Aristotle and Dante get to live a life of contrived circumstances.

         

“The problem with my life is that it was someone else’s idea”
        I chuckled to myself when I read that line and I thought it was a harbinger of great things to come but I was only half right. The good half first. I really enjoyed the way the book was written. I think that the author crafts sentences and paragraphs that illuminate the characters and their experiences of being 15 and finding a friend that they can talk with. I could even maybe (on retrospect probably not) re-read this book just because of how it is written but I have a hard time accepting the contrived finish. Maybe I misled myself by assuming the author was building characters that would reflect society rather than a plot line that just had to end up happily ever after, Disney style. (my eyes rolled even as I typed this)
I am not saying that an author has a responsibility to reflect society rather than project an alternate vision of how it can be but I think this author had a great opportunity to portray a friendship that is not limited by sexual orientation. That emotional outbursts are not defined by sexual orientation. Spoiler alert: Aristotle strikes out violently while acting as a heterosexual and is willing to sacrifice himself when acting as a homosexual. His parents answer to his violent outbursts are that he should accept his love for Dante as a homosexual output thereby avoiding the path his brother traveled. I think that sexual orientation is just one aspect of the whole person and does not define the life being lived. Obviously there are varying degrees to how much influence there is but in this book the author defines character traits by sexual orientation.  i.e violence is a heterosexual trademark. This form of typecasting and categorizing is an element that I could do without and is evidence that the author developed the characters to reflect the plot line. This is perfectly acceptable and is done all the time but it is this reason that I cannot include it my classroom library. I would rather recommend literature that addresses these themes is not so contrived. The problem with this novel is that it was a bad idea.
    After I post this I will search out other blog posts about this book to see other opinions but I would not put this in my classroom library simply because I believe think that there has to be better books out there that address this coming of age scenario in a manner that reflects life. That's a wrap.