The Inexplicable Logic of My Life: A Mesmerizing YA Novel of Adoption, Love, and Belonging

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz can be described in one word: beautiful. This coming of age novel is a brilliant portrayal of love and family. Logic is the story of Salvador Silva. Salvador has a life surrounded by warmth and acceptance–a life filled with family, but during his senior year, his predictable life is thrown off kilter by heartbreaking news and Salvie struggles through the change. Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s novel is dynamic, moving, uplifting, and so lovely that it’s nearly incomprehensible. It’s a piece of art and I so enjoyed reading it. More so, I enjoyed feeling it. I’ve been in love with this author since I discovered his masterpiece Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. That novel is a level of perfection that I’ve rarely experienced, one that still leaves me speechless and incapable of adequately descibing its magic. Like A&D, The Inexplicable Logic is filled with wonder. It’s magic is unique and long-lasting, and one I vigorously recommend. This novel gracefully touches on themes of self-discovery (of course), love, grief, and meaning in life. This novel is Sal’s story, and is told entirely from his perspective, but it’s also his family’s story. I don’t think I’ve ever read a story where love bursts from the seams. It’s big, bright bold, and yes, beautiful. The characters are dynamic and oh-so lovable—I felt their joy and their pain. I feel like Sáenz’s writing is made for me. His prose is stark and impactful, simple and meaningful. I could live in his mind forever and ever, because he shows me just what I need to see to understand what is important. His writing envelops me and makes me feel safe, even as he breaks my heart, because I know that he writes with love. The Inexplicable Logic of My Life is fiction that shows us the reality that we should strive for. Yes, it’s a novel for young adults, but we all need to learn the lessons Sáenz teaches. Whistle in the dark, love, love love, forgive, rage, be heartbroken, but have faith and hope. In this novel, Sal’s connection with his father is impregnable and a force of nature—all the characters’ connections are. When Sáenz writes he makes you feel as if you belong, and that he’s pulling you into this wonderful world he creates. The same world we live in, we see through his eyes and start to believe in all the good he sees once we’ve turned the last page and look up in wonder. That makes Benjamin Alire Sáenz a force of nature and The Inexplicable Logic of My Life a phenomenon that all should experience.

With The Inexplicable Logic of my Life, author Benjamin Alire Saenz returns to a theme of his first novel Carry Me Like Water: the idea of what makes a family. I loved his exploration of that in the first novel, and I love that he again tackles the subject in this beautiful novel for young adults. While many think that blood determines family, I have long believed we make our own family, quilted together from those that we love and that love us, blood-related or not. The Inexplicable Logic of my Life tells of high school senior Salvador; his best friend Samantha; his father Vicente—the man who adopted him; his friend Fito; and his loving grandmother Mima, Vicente’s mother. There is not even a tiny bit of blood connecting Salvador to any of these people, and yet they are his family, bonded more tightly than any family ever. The novel is a tale of love and loss. There is plenty of death in this book, but there is no drama. Saenz writes of life, in all its simplicities and complexities, and life includes death. But one thing I particularly liked here is that the author makes clear something I’ve long believed: nobody ever dies; they live on in our hearts, guiding us and comforting us when we need them. And this is a powerful message to teen readers who, mostly, have not experienced much loss in their young lives. It is also a truth that those who have had loss need to hear. And Saenz makes his point quietly, beautifully, and with evocative poetry. This is the kind of great writing that teen readers need to experience. The narrative flows, the characters are true, and all the while, there is an underlying current of song. Saenz also speaks of the duality of the human spirit. He pointedly has Samantha call Salvador by the effeminate nickname Sally, while Salvador calls Samantha Sam. Through this suggestion, we see that these are full rich people, embodying stereotypical traits that we associate with both sexes. Sam is tough, yet tender. Salvador is sweet, yet combatant. And we, as readers, know that this is what makes people full and great. The Inexplicable Logic of my Life is a lovely achievement, a novel of power and beauty. It proudly takes its place on the shelf with its author’s other fine novels, for Benjamin Alire Saenz is one of our best.

“THE INEXPLICABLE LOGIC OF MY LIFE” delves into the profound themes of loss, belonging, and self-discovery amidst the absence of significant others. While the characters may seem somewhat one-dimensional, this doesn’t diminish the overall enjoyment of the read. The narrative spans from adult to young adult, making it a captivating and relatable experience for readers of all ages. In my opinion, this book should be a must-read for most young people. It is something special.

This story very much reads like a boy spilling his thoughts into a journal or a diary. The prose is somewhat simple and straightforward and yet the story is beautiful. The characters in this story are some of my favorite ones in any story that I've read. The most poignant of emotions expressed in this story is grief. Of course it is sad, but the moments of happiness, contentment, and reassurance of being love are the main take aways. This story will sit with me for a long time and I know I'll come back to it.

It is weird that just today I read a tweet about people rating 5 stars books that are sad and deal with difficult topics, but I cannot see rating this book less than 4 stars. Benjamin has such a way to create beautiful images from so "horrible" places. A dessert is more than just a place to die or that symbolizes death, in his novels they mean much more. Dealing with death, personally, is not something we confront willingly or with open arms, and this book emphasises that. It will come and it will make us suffer, but that suffering comes from love. Benjamin's novels become stronger by the minute. Not only a coming of age story with queer representation but it also tightens the conception of family and real friends, helping your loved ones, and defining who you are. As someone from Latin America who has study literature, I can relate to the struggles of language as part of your identity and the love for Latin people for their mothers. If you wish to know a bit more about what is to be Latino this book is a great help. Names have a lot follower in who we are or who we become. Names in Spanish are strong and define us.

Such a good book ... I loved this book, and I might say that about a lot of books, but this ... this was different. This was life-changing. I cried, I laughed, I felt good, I wondered, I felt alive Reading this piece of art! WARNING! (some might feel this is a spoiler, so you have been warned!) I also loved that the two main characters were a boy and a girl (both heterosexual) that did not have romantic feelings about each other. They loved each other like Brother and sister/ bestfriends. It was beautiful. I tend to dislike characters in books that are parents, because they often are boring to me. In this book, that was not the case. I loved Sal's dad. What an amazing individual! And he doesn't even exist! I feel like I know all these amazing and horrible and beautiful People I met in this book. They feel real to me. I loved Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the universe, and I did not expect to ever read a book that captured and moved me like it did ever again .... but then I read this one. And - dare I say it? - I loved this one even more, I think. Please read this book. It might change Your life.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was, I think, the first YA book I’d ever read with a gay protagonist. And I will always believe myself forever lucky to have picked that as my first. So the minute I learned that a new book by the same author was coming out, I pre-ordered it, no questions asked. I think the synopsis says it all. Salvador, called Sal by some and Sally by his best friend, has an incredible bond with his adoptive gay, Mexican-American father. But when tragedy visits him and his friends, Sal has to confront who he is and who he’s becoming. As expected, the writing is beautiful – detailed, lyrical, heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once. There are certainly moments that could be pegged as problematic, but (and this may be me viewing the book through rose-colored lens) I think the storytelling is nuanced enough to provide different interpretations and perspectives from which to view the events of the novel. I’ll leave it at that to avoid spoilers. What struck me was how singular the novel was in one particular way – the presence of family and the incredible father-son bond depicted. In a way, the book doesn’t feel like Sal’s story alone, so much as the story of Sal and his father through Sal’s eyes. I stayed up until 3:00 am reading about this pair and the people who fell into their orbit, and I didn’t regret a second of it. The Inexplicable Logic of My Life is a must-read, especially if you loved Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. It’s a story about love – family, friends, and everything in between. Recommendation: Buy it now! Review crossposted from Rich in Color: richincolor[.]com

I don't know how he does it but I feel connected to his characters right from the start; they all feel so real, so genuine, with all the good and the bad stuff, with all their struggles, which in a way are all of our struggles to ultimately achieve the same: find a place where we truly belong, among people who truly care for us and we care for. After reading his first book, I knew I needed a big box of tissue nearby. I loved especially the relationship between Sal and his dad- and the many wonderful secondary characters: dad of course, and Mima and Fito - I wanted to cry each time Fito turned up, my heart ached for him so much. He had been dealt such a tough card and yet he had so much decency, was such a good guy. I wanted life to be good to him, he deserved it. I highlighted many, many beautiful passages in the book.

Quando pensamos na adolescência logo associamos com problemas, dramas, hormônios e, muitas vezes, incompreensão dos adultos que cercam os adolescentes. Leia este livro e conheça Salvador, um adolescente que vive e aprende sobre todos esse dramas, mas conta com a leveza, o suporte e o amor daqueles que o amam. Recomendo.

Hallo ihr Lieben :) Wie versprochen gibt es endlich mal wieder eine Rezension von mir und zwar zu diesem GROßARTIGEN Buch <3 Mein erstes Buch in diesem Jahr und schon gleich ein 5 Sterne Buch mit Krone oben drauf ;) Das Buch "The Inexplicable Logic of my Life" /Die Unerklärliche Logik meines Lebens von Benjamin Alire Sáenz ist das zweite Buch des Autors, das ich gelesen habe und auch hier konnte er mich wieder absolut begeistern :) Worum geht es? (Natürlich ohne Spoiler) In dem Buch geht um den Protagonisten Sal (Salvadore) und seine beste Freundin Sam (Samantha). Diese sind beide 17 Jahre alt, leben in El Paso (Texas) und ihnen steht das letzte High School Jahr bevor. Das heißt: College Bewerbungen schreiben und einen Weg in eine ungewisse Zukunft einschlagen. Sam weiß ganz genau was sie will. Sie hat sich die besten Colleges ausgesucht, will einfach weg - und auch weg von ihrer eigenen Mutter, die sie hinter deren Rücken nur "Sylvia" und nicht Mom nennt. Denn ihre Beziehung zu ihrer eigenen Mutter ist keine, die man sich als Teenager wünscht. Sie streiten sich viel, ihre Mutter ist mehr abwesend als anwesend in ihrem Leben und was Sam immer wieder geholfen hat, seit sie 5 Jahre alt ist, ist die Freundschaft zu Sal. Ihrem besten Freund. Keine Liebelei, kein Flirten, kein "Oh ich glaube ich entwickel Gefühle". Sam und Sal sind einfach beste Freunde, die sich jeden Tag unterhalten, schreiben, texten, kleine Spiele haben wie WOTD = Word of the Day oder What if? Was wäre wenn... Sal selbst wuchs bei seinem Vater auf. Für ihn ist Vincente sein Vater, sein bester Freund, sein Ein und Alles - auch wenn er nicht sein biologischer Vater ist. Sal wurde mit 3 Jahren von ihm adoptiert, als seine Mutter starb und seitdem kümmtert sich Vincente um Sal als wäre er sein eigener Sohn - und noch etwas macht die Beziehung zwischen Sal und seinem Vater zu etwas Besonderem, Sal's Vater ist schwul und hat dies nie zu einem großen Thema gemacht, aber auch nie vor seinem Sohn verheimlicht. Dies ist ein wichtiger Aspekt in den Büchern von Sáenz, da der Autor selbst homosexuell ist und diese Thematik als Mexikanischer Amerikaner immer wieder in seinen Büchern auftauchen lässt - sei es durch einen Protagonisten oder wie hier, durch eine Nebenfigur. Das Thema ist präsent aber rückt auch gleichermaßen in den Hintergrund und übernimmt nicht die Kontrolle über das Buch. Wie Sam und Sal ihr letztes Jahr bestreiten, wie sie ihre Leben ordnen wollen, wie es ist in einer großen mexikanischen Familie aufzuwachsen, welche Hürden das Erwachsen werden mit sich bringt, all das kann man in diesem wundervollen, klugen, intelligent geschriebenen Roman entdecken. Der Roman hat witzige, lustige Momente aber auch Momente der Trauer und Rührseligkeit und dann, mit seinen vielen, kurzen Kapiteln ist dieses Buch viel mehr als ein Buch - man ist einfach immer wieder hin und her gerissen zwischen Momenten von großen Gefühlen, tiefster Vertrautheit und bedingungsloser Liebe und vielen Einzelschicksalen, die das Buch für mich zu einem ersten Jahres-Highlight gemacht haben <3 Mehr Rezensionen auf: Britsbookworld -Meine Bücherwelt auf Instagram oder Facebook

I really can't justify giving any book five stars; five stars carry the implication of perfection . How could a book be perfect? What would that possibly mean? Even if it is an entirely personal assessment - 'I liked it perfectly' - what would that mean beyond the possibility that I was entirely without any critical faculty? Yet there remain some few books whose power is such that they seem to trivialize any irritations with stylistic matters, shortcomings in the portrayal of the odd character, or some kind of discomfort with an aspect of the plot. For these few there is an inexplicable logic that forces the hand to click on that fifth star, and The Inexplicable Logic of My Life, for me at least, is one of these. It is striking that 'Perfect' is a word that crops up quite often in the text. And there is a central theme of concern with relationships that are less than perfect - parents and children who fail each other, and the struggle to find a way of not just tolerating, but discovering the puzzle of love for the person in the failed relationship. The challenge of realizing (literally: 'making real') the identity that is in potential for each of us is a lifetime task. But it is one that appears particularly clearly exemplified in gay literature, and in the adolescent or young adult difficulties with meeting parental and internalised parental expectations and hopes. Sexuality, with its many possible differences, presents a clear frontier to the individual, as well as to those others who surround us. 'Do I dare to reveal to others who I feel I am? Can I even acknowledge to myself who I feel myself to be? Will my difference be acceptable to others?' In these books the sexual identity is a clear and apt symbolic representation of the deeper inquiry about Selfhood. In this book, the dimension of sexuality is there, implicit in unanswered questions about Salvador's relationship with Samantha and with Fito, but it seems that the author wants to blur the edges of that particular debate by his choice of names for the characters. So Sam is a girl, and, the central charactrer, Sally, is a boy. No. More important is the problem of the parents who are dead to their children, either from depression, drug abuse, prejudice or actual mortality. Their absence is nonetheless a presence in the life of the child that has to be dealt with. Avoidance and denial play their part, but are rather temporary solutions until the child is strong enough to face the reality. The letter that Salvador takes the whole novel to be able to read, finds its counterpart in the journal Fito keeps, in which he holds the hidden Self that would be destroyed were it to fall into the hands of his abusive family. The mulberry leaves have a similar but much more subtle and nuanced role to play for Salvador. The mulberry leaves take the story out of the merely episodic, and encompass a level of meaning that is beyond logic; they hold the axis of the story that is beyond words. Words are so important. Their function of naming brings the uncertain into the manageable real world - brings a sense of control. Yet they also have the destructive function of limiting the symbolic to the merely rational. They need careful handling, and the characters in this story are masters of word play. I am reminded of a passage from an essay by Idris Parry (Stream and Rock, in: Speak Silence, [Pub. Carcanet, Manchester, 1988]) describing his French teacher: 'He made room for the absurd and he invited the marvellous, but his control of what he knew was as accurate as he could make it. Precision is the only sure base for fantasy.' Both the known and the unknown need to be held in tension, neither encroaching on the other. This is a kind of love relationship. And how often is love presented as a kind of madness that defies logic. This book can be read as an exploration of what it is to love and be loved, and how love is central to becoming one's Self. And now I'm reading about Zach's life (Last Night I Sang to the Monster). There it is again: words that live inside one, or don't; the tyranny of perfection; the ineffable logic of a trumpet tune. Shut up, and let me read!

Émouvant du début jusqu’à la fin, des personnages attachants et authentiques, une histoire que j’ai dévorée, touché jusqu’aux larmes par la profondeur et la véracité des pensées exprimées. Je suis heureux d’avoir découvert cet auteur que je recommande à toute personne ayant envie de lire un livre qui apporte une belle leçon de vie.

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