(As the title suggests a
large majority of this review was written in the wee hours of the night and
morning, when I should have been sleeping. It may meander slightly off course.)
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the
Universe
By Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Sometimes you just know. You just have this feeling, by the
cover, or the description, or just the weight of it in your hand, that a book
will be good. I felt that way about
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. I was right. I
love when I’m right about books.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the
Universe cracked me open and left me
jagged. And then it stitched me back up, piece by piece, until I was better
than I was before. My heart broke and my heart sang with joy.
The
protagonist, Aristotle, also known as Ari, is on a journey of discovery. I felt
all that Ari felt. I wanted to understand the beguiling and flirtatious
complexities of life. I saw anew the tragedy and the wonder. I felt the pain
and the thrill of navigating the murky territory that is family, and
friendship, and love. The words, the characters, the life within the pages, made me want to dance and leap, and throw my
hands up to the sky. I wanted to embrace the universe and all its mysteries-
and, like Ari, I learned to want to embrace the mysteries of myself. This is a
book about living, and loving, and becoming. And it is about learning how to do all of those things.
The
story and the characters shine with sincerity and beauty. I was impacted by the
honesty and gorgeous simplicity of the prose. It placed me firmly inside Ari’s
head. Inside his heart and his skin. I wanted to show him what he was missing,
but I couldn’t. He wasn’t ready and
neither was I, because I became Ari.
I am
Ari.
Everyone is Ari.
We are all becoming. We are all journeying toward the self
we want to be, the self we feel the best inside of. I can’t rush that journey.
Not for Ari, and not for myself.
In the end that is
why I love it so much- because I found myself within its pages. I am Ari, and I
am Dante. I am Ari’s parents, and Dante’s. I’m their friend, and sometimes even
their enemy. I can see my life within the facets of theirs even though we are
so very different. Perhaps that is the real lesson. We are all the same. We all desperately strive to discover the
mysteries and secrets of the universe- the universe inside our own skin, and
inside the people we meet. The secrets of the universe we inhabit every day. We
are just trying to understand our families, our friends, our lovers, and our
world. We are always changing and
becoming. In a way, that makes a small part of us always unknowable, just as
Ari said.
When
I finished reading Aristotle and Dante
Discover the Secrets of the Universe I closed it with a snap and hugged it tight
to my chest.
I said: “I love this book.”
I
meant it with every fiber of my being.
How
could I not love Aristotle and Dante?
“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, Benjamin Alire Sáenz
