I've read the word faggot about 8 times in 20 pages. I'm informed it doesn't get any better. I'm severely disappointed in this book, considering how great Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was. Saenz could have done better.

My review will be up on release day.

reasons why you should read this:

-exquisite friendships
-simple and easy writing
-makes you think about life
-gay adoptive dad
-finding yourself

Oh wow! Reading this was like being on a rollercoaster of emotions. Such beautiful writing that had me connected and a part of the story and loving the characters, and then all of sudden having that feeling of a block of cement in my stomach while my heart broke a little with the tragedies that were unfolding.
I absolutely loved Benjamin Alire Sáenz's 'Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe' and I had high expectations of this one. And while the writing was beautiful, it did take me a little while to get right into the story and realise what it was all about.
Sally (Salvador) was a strong character who just about always did the right thing and because of this, it was a little heartbreaking to see him struggle with his identity and where he fit in.
Samantha and Frito, Sally's two friends were fantastic characters, each having their own demons to battle but in the end, this group of three friends had such a strong relationship it was hard to think of anything stopping them.
And the basis of their strong relationship was Sally's father, Vicente. Yes, he wasn't perfect but he came damn near close to being. How could anyone not be positively impacted by him.
Overall, this was a perfect read, it left me feeling differently about the world and also left me feeling love and hope.

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group for the ARC via NetGalley

Thank you for this book. Unfortunately, since it is not in kindle format, I am unable to read it.

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life is about the characters. It is a "coming-of-age" story. And it's a good one. I don't tend to enjoy these books as much, but when done well, I can appreciate it.

Sal is our narrator. He's the adopted white son of a single Mexican father who is gay. His father knew his biological mother and was there when Sal was born. His grandmother has been very close to Sal, kind of substituting for his mother.

Sal's best friend is a neighbor girl, Samantha. She has grown up with a single mother who hasn't always been there for her. Fito is another friend who is trying to be successful even though his mother is a drug addict.

These three kids are trying to navigate their way through their senior year of high school. Sal isn't sure he wants to go to college yet, and his father is pressuring him to get that application essay finished. All three of the teens will suffer tragedy in their lives. They lean on each other and mostly on Sal's dad, who is a gem.

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life takes a profound look at the family. Sal is exceptionally lucky, especially in contrast to his friends, to have his dad and his extended family. Even though he wonders about his mom and his biological father, he learns to appreciate what he has. He isn't perfect, though. Lately, it seems like his fists have a mind of their own, and Sal is having a hard time dealing with his anger appropriately. He learns that sometimes he's not the only one dealing with difficult issues, his dad needs Sal's support too.

The friendships are genuine. Fito isn't a teen that would normally be in this circle, but Sal recognizes something special in him and brings him in. Don't expect a romance. Samantha and Sal's relationship is based on nothing more that true friendship, and neither of them ever consider each other as a romantic interest. Kind of refreshing.

It is a moving story. It kept me interested. although at times I felt it was a bit drawn out. Teens who may be feeling the pressures of life (and most of them are) will find something valuable in The Inexplicable Logic of My Life.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s newest novel is an endearing story about the different types of families and what it means to belong and to be loved. The inexplicable Logic of My Life is a beautiful and touching novel that made me question everything I had ever thought about my own family and the relationships I have with those closest to me.

The novel follows Salvador Silva in his senior year of high school and how the familiar and ordered world he has always known is slowly changing. Sal’s adoptive gay father is starting to date once more, his loving Mexican-American grandmother is in the final stages of a dire illness, and his best friend Samantha is struggling with her flighty and irresponsible mother. The stress is getting to Sal and suddenly he is throwing punches, questioning everything, and feels as though he is becoming more and more like the birth father he never met. This is the year Sal discovers who he really is and where he fits into the family he has created for himself.

I adored Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Sáenz’s most popular novel, and when I found out that Sáenz had written another YA book, I knew it would be just as tender and sweet as Ari and Dante’s story. Sáenz has this way of getting into a teenager’s head and looking at life – the anxiety of change, the questions of belonging – through their eyes. There is something just so emphatically real about Sáenz’s writing, how his words and the images he paints expresses such intense feelings within the reader. Maybe this is why it is so easy to read his work and devour a 464 page novel in a matter of days. His writing is like a stream of consciousness; it flows and transforms and pierces the reader’s heart.

Sal is perhaps one of the most compassionate and benevolent protagonists I have read in YA fiction. I connected with him almost immediately and really felt for him. His relationship with his father was the driving force of the novel, at least for me. I can count on one hand the amount of novels I have read which feature a positive and loving relationship between fathers and sons, and The Inexplicable Logic is by far the best of them. Sal and Vicente’s relationship is so beautiful and affectionate, it brought tears to my eyes many times. Think Gilmore Girls but with men (minus the constant stream of pop culture references and banter). Sal and Vicente are father and son, but friends, too. It is so heartening to see this type of relationship celebrated in YA fiction, especially in a world where men are told to withhold their emotions.

I also admired the friendship between Sal and Sam. It is not often one reads a book with such intense platonic love between men and women, and I am very thankful to Sáenz for going in this direction. As rare as a sweet relationship between father and son is, platonic friendship between a girl and a boy is even rarer, primarily in YA fiction where there is so much pressure on authors to develop a romance. Sal and Sam are always there for one another and talk about such personal issues with no judgement or mockery. A wonderful depiction of a healthy and stable friendship.

As with all Benjamin Alire Sáenz novels, the characters are the strongest element of the book and the plot is rather simple. That does not take away from my enjoyment of the text; if anything, it enhances it. The straightforward storyline gave way to outstanding and highly developed characterisation. The plot essentially follows Sal through one year of his life and all the anxiety that comes with senior year and one’s life irrevocably changing. Sal struggles with issues of belonging, bullying, as well as the all-pervading threat of cancer. It is just Sal’s life, and, paired with Sáenz’s beautiful writing, somehow the story develops from the dictation of the life of a simple boy, to an intense, emotion-filled book about love, family and change.

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life tore my heart out. It is such an easy novel to read, and yet it feels heavy when you are reading it. I loved every moment of this book, even the parts where I cried. Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s novels always touch me in some way, but The Inexplicable Logic did something irreversible to my emotions.

4.5 stars

This is a beautiful story. Love, loss, growing up, family, friendship and acceptance of one's self. The main characters, especially Sal, are so lovingly and richly created. They feel honest and true, and touch upon feelings everyone has felt when going through grief and trying to find a place in the world. I loved this book. I had not heard of this author before but now plan to read every other word he has written.

I really tried, but just didn't get into this book..

WOW.

Maybe it came to me at the right point in my life. I don't know. But this book touched me really deeply, and I found myself in tears at several points.

The writing is lyrical and the chapters are short, so the story feels like a series of vignettes, small peeks into the lives of the characters. There's not really a cohesive plot beyond the main character and his best friends growing up and dealing with life. But the way it all comes together is beautiful. This is the story of three friends coming of age, finding love and family, dealing with tragedy, and hope. Whistling in the dark, to keep the darkness at bay.

Although I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher (via NetGalley) all opinions remain my own.

I thought this book was really good. One thing I didn't love is how much happened to that one group of people, felt a little unreal. A thing I really did like about the book is the relationship between the main character and his best friend Samantha. This book is set in their senior year of high school. Seeing the way they grow and go through things together was very real to me. You really see growth in both of them through the book, seeing them grow up through the events that happen in the book. Don't want to say much more, I'm afraid of giving something away, but this is a wonderful "coming of age" story.

I have never read a book by this author, but I have heard amazing about his other book Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. I think that the author writes very realistic characters, I love how it's more familial driven instead of romance, It's not plot driven, it's driven by the characters and their relationships. Overall regardless of the fact that this wasn't my favorite book that I've read, I still want to read more by this author because I still really enjoyed this story.

The minute I received an email from NetGalley promoting Benjamin Alire Sáenz's new book, I jumped on it and submitted a request for an advance copy. I absolutely loved Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (see my review), so I figured even if this one wasn't that good, I still had to read it. Needless to say, I was so pleased to get approved right away, and I began the book the second I finished my previous one.

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life is a different book than Aristotle and Dante..., but man, was it special. I have a hellacious cold, making sleeping (and breathing, really) fairly impossible in my current state, so last night I read nearly the entire book, between 11:00 p.m. and 1:30 a.m.

Sal is ready to start his senior year of high school. It's going to be a pivotal year with so much on the horizon, but while his childhood best friend Samantha can think of nothing more than going to college as far away from El Paso as she can (no matter what her mother says), he's getting more and more stressed about the potential for change. Suddenly this anxiety is manifesting itself via anger—all he wants to do is hit people. Whether it's the idiot who called his father a faggot, someone who called him a pinche gringo (even though he is white, he was adopted by his Mexican father), or one of Sam's bad-guy boyfriends, he suddenly can't stop using his fists, and he doesn't understand why, and he is afraid of how people will react if they knew how angry he was.

"But Sam, she had this image of me that I was a good boy, and she was in love with that image. She was in love with simple, uncomplicated, levelheaded Sally. And I didn't know how to tell her that I wasn't all those beautiful things she thought I was. That things were changing, and I could feel it but couldn't put it into words."

Sadly, life throws them curve after curve in this crucial year, and Sal must deal with some major emotional crises, and come to terms with who he is, and what becoming a man really means. But at the same time, he realizes once again the power of friendship and family, of words, of loving and being loved, and of giving people a chance. This is a beautiful, emotional, heart-warming, and life-affirming book, and although there was perhaps a little too much melodrama to deal with in the plot, I applaud Sáenz for not taking the story down a few paths I feared he might.

One of the reasons I love Sáenz's writing so much is that he has such a love for his characters that you can't help loving them, too, and seeing them in your mind's eye. This book is 450+ pages long yet I could have read more, although I might have gotten dehydrated from all of the crying! (And not just sad crying, but good crying, too.)

He uses beautiful imagery and creates some poetic moments, even if at times some friction would have been avoided if people just said what they felt. But ultimately, this is one of those books that teaches you to let yourself be loved, and that no matter what your background or life situation is, you still are entitled to dream and believe in yourself.

NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group/Clarion Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

I’m not entirely sure where to start this review. Maybe I should start by saying that I loved reading Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, which the man who wrote this book also wrote. Benjamin Alire Sáenz has a whimsical way of writing and I love reading any of his books. This book wasn’t really an exception but it didn’t leave me wanting to read more. I understand that this book follows a family and it is basically a record of their lives but it just wasn’t as gripping as Aristotle and Dante. I never thought about putting the book aside and throwing it into my DNF pile, so at least there's that.

So, I liked this book but I can't say that I loved it. While I wanted to see how it would end it didn't really feel like a conclusion to me in the normal sense. This was a more natural conclusion and I think that really suited the novel, even if it left me disappointed. I ended up giving both Aristotle and Dante and this book the same star rating, not because they were alike in any way but just because I couldn't see myself ever reading them again. To me, neither book was particularly memorable, but I can see myself remembering more about this book than the other.

I loved the fact that the main gay couple in this novel were Sal's parents. It's not often that a novel will have a character's parents be gay or part of the lgbtq+ community and play such a big role in the book. His father and his boyfriend are such caring individuals and I felt that he was a very real person, even if this is a work of fiction. Besides the obvious love between Sal's dad and his boyfriend, there really isn't a love story. The main character isn't given a love interest and he isn't secretly in love with his best friend and to me, that was really refreshing.

So there are some quotes from this book that made me so happy to read and I really loved that the author put certain things in the book. In one scene Sal says "cleanliness - I don't think that's a gender thing" and I'm all about these types of things so this made me so happy. I feel like it's always great that authors can input their own voice into a story through quotes like this and just the idea that a seventeen-year-old boy thinks that there are no gender roles when it comes to cleaning makes me really happy, even if it is fiction.

I will admit that this book made me sad. It made me really sad. Not because it was bad but because of the topics it covers. It didn’t make me sad the entire way through though but after certain things happen it's hard to be happy about some things. There are ongoing problems in the characters lives and because of that, it makes it difficult to become happy until the characters themselves are truly happy.

I'm going to finish this review off with one of my favorite quotes from the book and that is: "I don't think it really matters if your best friend is a boy or a girl. As long as you have a best friend. And anyways, girls are nicer than boys."

4.5 stars. This book lived up to my expectations given how much I loved his last book. Once again, sympathetic and interesting characters -- Sal, his best friend Sam(antha), and later Fito -- who all face sorrow in their life and help each other come through it in their senior year of high school. This process is facilitated in no small way by Sal's wonderful father, Vicente, who married his mother shortly before she died when Sal was 3 to ensure he would raise him. His Mexican grandmother,
Mima, also plays a significant and memorable role in the story.

Due to formatting issues I was unable to read this specific title.