Book 2 of the masters reading list! I really enjoyed this one too, although I’d argue about this being considered YA.
Marcelo is a 17 year old with high functioning Asbergers syndrome who’s spent most of his life at a special school where he’s learned the skills necessary to understand that how he processes information isn’t the way the rest of the world works.
Marcelo’s father, Arturo, decides that Marcelo has learned all he really needs to in order to function in society and wants him to do his senior year at a regular high school. When Marcelo balks at this idea, his father comes up with an alternative; if Marcelo works for Arturo’s law firm over the summer and succeeds at all the tasks he’s given, he can choose whether he wants to continue going to his special school or enter a public high school at the end.
And so Marcelo embarks on that terrifying journey we all eventually must take into the “real world.” Marcelo faces the typical rude awakening that any student faces when they’ve lived a fairly sheltered existence, complete with rude, nasty office assistants, manipulative co-workers, and the eventual and inevitable moral debacle of doing the right thing for the universe verses the right thing for the company.
On its surface, I can see why this book is advertised as YA; it’s a teenage protagonist trying to navigate the adult world, and technically it can be read as just the surface story of an Asberger’s kid figuring out how to function in an office. However, the true beauty of this book is seeing the world through Marcelo’s eyes and realizing that society, and the social constructs we make for ourselves often don’t make any sense when held up to logic.
But more than that it points out how easily society disregards, excludes or misunderstands anyone not fitting into the “normal” category.
I think the YA brand might turn a lot of adults away from this great book, which is a shame because it’s definitely adult reading material.
If you liked “Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime”, you’ll love “Marcelo in the Real World.”
