Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe- #aaddtsotu
“The world was so silent. There was a barrier between me and the world, and I thought for a moment that the world had never wanted me and now it was taking the opportunity to get rid of me.”
As we start to grow and think, we start to fight our own private war within ourselves. Sometimes to fit in with the world, sometimes to get rid of pretending to the world, sometimes to just speak all the heart out, and so on. and while reading this book I was getting nostalgic of how I behaved, how my brother behaved, and how my friends they behaved in their teen time and how we all were fighting our own wars. and still, we are fighting our own private wars within ourselves.
Similarly, this story starts with a boy named Aristotle, Ari who is frustrated, angry, and lost due to his family complications and his own dreams. In his family, Ari has a father, (who is silently bearing the trauma of the vitenam war, and this trauma within is keeping Ari distant from him), a mother (who is trying hard to keep a connection with both Ari and his father), an older brother (who is in the jail), and sisters (who are a generation older and treats him like a family mascot rather than an equal sibling). But the war starts inside Ari when he longs to know more about his older brother but his parents have already erased every belonging of his older brother from the house and are keeping everything inside their heart. All this comes to Ari with a betrayal feeling that his life “is a story written by someone else,” and he doesn’t actually fit in anywhere in the world.
Ari never had any real friends until the day of one summer of his fifteen he meets a boy Dante. Dante is just a perfect teen boy with an open unique perspective of life. Initially, they bond over their unusual crazy names but then they develop a special bond with time where Dante is open to his all feelings and care, and Ari who continuously feared love, friendship, and the real himself, tries not to befriend strongly with Dante. But against all odds and hurdles, Ari and Dante emerge stronger, and Ari who is continuously regretting growing up finally solves the mysteries he had of himself and feels like a free man.
This whole story of the book written by Benjamin Alire Saenz is lyrical and beautiful. Though the book neither contains any big plot nor any large SAT words. But still, every sentence of the book is carrying a lot, lots of emotion. Every character, every dialogue, their continuous laugh, every time they call each other weird, it makes you feel you are with them in their friendship. Highly recommended for all. and I will definitely reread this book.
