Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
By: Benjamin Alire Saenz / Narrated By: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
And they discover the secrets in El Paso, no less!
That the book takes place in my hometown of El Paso just makes it all that much greater. This is a truly wonderful audiobook: Great story, great writing, great narration. Great, great, great, great, great! (Wait! I’ll say it one more time: GREAT!)
I s’pose what I like most about it is that it’s about every form of love there is on the planet, with a good dose of grief thrown in there too (because EVERYthing in life is tinged with sorrow and seriousness).
Ari is a teen-aged loner who is the last child at home. His sisters are waaaaaay older, and he has a brother in prison that nobody ever speaks of; it’s as tho’ the guy never existed in their family. Ari senses that he loved his brother very much and that he’s been living a shadow life, one where he must be the good and dutiful son to make up for the one who made mistakes and is in the slammer. But Ari also has a temper, and he also uses his fists. He worries his mother and father.
He also doesn’t have any friends, and that worries his mother and father too.
Enter Dante, another boy with another improbable name. The two hit it off and become inseparable. Dante brings poetry into Ari’s life, he brings art, he brings sure wit and ready acceptance. And Ari, it turns out, will do anything for Dante, even going so far as risking his own life to keep him out of harm’s way.
When Dante and his family have to leave El Paso for a school year, and he starts admitting his homosexual tendencies, Ari finds out what it means to be an even better friend. It’s not good enough just to risk your life for a true friend, you have to be willing to stand up for your friend when they turn out to be different too, no matter what the world at large says. And the Hispanic community is fraught with the macho, the tough guys.
Though Lin-Manuel Miranda’s voice for Dante sometimes struck me as a tad bitchy and whiny at times, I had to get over it as Dante, well, he WAS a tad bitchy and whiny at times. Plus, Miranda’s voice for Ari’s dad and Ari himself were spot on, making Dad, an enigmatic Vietnam vet, warmer as the story evolved, making Ari a confused boy with quick fists more settled as he learns more secrets to life’s greater mysteries.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a sweet story of friendship, coming of age, figuring out adults can be trusted, you name it, this story has it.
Plus, it has EL PASO!!!
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