Marcelo in the Real World - Francisco X. Stork

Stork, Francisco X. Marcelo in the Real World. Arthur A.Levine, 2009. 978-0545054744 (hardcover)

I have heard a few of my classmates saying how much they struggled to get this book read because they didn’t enjoy it. I was really surprised, because I felt like I was sucked into the mind of Marcello and lost myself while reading this book because I was so caught up in seeing the world from his point of view. It was a very easy read once I let go of my world and joined his…

I must admit that I was hesitant when I first began this book and realized that the author was attempting to write as a young man with Asperger’s Syndrome, because it is a fine line between it being an earnest attempt at portraying the life and challenges faced by a group of people through a character and creating an offensive caricature of that same group. However, I think Stork was very successful in creating Marcello to reflect both the unique worldview and thought process he had and show the ignorance of many people in society of the exact nature of his “differences.”

I was amazed by the duality that was presented by the incredible simplicity in which he approached (and sometime just ignored) some of society’s system of complex social interactions, while creating the most intricately organized systems for accomplishing his daily scheduled tasks and his ability to deeply analyze comments for any unclear implied meanings in such an elaborate, yet methodical, manner. Many of the things in life that are natural to me, would require a lot of hard work and practiced preparation for him to achieve an appearance of normalcy to those around him. However, the book also leaves you wondering how many of the things that he found success through would be areas that the reader wouldn’t be capable of handling.

I think that high school students would benefit greatly from reading this book and realizing that “different” in no way is equal to “stupid.” Each of us have our strengths and weaknesses, and it would be a smart idea to look for the strengths in each other instead of assuming the worst based on any weaknesses (or merely differences) that we might see in others.