Marcelo in the Real World

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork is listed as a young adult novel. It may contain the story of a teenager; however, I personally would place it for reading by older individuals as well. For those who have found the Rain Man or Forrest Gump of special interest, this book may well be a must-read for you. Marcelo is just 17 when his father decides that he must be introduced to the "real world." He wants him to work in the mailroom of his law firm for the summer, after which he would like him to finish 12th grade at the local high school. Marcelo, on the other hand, has been looking forward to continuing his work with the horses at Paterson. He has attended Paterson his entire life, thanks to the wealth of his family. He does not wish to make this change for his last year. Unfortunately, his mother is willing to support his father at this time. Marcelo, who has the habit of speaking of himself in the third person, has attempted to negotiate a little and, at the end of the summer, he will be able to choose which school he wants to attend. In the meantime, he has already been scheduled to begin work! His father explains that he needs to be able to interact with people and to learn about the rules in the real world. Considering Marcelo's significant interest and knowledge in religion and religious texts, he uses it to highlight that, "in the real world" people do not normally quote a Bible verse, together with its location in the Bible, as part of daily conversation. However, it is his religious knowledge that plays a big part in how he begins to live in the world into which he was thrown! The duties in the firm's mailroom are broader than most would think. It includes printing and binding and delivery services, among other things. Jasmine is his boss, and she is quite free to show her being upset that she was forced to have Marcelo work for her rather than the individual she had already hired. However, little by little a relationship develops and Jasmine is willing to learn and adjust to Marcelo's limitations, the primary one being that his actions are slower since he must mentally go through the process and work to be perfect on each activity. In fact, Jasmine must very well be the very first friend Marcelo has ever grown to care about... Ironically, it is what Marcelo learns there at the firm that is life-changing for his entire family. For he learns about the bad things that people sometimes do! And he is forced to realize that people lie and will hurt people in order to have their own way--or worse yet, to make money, above all else. And these lessons are learned through actions of those working in the firm, including his own father! In fact, I was left with one feeling--who learned the most about living in the real world--Marcelo or Arturo, his father? For those of us who personally know someone with autism and, in particular, Asperger's syndrome, I want to add a caveat that Marcelo is an individual and his life cannot be con

This is the irresistible story of a 17-year-old boy with an Asperger's Syndrome-like condition, which makes it a challenge for him to decode other people's emotions and facial expressions and to navigate physically and socially in new territory. After years of going to a special-needs school, his plans for a quiet summer of horse-training are thwarted when his father tells him that he wants Marcelo to spend the summer working at his law-office out in "the real world." Marcelo resists the idea, already happy and spiritually satisfied with his current life. Whether his father is in denial about his son's condition, or simply thinks Marcelo too high-functioning to warrant hiding himself away, is an issue both the story and the reader will explore. Marcelo notes that people often think he doesn't perceive reality, when in fact he perceives far too _much_ reality. When the story begins, his head is often filled with what he calls the "Internal Music" (IM), which is more like the feeling of listening to music rather than music itself. Caught up in the beautiful, reflective symphony in his head (which some call 'remembering' and equate to prayer), he has nevertheless come to understand that others do not hear this music nor always appreciate his extensive 'special interest' in religion. Integrating himself into the real world, and the IM's place within it, Marcelo discovers new parts of himself when he comes to question other people's thinking and actions in relation to morality. He learns more about the "gray" areas of living, and how to adapt to them in turn, without losing the essential parts of himself. This fascinating story occurs entirely from Marcelo's viewpoint, yet leaves an entirely different feeling from the brilliant and depressing "The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time." Rather than despairing for Marcelo's friends and family, the reader is left with a sense of peace and perhaps one of envy. Marcelo's 'limitations,' as we would think of them, put a softer and more beautiful edge on many of the things we've stopped seeing because they long ago became ordinary. His world is no more ordinary than he is himself--not even in its smallest, most unspoken aspect. Quiet, gorgeous, and entrancing to the end.

MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD is quite simply one of the most beautiful and moving stories that I have ever read. By author Francisco X. Stork, this lovely, thoughtful book tells the very special story of Marcelo, a seventeen year-old boy with a high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Told from Marcelo's point of view, the reader is transported into a very unique way of thinking, bringing Marcelo's world alive with amazing clarity and detail. In MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD, Marcelo Sandoval has always experienced music in his head that no one else can hear, and he has always attended a school where his unique differences and abilities have been nurtured and protected. But the summer before his senior year, his father requires Marcelo to work in his law firm's mailroom, so that Marcelo can begin to understand and experience "the real world," and, perhaps, attend the mainstream high school for his final year. At the law firm, Marcelo develops friendships with Jasmine and Wendell. But are they real friendships? Only time will tell. As the summer unfolds, Marcelo learns about many new emotions and ways of life, from competition, jealousy, anger, and desire, to patience, control, wisdom, and strength. When he finds a disturbing photo in a box of documents to be destroyed - a picture of a girl with horrific injuries - Marcelo finally, truly connects with the real world, and begins to understand his place in it. Marcelo learns about pain, suffering, and injustice in the world, as well as what he can do to fight it. This story is told in the first person by Marcelo, and it his most unusual way of thinking and speaking that completely draws the reader in. It takes Marcelo longer than most of us to thoroughly process input and information (although he processes much MORE information than you or me), and you would think that this would slow down the pace and reading of this story, but it absolutely does not. The reader becomes so completely absorbed in Marcelo's mind that the story speeds along. I was actually shocked when I came to the end of the book. I could not put it down. All the characters, including Marcelo, are real, alive, and wonderfully developed. Human to the last, each has their own strengths and foibles, and each affects Marcelo (and the reader) in a different way. I believed in these characters; their breadth of emotion brought them off the page and into my life. I applaud Francisco X. Stork and his amazing literary talent for creating this unique world. While this book is marketed for teens, I think older teens and adults alike will appreciate the unusual and beautiful wisdom of Marcelo. I give MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.

Marcelo Sandoval of Marcelo In The Real World has a kind of autism. This is part of who he is but only in the sense that it gives the reader an idea of how it is that Marcelo sees the world the way he does and how it is that he ends up working in his attorney father's mailroom. Before one thinks that this is a story about a handicapped boy overcoming odds to triumph in a world that doesn't understand him, it isn't that kind of story. In a way, his father isn't wrong to have Marcelo come to work at his office because it is there that Marcelo's world expands in a way that is interesting for him and interesting for those around him. As a character, Marcelo is wonderfully low key. Smart in his own way. Brilliant in the way he can hear music. At Sandoval & Holmes, he meets Jasmine, who is about a year older than him and who is also interested in music. He also strikes up a friendship with Wendell, the son of his father's partner. One thing that this book gets across well, it is that office politics can teach a person about life in ways that can be both good and bad. As Marcelo navigates through this new world, he comes across a picture in a file that prompts him to push even more into the real world that he had once been so sheltered from. What I enjoyed about this novel was the way it unfolds. Because Marcelo is one who processes information in a unique way, his PoV makes the story come alive in a unique way. He tells the story, but he suspends his judgment in order to digest the information. The thoughtful way that Marcelo narrated could have made for slow reading, but it was not the case for me. In fact, it did just the opposite. It made the reading so smooth and easy that I gulped it down in one afternoon even though I was trying to slow myself down. But it flowed so easily as I got to know each person who comes into contact with Marcelo. I'm hard pressed to think of a character that I didn't like, but I can't think of any as each had a role to play. Perhaps that might be the only flaw of this novel. It may have been a little too neat and pat, but that flaw is balanced by a solid narrative and a wonderful lead character.

Marcelo Sandoval is an autistic seventeen year old young man with the specific autistic trait of Asperger's Syndrome which makes it hard for him to communicate and handle social situations. He attends a special education school called Paterson which is for students with varied disorders. At Paterson, Marcelo has been somewhat protected and his special trait of hearing music that no one else can hear is dealt with by specialists. There they study his "music" and what it can mean and represent. His love of animals, especially horses, is satisfied as he is allowed to work in the stables at school. Also at Paterson, and as he grows up, his mother and sister instill in Marcelo the secure environment where he is accepted for who he is and there is no judgment. The story gives those not familiar with Asperger Syndrome a realistic look at some of the characteristics that one must be aware of when living with someone with the syndrome. For instance, Marcelo doesn't understand sarcasm like other AS people. In my experience with AS students, I had to learn that they also don't respond to facial expressions such as disapproval or smiling. Unfortunately, Marcelo's father thinks he should experience more of the real life world. His dad, Arturo, is a well known lawyer and wants Marcelo to experience situations that everyone deals with so he sets Marcelo up with a job in the mail room for the summer prior to his senior year. This work experience is obviously life changing for Marcelo. He meets Jasmine, a lovely girl, and Wendell, the company partner's son, when he goes to the job. Here Marcelo is not sheltered and is opened to dealing with feelings such as anger, trust, jealousy, joy, failure, and longing. While working with some files, Marcelo also finds a picture of a girl with half a face and for some reason connects with the real world because of it. He begins to learn what it means for things to be unfair and how people suffer and what he can do about it. He also finds that the music he always hears which keeps him balanced begins to fade as life complicates things with all these other emotions including possibly falling in love. How this summer will change Marcelo's life is a question answered perhaps when you read the whole book. MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD is a wonderful, quick read and one I think everyone should read so as to get a realistic picture of autistic, Asperger people. Currently, 1 out of 150 babies born will have some kind of autism. Marcelo gets an education on life in this book as will the people who read the book.