5/22/2023 0 Comments Aristotle and dante books in orderThe sky was almost black and then it started hailing. We sat, drinking our tea and watching the rain fall on his front porch. What struck me about this book is how the simplicity of the words lets the character portraits shine through. (I mean, they think adults know what they’re doing. I loved the way that Sáenz was able to capture that liminal state of being sixteen or seventeen – on one hand, the boys are desperately struggling to be adults and find their identities, and on the other, they are the very definition of young naiveté. Dante is particularly eloquent, but it’s in an awkward and painfully self-aware way Ari is gruff and reserved. Ari and Dante are neither perfect, poetic specimens of sixteen, nor are they crazy crude for shock value. Even when he’s just expressing basic statements, like “being sixteen sucks,” he writes it in a voice that rings true. Sáenz’s prose is deceptively simple, yet lyrical. Talky Talk: Straight Up With a Twist of Poetry Is there or isn’t there something between the two boys? Or is there something between each of them and a couple of girls? There are a few incredibly nice moments either way - nothing that will melt your pants, but I bet it will melt your heart. I wanted to hug them, but mostly I just enjoyed watching them figure everything out on their own. Both of them felt like real sixteen-year-old boys going through some heavy stuff.
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