- Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe. Benjamin Alire Sáenz.
In the summer of 1987, Aristotle Mendoza, aka Ari, is dealing with his tense family situation and the perspective of another lonely, bitter summer. But in the first day he meets free-spirited Dante Quintana. And so begins an intense friendship that across a year will take both boys on a journey of self-discovery. Of sorting out their complex feelings about their Mexican-American heritage, about their parents, the society they live in —and their blooming love for each other.
Terrific YA gay romance set in 80’s El Paso, Texas. Peopled with unforgettable characters and told in a deceivingly sparse prose that perfectly captures the thought processes of teenagers then and now, this is the kind of book that we adult readers wish we could have read when we were ourselves teenagers. And that contemporary kids, one hopes, will get plenty out of.
Quite recommended.
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