Marcelo in the Real World

This book was *amazing*—and such a remarkable achievement; I couldn’t imagine writing it myself, even with years of research.  Marcelo is a teenage boy living with Asperger’s syndrome; he’s on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, but his overly competitive lawyer father (Arturo) feels Marcelo doesn’t push himself to function “normally.”  In order to continue at his beloved school, Paterson (for kids with disabilities), Marcelo is given a choice: work at his father’s law firm over the summer and continue at Paterson in the fall, or work with the ponies at Paterson over the summer, and attend the regular public high school instead.  Marcelo is disturbed by the idea of leaving Paterson, but admits that he trusts Arturo enough to believe that one summer in the mailroom will be good for him.  The rest of the novel is really about Marcelo’s struggle to reconcile what he’s known in his relatively sheltered past with what he learns about life “in the real world.”  His father betrays his trust both personally and professionally, and Marcelo ultimately befriends (& falls in love with) Jasmine, the kind and beautiful young woman who runs the mailroom.  The amazing thing about this novel is that Francisco X. Stork has convincingly captured the complex thought processes of his protagonist; as Marcelo himself admits, he has “trained” himself to function like an “ordinary” person—his condition doesn’t allow him to easily read facial expressions or tones of voice that would indicate when someone is being sarcastic.  He interprets things literally, speaks formally, and has difficulty focusing when forced to walk and talk at the same time; those who love him understand Marcelo and see his “special interest” in religion and classical music as gifts that make him unique.  But in the real world, Marcelo encounters his father’s cruel colleagues who openly refer to him as “Gump.”  Yet it is Marcelo who has the courage and moral integrity to stand up for what he believes is right.  And by confronting those who lack compassion, he develops a greater understanding of the subtleties (like his mother’s loneliness) that escaped him in his previous life.  The book’s ending was surprising, but genuinely delightful–it’s nice to end a book with hope for human nature!  This novel should be high on your summer TBR list.