Benjamin Alire Sáenz is an award-winning American poet, novelist and writer of children’s books. He was born at Old Picacho, New Mexico on the 16th of August in 1954. Sáenz graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Humanities and Philosophy in 1977, and returned to school after becoming a priest for a few years. He studied English and Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he earned a Master of Arts Degree in Creative Writing. His works include Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Last Night I Sang to the Monster, He Forgot To Say Goodbye, Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club, Carry Me Like Water, and more. Sáenz has won numerous awards including the Michael L. Printz Award, Paterson Book Prize,
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The novel touches on many important topics, including homophobia, discovering your sexuality, coming of age, being a person of color, PTSD, and family struggles. Every reader will be able to relate in some way to the struggles discussed in the books, and will help many readers understand their own difficulties in their lives. The mood and tone of the story is very captivating and not too heavy nor too simple. Sáenz writes the novel in a poetic and lyrical way, and gives the reader insight on every aspect of Ari and Dante’s life that the reader wants to know. Ari and Dante’s story concludes after a plot twist that leads to self discovery, and will result in the reader feeling content about the way their favorite characters led their lives but also wishing for more. The author fails to ensure that all situations and dialogue is realistic in the year of 1988. Ari’s family is very accepting of a subject that was avoided at that time, and though family is an important factor of the novel, the way Ari’s family approaches the subject of their son’s sexuality is very impractical for that time. Though self discovery is difficult for many people, the main character fails to piece together his thoughts into what is an obvious fact. The book, in that perspective, is very slow and the turning point of the novel could have been reached at an earlier
The novel touches on many important topics, including homophobia, discovering your sexuality, coming of age, being a person of color, PTSD, and family struggles. Every reader will be able to relate in some way to the struggles discussed in the books, and will help many readers understand their own difficulties in their lives. The mood and tone of the story is very captivating and not too heavy nor too simple. Sáenz writes the novel in a poetic and lyrical way, and gives the reader insight on every aspect of Ari and Dante’s life that the reader wants to know. Ari and Dante’s story concludes after a plot twist that leads to self discovery, and will result in the reader feeling content about the way their favorite characters led their lives but also wishing for more. The author fails to ensure that all situations and dialogue is realistic in the year of 1988. Ari’s family is very accepting of a subject that was avoided at that time, and though family is an important factor of the novel, the way Ari’s family approaches the subject of their son’s sexuality is very impractical for that time. Though self discovery is difficult for many people, the main character fails to piece together his thoughts into what is an obvious fact. The book, in that perspective, is very slow and the turning point of the novel could have been reached at an earlier