Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

 

 

Aristotle Mendoza is fifteen years old and lives in El Paso, Texas. He's an only child, keeps his emotions bottled inside, keeps to himself, and has no friends. He decides to go to the community pool one summer day and meets Dante, who teaches him to swim. The two boys seem to instantly become friends and the novel circles around their relationship. This book is so special and covers so many topics; friendship, family, lies, secrets, homosexuality, love, minorities, gangs, violence, and coming of age. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe has no true plot. It is more about emotions, relationships, and discovering who they really are.

 

Saenz is a poet and it is so evident through out the book. The sentence structure is short, but it reads almost lyrically. I love how he took controversial topics head on and made them something beautiful. I really wish schools could use this book in their curriculum. It is important for the younger generation to be more accepting and tolerant of people and their lifestyle choices.

 

I, personally, loved how accepting and loving both Aristotle and Dante's parents were. They never put them down, nor were they angry or upset that they were gay. The Mendozas and the Quintanas wanted nothing but happiness for their children. As a parent, I think that kind of an attitude is something to strive for. 

Sparta: A Novel

 

 

 

I am left in awe of this book. It was not what I had expected, but in the best way possible. Conrad has just returned home to New York, after serving four years and two deployments in Iraq, as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. The years he had spent in Iraq left him longing for the luxuries of home, but when he actually gets back he is surprised by what he encounters. He struggles daily with adjusting back into civilian life, and as the days go by it only gets worse. Thankfully for Conrad he has the support of his family to see him through the dark days.

 

 

This book is so raw. It is honestly like reading from a veteran's journal. You would never know it was a work of fiction. It brings up so many valid points. Our young men and women are returning home from "war" and they are not met with the ticker tape parades of World War II. It is a constant struggle for a lot of them to enter back in to society as a civilian. It is even harder when they feel isolated from the world, their family, and friends. They come back changed and it is hard for them to adjust.

 

 

"Fear. You didn't call it fear, but that's what it was. All that was over now, but the habit was hard to break. Was it a habit or a way of life?"

 

 

It was very disheartening to see Conrad finally go to the VA to seek help, and have to wait months, counting down the days, and get shrugged off with medication. While I am not sure that every veteran has had this experience, it is disgraceful for even one to have to go through that. It takes a lot of courage to admit that you need help and to be so easily dismissed can be earth shattering.

 

 

I think this is must read for everyone. I think that it gives readers a perspective they don't often see from soldiers or war. When people think of the cost of war they count death tolls. No one thinks of the soldiers who lost years (or more) of their lives to post traumatic stress disorder. I commend Roxana Robinson for touching on this issue in such an eloquent, raw way.

 

 

"Sparta made young boys into warriors; it was left to the warriors to restore themselves to men."

Allegiant

 

 

Warning: This review does contain spoilers. Consider yourself warned.

 

Allegiant is the final novel in Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy. Evelyn Johnson has taken over the city, but not everyone believes she should be in control. A group of former faction members start a revolution. They call themselves the Allegiant. Johanna and Cara, the Allegiant leaders, decide to take a group of former Dauntless members outside of the city limits and ultimately halt Evelyn's rise to power. The group learns that the history they thought to be true their whole lives, was nothing but a lie.

 

At times I suffered from information overload while reading this book. Every chapter, almost every page, was full of new information. It was as if the author was unsure of where the book was going to end and just kept throwing random information in there for good measure. Also, it seemed as though once the group left Chicago behind the problems there and the city itself became almost an afterthought to them. Chicago was so insignificant in the scheme of this novel. I do love the action and I think that's what makes this series so popular, but sometimes less is more. It just seems as though each book has the same major problem(s), only with different leaders. I thought this book would be different. I enjoyed some of it, but I expected more feelings and emotions, and I didn't get that.

 

I appreciated a little more "romance" between Tris and Tobias in this book. Like I said before, I wish there had been more. I realize this is not a romance novel, and I would not have wanted that, but there are very few scenes where Tris and Tobias really connect, talk, or spend time alone. I think that is why the ending was so hard to swallow. They both seem excited about the prospect of a life together, without all of the chaos, and that is taken away from them. There is a quote that Tris says in this book that really hits home. It was by far my favorite quote from this novel.

 

 

"I fell in love with him. But I don't stay with him by default as if there's no one else available to me. I stay with him because I choose to, every day that I wake up, every day that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me."

 

 

 Let's go ahead and get this out of the way.... Tris dies. I had to go back and reread that part because I was in shock. I was NOT expecting that in the least. I do have to say kudos to Roth for being different. There are quite a few popular Young Adult series where the main character is faced with death, but defies all odds and lives (cough, Harry Potter, cough). While the author deserves mad props for this, in my book, I do have some issues surrounding Tris's death. I expected there to be more emotion from the other characters afterwards, especially Caleb, Christina, and Tobias. You see that they are upset, but I expected Tobias to be shattered. I wish we could have seen more emotion. I also think the book should have ended on the last chapter before the epilogue. I'm not a big fan of cheesy, unnecessary epilogues.  

I am glad that Veronica Roth strayed from the norm with her Young Adult trilogy. She stuck to the main themes and she captured the readers of the world. I will definitely miss these books, but I look forward to seeing them play out on the big screen (especially Tobias). 

 

 

Reconstructing Amelia

 

 

I decided to read this book because I heard rumors that it is coming out as a movie next year. This was Kimberly McCreight's debut novel, and while it could have used a little tweaking, I did enjoy it. Reconstructing Amelia is definitely Gone Girl-esque with likeable characters.

 

Kate Baron is a lawyer in an upscale firm in New York City. She is also a single mother to teen age daughter, Amelia. Kate receives a phone call from Amelia's top rated private school that Amelia has been suspended and that Kate needs to pick her up immediately. Kate arrives late to find police cars and emergency vehicles lined on the school grounds. She is told that Amelia jumped from the roof of the school to her death. Kate is understandably devastated. A random text message jump starts the investigation. Kate knows that Amelia would not have committed suicide, but on this journey she learns much more about her daughter than she ever expected.

 

 

Throughout this book I felt really bad for Kate. She was single, but also a successful lawyer, and able to provide. All she had was work and Amelia. She put a lot of her time into work and you could really see how much guilt she felt about that. She blamed herself for Amelia's death (If she had been there on time) and she felt as though she had failed as a mother. It did not help that her own parents were horrible examples, and completely full of themselves and their careers. I just wanted to give her a hug.

 

 

I enjoyed the alternating points of view between Kate and Amelia. It was also nice how the book alternates between past and present. Throughout the book I felt bad for Amelia. She did not really seem to have anyone she could fully rely on. Her mother worked ridiculous hours and she spent most of her time alone. Her best friend, Sylvia, tended to put boys first and was constantly talking about herself. Amelia becomes apart of a group in school, but is eventually harassed. She had to go through a lot and she could have really used a better support system.

 

 

The ending of the book was anti-climatic. The plot builds you up and you are wondering what really happened, but once you get there you are left thinking, "that's it?" I also was not thrilled with how the epilogue played out. It was really random. Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a fast read and kept my attention.