Monday, March 22, 2010

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork

I knew this young adult novel caused a stir back in 2009, but I'm a bit behind the times with my YA reading and trying desperately to catch up before I begin reading for the Popular Paperbacks committee this year. I'm reading for the Crime Scene: May cause anxiety...don't read at home alone and Zombie, Werewolves & Things with Wings: Because vampires suck!

I picked up the sequel to Marcelo in the Real World at ALA Midwinter and now can't wait to attack it, even though I going to read one other YA title in between, just for the fun of it. I'm hoping the story of Marcelo percolates a bit in my brain. It was just that good.

I went into this novel knowing it had been compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I enjoyed that title and was hoping I wasn't just reading a more recent publication of a boy with autism. But, oh, no. Marcelo is better. Marcelo is a young man, almost a senior in high school, who has Asperger's Syndrome. His life has been pretty comfortable so far--he attends a private school for special needs kids and is looking forward to caring for the horses for the summer. But then his dad decides that Marcelo needs to work in his law firm for the summer. To work in the "real world." And Marcelo, though scared, does. He works in the mail room, slowly, yet accurately, with Jasmine, a nice young lady who helps him out. But the real world sucks Marcelo in. He finds out that there is evil in the world and his dad isn't the hero he thought he was. A simple picture of an injured girl changes Marcelo's world.

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