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arraylameer · 4 months

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ARISTOTLE AND DANTE RANT AND SYNOPSIS

So I’ve read the book and I’ve watched the movie so now I’m going to share my opinions on the book vs the movie

So first I need to explain what I like about the book before getting into my… opinions on the movie.

I read the book Aristotle and Dante discover the mysteries of the universe… AND I LOVED IT. It’s a beautifully written book about a young teen, Ari, navigating his complicated issues and repressed feelings for love, family, and connections. A lot of this stems from how his family tries to keep him away from the darkness that they’ve endured and he ends up being left in it.

He has to uncover his feelings, his wants, and his thoughts and face the world with it all in his head. “Everyone has there own private wars they’re fighting” the absence of his brother and the story behind why he’s in jail is apart of his war.

Every day we get a view of Ari’s every day life. He has a close connection with his family but something is always distant with them. His dad fought in the war and lives with that trauma. He repressed it and keeps his pain away from others because that’s easier than letting it out of his head. He’s a distant figure that Ari desperately wants to understand. He’s “unknowable like him” this is most likely a main cause of why Ari is the way he is because one of his struggles is his development into becoming a man and this is his male rule model. - His mom loves him very much and will make that very clear every day. -His moments with his family are very important to the story. They are parts of his universe. They are mysteries that he needs to come to understand. -so naturally through out the story, he speaks with his mom. They usually end up talking about the rules she has set for him. He then warns her that he will break them behind her back and she agrees that as long as she doesn’t find out there wouldn’t be a problem. We also see how much his mom means to him. He loves her but doesn’t know how. She loves him and he’s the reason she lives with such happiness despite a past she’s pained with every day. (His brother) -His dad who was in the war is very distant and unknowable as previously mentioned, but every now and then he spends time with his dad. They speak briefly until Ari asks him a question that he doesn’t want to answer. His dad goes back to his reclusive ways and remains an unknowable mystery.

So most of the story is about his intimate connections and his private thoughts and how he views the world around him. The second part is him trying to figure out where he stands with it all… the third part is his connection with Dante.

Dante is a bright and happy person who talks passionately about what he’s interested in. He loves art, poetry, and literature, and will do everything in his power to make that everyone’s problem. Every thought and feeling in his head he shares. He’s the polar opposite of Ari who keeps it all inside but what they have in common is seeing the world as a story to be analyzed. Both have emotions and feelings they don’t understand. Ari is basically the closed off version of Dante.

He and Dante are a lot alike, they just feel and experience the world in different ways. But they both stand out and this makes them a unit.

So naturally Ari is drawn to this person. He has a light and a warmth that Ari doesn’t get in his life. Well he does, but it doesn’t stick like Dante’s does.

He met Dante at a pool during summer. Ari was trying to learn how to swim, Dante noticed and jumped in to help him learn. Ari is unsure at first but after a few moments with him he comes to like him and so forms the beginning of a relationship I will fan girl gush about until the day I die.

So anyway Dante introduces him to his parents. They are the open, happy, knowable family Ari doesn’t have. They are bright, warm, and welcoming of him. Ari feels at home with them.

Later, he goes on a trip with Dante and his family in a truck to the desert with a telescope to look at the stars. It was a very warm and intimate scene between them. Ever since then, the desert and the stars were Ari’s home.

We see Ari grow more and more fond of Dante’s family over the summer. Ari and Dante’s parents even met and became friends. They were now a unit and they had each other.

Dante and Ari spent the rest of the summer together. They made up a game based on Dante’s hate for shoes and they spent time in each other’s rooms. Dante did most of the talking Ari did the listening. Dante introduced him to literature and poetry and had him read his favorite pieces of writing while he drew in his sketchbook. We get moments of the two families coming together to talk. Ari was amazed that Dante’s dad and his had become close. He didn’t understand it.

By the end of summer Ari was hit with a feeling he didn’t expect or understand. I’d say it’s a feeling relating to despair (it’s left up to interpretation because Ari doesn’t understand feelings or what they mean) after Dante reveals that he and his family were leaving to Chicago after summer ended. Though he would come back by the time by the time summer returned, they would still be separated for a year. So naturally, they were sad. Then Dante noticed a wounded bird in the street. He ran to help it. He didn’t notice a car coming straight for him. Ari shouts his name and shoved him out of the way of the car. He gets hit and ends up in the hospital with a broken arm and two broken legs… and people he didn’t want to deal with.

He spends time in the hospital with Dante who has only a broken arm, Ari sets his boundaries/rules between them. Specifically the no talking about what happened and the no crying rule. He then speaks with Dante’s parents, the Quintana’s, who are extremely great full and loving towards him. He enjoys spending time with them despite the fact he was annoyed they felt they owed him something for saving their sons life. He spent the rest with a funny doctor who questions him on why he saved Dante, implying that there was another reason for saving him other than the “I wasn’t thinking I just did what anyone would do”, answer Ari had given him. It gives Ari something he doesn’t want to think about. During this time Dante gives him his sketchbook. A sketchbook that’s special to him that he only wants Ari to look at. Ari is tired of being seen as a noble hero who deserves rewards for what he’s done. He feels like he was only given the sketchbook as a thank you for saving my life present rather than a your special to me one. He feels mad and doesn’t know why so after Dante leaves, he throws it at the wall. Oof. His mom sees it and they start talking.

He gets out of the hospital. He spends time with Dante and his family come by to say their goodbyes.

Ari and Dante promise to stay friends even if they’re apart for so long.

Chapters go by of them writing to each other. Dante mostly at first. It takes Ari a while to write back but he does and he tells Dante not to expect much writing from him and he’d have to accept that. Dante does. He’ll always accept him.

Ari goes to school. Gina and her friend annoy him. He’s known Gina for a long time, they are friends but he’ll never admit it. They don’t quite get along but they still like each other’s company. At school, Ari meets this girl Leana. He has a crush on her. He becomes fixated on her and what could possibly happen between them.

After his leg heals, he finds a dog who followed him home. His family decided to keep her. Ari loves her, names her Legs, and runs with her every day. He needed a loving therapy animal.

He starts working at a fast food place and he gets a truck for his birthday. He loves that truck. He takes it out to the desert and looks at the stars with Legs. It’s his happy place.

He ends up going to a party with Gina and her friend. He looks for Leana. He finds her and they kiss. Poor Ari.

Later she tells him she’s pregnant and engaged with someone in a gang? Something like that and she has to go. Ari is mad and he feels used. I think he figured out the details on his own but she did tell him her boyfriend was in a gang and she couldn’t escape him.

So yeah there’s that.

Anyway he invites Gina and her friend to go out to the desert with him. They agree and together, they share a moment together while laying in his truck and staring up at the stars. Two girls and a boy being platonic friends can you imagine??? It’s not a big part of the book but I do love that little beautiful moment between them. Just three friends looking at the sky with blissful wonder.

School ends and summer comes back and so does Dante. Ari is super happy to see him. Dante meets Legs and they go into his house and Ari is greeted with love from the Quintana’s.

Ari is a LOT more open. He talks a lot more. This allows room for them to grow closer.

He goes out with Dante and Legs to the desert in Ari’s truck and gaze at the stars.

Dante is very open about his sexuality. He told Ari that in the future, he would marry another boy. Ari accepts things but he’s confused. Dante hints that he wants to kiss Ari, Ari is also puzzled by this. He doesn’t understand. He doesn’t even understand himself how is he to know how to feel about Dante??? Later, Dante pushes for a kiss. Ari immediately said “no” and that he and I quote “doesn’t kiss boys” Dante said “how do you know if you haven’t tried it” Ari says “I think you just know” (lol) and then after Dante insists one more time Ari finally agrees. They kiss. HERES THE KICKER. After the kiss Ari tells him it “did nothing for him” Dante said he felt the opposite. Dante asks if he’s mad. Ari told him he was mad at himself for allowing Dante to talk him into things. Dante looks sad. Ari tells him not to be sad and thinks to himself, “I hate seeing Dante sad” they leave it at that.

Ari takes a couple days before reconnecting with him. They go for a run and pretend nothing happened. Ari is completely fine with this, Dante fights the urge to bring it up.

Ari gets into an argument with his parents about his brother. They refuse to tell him things. This makes him mad.

Later, his Aunt Ofilia dies. Ari and his dad head to the funeral in Tucson, his moms already there. They talk a little. Time with Ari’s dad is important to him. They’re conversation turns into a bit of a conflict after his dad told him he had been to Ofilia’s during his brothers trial. Ari said sending him away did nothing and he thinks of his brother all the time. His dad finally says his mother had a breakdown during that time. His dad goes into depth about the grief he witnessed her having and then begins to cry. Ari says sorry. Ari has this new but if information and his dad has opened up to him. Now Ari is a little more free of the knowledge that’s kept from him. Ari said he had hated he and his mom for keeping that information from him. His dad cries and said he knows and he’s sorry.

He and his family are the only ones at the funeral. When Ari asks, his mom and dad tell him it’s because she was in a romantic relationship with a woman and the rest of her family didn’t accept that and she was cut off from the family. But Ari’s parents stayed in touch and even let Ari stay with them when he was little. As I mentioned, they sent him there during his brother’s trial. He remembers being happy with Ofelia and her partner. (Ofelia’s partner, Franny, died of cancer six years back so she was alone during her last days. We learn this a little later)He asked his parents if her relationship with a woman bothered them and they said no. His dad looked angry when he asked because he was mad at the side of her family that rejected her.

His mom looks at Ari and tells him she’d like to show him some pictures of his brother. Ari looks forward to this. They are finally leading him out of the darkness.

He chats with Dante. Dante tells him he’s interested in this guy at his work. Ari says nothing then Dante changes the subject.

Ari and his family are still in Tucson on the Fourth of July. They spend time together as a family, they share a beer and his mom said “this isn’t the first time you’ve had a beer is it?” He says no and reminds her that anything she wouldn’t approve of he’d do behind her back. Fair. And then they began talking about Ofelia some more. They mentioned Franny and how she died of cancer. He asked if they went to the funeral and they said yes. Ari questioned why they didn’t bring him he said he liked her and she’d send him Christmas gifts and then his mom says “we should have told you” this is a huge turning point for Ari’s life. He needed to hear those words.

Ari’s mom packed boxes in the car. He asks what’s in them and she tells him letters she’d written her. Ari asks what she’s gonna do with them. She said “give them to you” and Ari says “really?” And he wonders if his smile is as big as hers. He thinks “maybe as big. But not as beautiful”

On the way back to El Paso he feels at peace. Driving through a stormy desert with he and his family. They talk. Ari feels like his world is more open. He sees love between his mom and dad. He loves that moment. He begins thinking of the rain as he sticks his hand out of the car to the downpour. He thinks to himself that the sky was kissing him. He then thought that was a Dante thought to have. They parked the car because his dad couldn’t drive in it. Ari feels alone. Alone like rain. He belonged in the rain.

Now get ready for some Dante stuff. This pre chapter quote says a lot… “through all of youth I was looking for you with out knowing what I was looking for” -W.S Merwin. Story of Ari’s life.

Anyway… here’s the sad part… Ari comes home to bad news. He goes to see Dante and is informed that Dante is in the hospital. It’s just him and Mr. Quintana. Mr. Quintana asks how well Ari knows Dante. He pushes for him to admit he knows Dante’s secret, that he’s gay. Ari confesses he knew. Mr.Quintana said “I think I knew” Ari asks how and he responds, “the way he looks at you sometimes” Ari simply says “oh” then Mr.Quintana asked why Dante hadn’t told him. Ari told him that Dante had said, “he didn’t want to disappoint them” Mr. Quintana feels bad and Ari assured him that it’s ok and that Dante’s crazy about his parents and that he’s lucky to have them. Then Mr.Quintana told him what happened to Dante. He was beaten after seen kissing another boy in an alley. That’s all he knew.

Ari is furious and devastated but he’s handling it like a champ! Well for now… there’s a little mind left before someone goes crazy crazy crazy.

Ari goes by the house to tell his parents and bring his dog, Legs, back home from where he had left them at the Quintana’s and Ari’s parents are also devastated. They love Dante as though he’s a member of the family. They see him that way and he is and I think that’s more than lovely. More than mountains and sky’s lovely. But not stars. Stars are more lovely. But maybe not so loving… anyway! Yeah they’re devastated. Every ones devastated. Cry. He also quickly told them what he knew and just left.

Ari visits Dante at the hospital and Dante’s a mess. He has broken ribs and his face is beaten in. Ari is devastated. Ari apologizes for not being there and that he hated the people who did this to him. And then Dante’s parents came in and assured him that Dante would be ok. And then he sat with them and they talked. Mrs.Quintana told him Dante needs him and that he needs a friend. Ari said he felt the same about Dante. Ari told them he hated the people who did that to him. Mrs.Quintana said that Sam had caught her up on what they had discussed earlier and that Ari knew about Dante being gay. And I loved Ari’s response, “there are worse things in the world than abbot who likes to kiss other boys” Mrs.Quintana agrees and says tells him that she thinks Dante’s in love with him. Ari says “Yes. Well maybe not. I think he likes that other guy” and then Sam just flat out said, “maybe the other guys just a stand in” and Ari’s like, “for me you mean?” And then Sam says sorry and that this is all new and hard. Ari told him it’s ok. He told them they weren’t always adults. But that’s what he like about them. All adults as a whole. She then asks how he feels about the other boy. Ari says he has no idea. She asked if he cared. He said “what am I supposed to do”. And he gets teary. He “refused to cry. What was there to cry about?” He said, “I don’t know why to do” he then looked at both of Dante’s parents and said, “Dante’s my friend” and then we get this lovely little moment in his head of what Dante means to him. He had never had a true friend and he loved everything about Dante. But he couldn’t put all of this emotion and inner feelings into words so he just repeats, “Dante’s my friend” Mrs.Quintana told him they were right about him and that he was the sweetest boy they knew and Ari said “next to Dante” and they agreed “next to Dante.” The Quintana’s walked with Ari to his truck. Ari asks “what happened to the other guy?” Sam told him “he ran and Dante didn’t.” Mrs.Quintana cries and asks Ari why he didn’t run and Ari answered “because he’s Dante”

Ari left in his truck with no plan. He “didn’t know that” he “was going to do the things” he did. That’s when as he put it, “was just a boy.” Men were able to keep it all inside and boys couldn’t control the feelings they had in them. So he was a boy. “A boy who went crazy. Crazy, crazy.” He got into his truck and drove straight to the drugstore where Dante and, the guy who he was caught kissing, Daniel, worked. Ari tells him that he’s Ari, Dante’s friend and that if he doesn’t meet him outside in five minutes he would come to him and beat him up. Daniel complied and they walked. Ari told him what happened and awaited a response after mentioning that Daniel hadn’t come to visit him. Daniel is silent and Ari wants to beat the crap out of him but refrains. Ari angrily asks if he has anything to say. Daniel is trembling now. Ari doesn’t care. It’s time for the interrogation, it’s time for answers, it’s time to target this anger at someone else. Ari asks “who were they?” Daniel asks if he was going to tell anyone. (About him kissing another boy) Ari grabs him by the collar and lets him go. Ari tells him, “Dante’s lying in a hospital and the only thing your worried about is who I’m going to tell?” He repeats himself after calling him an “asshole” one more time. Daniel says he didn’t know. Ari called bull, and threatened him once more. Daniel finally confesses he didn’t know all of them. He tells Ari there were four of them and the only ones he knew were Julian and Joe. (Those are two gay dudes in two different stories I’ve read how ironic) Ari’s mad he left Dante there. He asked if Daniel cared he said he did. Ari said you didn’t run. Daniel said Dante wouldn’t run. So Ari shoved him into a wall and walks away back to his truck for step two.

He knew Julian and he knew where to find him. He played basketball with him back when he was in grade school. He goes to his house and his little sister answered the door and told him he was at work. Ari asked where he worked and she told him he worked and when he gets off. Ari then makes his way to where he works. He drives around a bit before going to where he worked. He’s crazy. Crazy crazy… crazy. He plays it cool at first. They casually chat for a minute. He gets Julian to come over and then he’s beating him up. He breaks his nose. Julian’s dad works there and comes and separates them. His dad warns him that the police would be involved if it happened again. Ari gets in his truck and leaves, covered in blood.

He goes home and just sits for a minute. He starts shaking and starts thinking about how he’s crazy and what it means to be crazy. His dad comes out, furious with him. He told him Julian’s dad called and told him about what happened. Ari tries to escape but his dad grasped his arm firmly but not painfully and sits him down on the couch. Ari was shaking like crazy. “Nothing could stop the shaking” his mom and dad sat around him. His dad said “talk” Ari said he “wanted to hurt him.” His mom looks at him with disbelief. Ari hates that look of disbelief. Like come on accept your sons crazy crazy crazy. Ari looked at her and repeated himself. She tells him “your brother hurt someone once” and she starts sobbing. Ari can’t stand it. He said “don’t cry, Mom, please don’t cry” she asks why and then tells him he broke Julian’s nose and the only reason Julian’s dad didn’t call the cops is because his dad is and old friend of his and tells him that he has to pay for Julian’s hospital visit. After a moment of silence Ari said he was sorry even though he wasn’t. This wasn’t enough. Ari’s dad asked “sorry, Ari” Ari looked at him and decided it was time to be honest, time to stop hiding the way he feels about his life and his life built around them. He tells them that’s he’s not his brother and that he was tired of having to play the hood kid to please them and that he has to live in his brothers shadow. After another silence Ari admits he doesn’t know if he’s sorry. Ari’s mom demands that he tells her why he did it. Ari says ok and asks if they’ll listen. His dad asks “why wouldn’t we listen?” He looked at them and told them. He told them they hurt Dante and left him lying in an alley with cracked ribs and that they wouldn’t have cared if Dante died. He started to cry and then told them that Dante had been kissing another boy. He couldn’t stop crying and he didn’t know why. He stopped and he knew he was very angry. “Angrier than” he’d “ever been in” his “life”. His mom combed his hair and his father tells him he’s fighting a war and fighting it in the worst way possible. Ari tells him he doesn’t know how to fight it. His dad tells him he should ask for help. Ari says he doesn’t know how to do that either.

He took a shower and when he got out his mom was in the kitchen holding an envelope with his brothers name on it. Ari tells her he drinks beer sometimes and he’s not an angel or a saint he’s just Ari. His mom says “don’t say that.” Ari says “it’s true” She strongly disagrees and tells him that it isn’t and that he’s sweet and good and not as he had said, screwed up. He mentioned Julian. She said it wasn’t a very smart thing to do. He said that it also wasn’t nice. She agrees. She opened the envelope and said, “this is you. You and Bernardo” (Bernardo his brother) she told Ari that he’d loved Bernardo so much. She then explains that being a parent is hard and you can’t always get it right and hands him the envelope saying “it’s all there” and then goes on to say his brother had killed some one with his bare fists. She then smiled a little and said she’d never said that before. Ari thought it was “the saddest smile” he’d “ever seen.” He asks if it still hurts she said always. He asks how she stands it and she said she didn’t know. She mentions that everyone has to bear something. His father, the war in his head, Ari has to deal with his own painful journey of becoming a man and asks him if that’s painful for him. Ari said yes. His mom says his brother is the thing she had to bear. Ari told her it wasn’t her fault. She told him she thinks mothers and fathers always blame themselves. Ari told her he loved her and didn’t know he could love her this much. She smiled and tells him he helps her bear it. Ari tells her he’ll only disappoint her like what he had done to Julian. She said no and she thinks she understands him. And for once he believes she does. She asks if he’s going to take the envelope. He said yes but that he wouldn’t yet and sat there while his mom sipped her glass of wine for a long time. Ari then looks through pictures of Bernardo. Ari’s mom watched him and Ari thought “it was true. I had never loved her more” Later, Ari asked where his dad was, his mom told him he went to see Sam. Ari asked about what and she 77said “about what happened.” And tells him that the two are friends. Ari finds this interesting.

NOT FINNISHED

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