We all know, have known or possibly were/are people like the characters in this book. Neither saints nor simply intent on making the boys’ lives miserable, they are well intentioned, love their children and spouses, and are dealing with the realities of their lives in the best ways they can. Another nice touch is that all of the parents are real people too. Their conversations, actions, interactions with parents, and inner dialogues are instantly recognizable. In Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, author Benjamin Alire Saenz achieves what few writers seem able to do: write believable teenage characters that behave, act, and think like actual teenagers. Often times it is overly romanticized and described as “the best years of my/your life!” Conversely, an author will paint a much darker image of despair, loneliness and tragic circumstances, deepened by the lack of life experience. And over the course of the summer, this new friendship will be challenged-and strengthened-in ways neither the boys nor their parents would ever have expected.Īdolescence is a common subject that writers tackle with varying degrees of success. They talk to each other about things they’ve never told anyone else, and challenge each other to see things in different ways. With so little in common, they seem an unlikely pair.īut in spite of, or possibly because of, their differences, Ari and Dante become inseparable. Even their parents are different: Ari’s Dad is a postal worker, his Mom is a school teacher Dante’s Dad is a college professor and his Mom is a therapist.
While Ari is quiet and contemplative, Dante speaks whatever is on his mind, asking and saying things Ari would never dream of uttering. Dante is also 15, also Mexican-American like Ari, but that is where their similarities seem to end: Dante is an only child, while Ari has three much older siblings.
When Dante Quintana offers to teach him and he agrees, it’s the beginning of something special. While he enjoys being in the water (in El Paso in summer), Ari doesn’t know how to swim. With nothing better to do on a summer morning in 1987, he heads to the community pool. He is also perpetually bored, moody, and has bouts of inexplicable anger. He prefers his own company to that of others.
With this kind and innocent offer, a relationship begins that will alter both of these boys, and their families, as they forge a friendship that will help them on their journey to becoming men.Īristotle “Ari” Mendoza is the classic loner. Two 15-year-old boys, each spending the afternoon at the community pool: “I can teach you how to swim,” one says to the other.
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