it again. I want to stay again with Dante and Ari, I want to watch them and smile with them, I want to cry and be angry, and confused, and happy... and watch the stars and go in the desert... I want all those emotions again and again and again.

I know that in this review I can't express all my feelings about this book, but I'm not even trying, because I know that I can't. But you should read it, you need you read it, because you're missing so much. You're missing a real story, two smart, cute, vulnerable, funny, sad, happy, angry, mad, in love, guys, and especialy you're missing yourself. This book is not just a story, is like a mirror too. You see yourself and you think, you analyze, you put questions. 

Ari and Dante are so special and so cute and sweet and smart and mature and... I'm not even trying to describe them, because I can't, again. Because you can't describe a human in a few words. And they are humans, and not just characters, because they live, they grow, they feel so many things and you feel so many things being with them and listening and watching... and when you reach the last page you are sad, but you smile. You feel like you gained two friends but you are sad because they're going, they'are leaving you behind. But you know that they always be in your heart.

So, please, pretty please read this book! I enjoyed it so much, I loved it so much and surely now this is one of my favorite books. Because is so simple and so full of emotions, and questions and answers and... everything. This book it has two lives in it, and you can watch them, you can feel everyhing, but more than that, you don't want to do anything, because you are afraid to ruin something. I think that just watching Ari and Dante being together and talking you can feel happyness. So buy this happyness and live it!

5/5

Recenzie:

Vi s-a intamplat vreodata, ceea ce-i cam ciudat, sa vreti sa cititi ceva, sa vedeti ceva, sa ascultati ceva, doar ca sa simtiti? Mie mi s-a intamplat. De cateva zile nu stiam ce voiam; nu mi-a placut un film, desi suna bine, nu mi-a placut un cantec, desi era preferatul meu, n-am vrut sa citesc nimic, desi imi doream sa citesc ceva. Poate pentru ca nu stiam ceea ce caut. Si azi mi-am amintit de aceasta carte si de oamenii care spuneau ca-i superba si ca te face sa simti, si etc.

Cred ca acum stiu ce-mi lipsea. Cautam, sau mintea mea cauta, o carte plina de sentimente, si nu una plina de aventuri si vampiri, si alte creaturi de genul. Mintea mea voia ceva viu, o carte care sa respire si sa planga, si sa zambeasca. O carte care sa-ti dea o palma si sa-ti tipe in fata, si sa te fata sa simti, sa te zgaltaie pana incepi sa gandesti si mai ales pana realizezi ca esti viu. Pentru ca e o diferenta intre a trai si a simti ca traiesti.

Ce tot incerc eu sa va zic. Aceasta carte e ca o bucata de suflet, plina de emotii, te face sa razi, sa plangi, sa zambesti, sa fii trist, nervos si confuz. Toate sentimentele ce sunt in carte, le poti simti odata cu paginile ce trec. Nu e o lectura usoara, nu e ceva pe care sa-l citesti pentru ca e amuzant sau pentru ca te plictisesti. Citesti acest roman atunci cand vrei sa gasesti un prieten sau doi, cand vrei sa ai mintea plina de ganduri, dar fara sa gandesti. Aceasta poveste este superba, este atat de reala si acum imi pare rau ca s-a terminat. S-a terminat asa repede si chiar daca abia am terminat-o, vreau s-o recitesc. Vreau sa stau iarasi cu Dante si Ari, sa-i privesc si sa zambesc cu ei, sa plang si sa fiu nervoasa, si confuza si fericita... si sa privesc stelele si sa merg in desert... vreau toate acele emotii iar si iar si iar.

Stiu ca in aceasta recenzie nu reusesc sa exprim toate sentimentele mele legate de aceasta carte, dar nici macar nu incerc, pentru ca stiu ca nu pot. Dar ar trebui s-o cititi, pentru ca aveti nevoie s-o cititi, chiar pierdeti mult daca n-o faceti. Pierdeti o poveste reala, doi baieti isteti, draguti, vulnerabili, amuzanti, tristi, fericiti, nervosi, furiosi si iubitori, dar mai ales va pierdeti pe voi. Aceasta carte nu-i doar o poveste, ci e si o oglinda. Te vezi in ea, te analizezi si-ti pui intrebari.

Ari si Dante sunt extrem de speciali si draguti si dulci si destepti si maturi si... nici nu incerc sa ii descriu pentru ca nu mi-ar iesi. Nu poti descrie un om in cateva cuvinte. Si ei sunt oameni, nu doar personaje, pentru ca traiesc, cresc si simt o multime de lucruri, si te fac sa simti o multime de lucruri, fiind cu ei si ascultand si privind... si cand ajungi la ultima pagina esti trist, dar zambesti. Simti ca ai castigat doi prieteni, dar esti trist pentru ca ei pleaca, te lasa singur. Da stii ca ei vor ramane mereu langa tine.

Asa ca, va rog, cititi cartea! Mi-a placut foarte mult, am iubit-o si acum e sigur una din preferatele mele. Pentru ca e simpla si plina de emotii si intrebari si raspunsuri... si tot. Aceasta carte are doua vieti in ea, le puteti privi, puteti simti, dar mai mult, vreti sa nu faceti nimic, de teama sa nu stricati ceva. Cred ca doar privindu-i pe Ari si Dante cand sunt impreuna si vorbind poti simti fericirea. Asa ca puneti mana pe aceasta fericire si traiti-o! 

5/5

Cateva citate:

“Words were different when they lived inside of you.” 

“I bet you could sometimes find all the mysteries of the universe in someone's hand.” 

“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. So I just stupidly repeated myself. "Dante's my friend.” 

“The summer sun was not meant for boys like me. Boys like me belonged to the rain.” 

“And why was it that some guys had tears in them and some had no tears at all? Different boys lived by different rules.” 

“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.” 

“All this time.

This was what was wrong with me. All this time I had been trying to figure out the secrets of the universe, the secrets of my own body, of my own heart. All of the answers had always been so close and yet I'd always fought them without even knowing it. From the minute I'd met Dante... I just didn't let myself know it, think it, feel it. My father was right. And it was true what my mother said. We all fight our own private wars.”