Amy 
young adult
In Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Ari is a Mexican American teen living in El Paso, TX -- 15 years old at the beginning of the novel and 17 at the end of the novel. It's a coming-of-age story for the younger YA crowd which typically would not interest me overly much. However, this audiobook is narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda which was my deciding factor.
The novel was well written by Benjamin Alire Saenz, contained many interesting characters, some unusual family dynamics, some intriguing plot movements, and the story was realistic. The story is written from Ari’s point of view. And yet, even though the reader is in Ari’s head, Ari’s upbringing has unexpectedly caused him to not question himself too deeply. So, the reader gets ideas along with Ari. But I find it interesting that Ari even confused me enough to accept his unintentionally misguided reality. Neither Ari nor the reader get any real answers to questions until the end.
It was charming, heartwarming, and kept me interested enough to hear it all the way through. I really enjoyed the ending. This story might have tied things up a little too neatly at the end, but I’m not one to let that sort of thing bother me. I also enjoyed getting another cultural perspective. And, Lin-Manuel gets an A+ for his excellent narration. He's a natural story-teller.
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