Published February 21st 2012
I have something I want to say about this book: I LOVED IT
First: Wow, the title. It is so long!! I have never really liked one-word booktitles.. Because i like the title to say something about the book. When i am done reading the book i want to look at the title and see what it means. I want to remember the book and why i loved it, and that is just so much harder when the booktitles are short.
But not this one ( ﾉ^ω^)ﾉﾟ I love the title and the way it's formulated and <3!
Second: The names! I love reading books where the characters have names that are different. Some may argue that since i read fantasy books there are a lot of books that have unordianry names, and with that the names isn't that different anymore.. But I like "special" names.
Names doesn't do much to us readers except give us something to call the character by, but i still much more enjoy reading names like; Aristotle, Dante, Sapphire, Celaena, Katsa and Toraf over Emma, Jacob and Alex.. So yea.. Love the names (.=^・ェ・^=)
Third: Aristotle and Danter are gay! I have never read a book where any characters are gay, except Raffin and Brann from Graceling, but they barely get any time in the book so we don't really see it other than that one line saying Raffin likes boys and the looks that pass between them. I am all for homosexuality and people who are gay to feel free and proud and confident to tell that to the world. And so i am thrilled that this is my first book with a gay protagonist and this theme so centered.
The story is told from Aristotle's (or Ari) point of view. Sarting this book, we start with a pretty clean slate. Ari is basically friendless and does a lot of thinking, so as we see this story from Ari's perspective this helps us paint a picture of him and the world around him without it seeming forced. It feels like you where just put in his head and all the information comes to you in a natural way.
Also; Ari doesn't start out gay, in fact he's 15 and doesn't really have any experience with relationships. As i said he doesn't really have any friends, but he likes it that way. He thinks all boys are a waste of space or will grow up to be, and girl are just mysteries. He likes thinking of the world as a lot of mysteries. Ari is very conflicted inside about his family and himself, where he belongs and who he is. And i really liked that about him. Maybe because i could understand much of how he felt.
One day at the pool he meet a boy named Dante, who offers Aristotle to teach him to swim. Dante is very different from other boys. He is like a breath of fresh air. He is very honest and open, and he is always only himself. I absolutely love the bond Aristotle and Dante forms. They are so different, yet they seem to just fit each other so well. And reading about how they discover themselves was just beautiful.
Another thing i liked was the parents in this story. Very often the parents are not there or irresposable or something along those lines. But here the parents are so present in the story. They have a family bond like a proper family. And i love reading Ari or Dante talking to their parents; just the quick lines and comebacks seem so real like real boys talking to their parents (which is what it's supposed to be)
I think this story is cleverly written. Benjamon does a really good job of mixing what's happening in the plot with Aristotle's though, past and presesnt, while still planting these little seeds of feelings and what's going to happen. It is done so that no thoughts or actions feels forced for the plot, but natural. I felt like i discovered Ari's feelings along with him as i read.
I recommend this book to everyone! The book is light (about 3-400 pages on my ipad) and it's a pageturner 〜(^∇^〜）
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