Francisco X. Stork

Marcelo in the Real World

Paula Plaza Ponte 

Wow. So many great things to say about this one. I loved its treatment of various topics- religion, intelligence, ethics, desire, "rules" we play by, love, understanding people, communication, safety, forgiveness, anger, sex and what it means to be kind. I want to meet Marcelo and wish the best for him. I want him to get the girl and live peacefully, "with waters green, quiet and deep..." in Vermont. I just remembered the TED talk about storycorps by Isay and couldn't help but see Sarah and Josh Littman's relationship which seemed very similar to Aurora and Marcelo. A poignant, neatly constructed book that ends how it should, this book will stay with me awhile. It made me miss the stars and hope to find a quiet spot to think and remember. Thanks for the recommendation, Jabiz.

Maxime van der Wal

3.5 stars
I'm not sure where to begin with this. On one hand, I loved this book. On the other hand, I do have a few major problems with it. 

Firstly, the positives:  Marcelo in the Real World  features an autistic, Latino protagonist (super important representation!), Marcelo is not judged for his positive experience at a school for disabled children, complex themes such as religion, injustice and love are explored and the story gives an insight to the difficulties autistic people face when adjusting to the neurotypical world. On top of that, the book is easy to read and the writing is solid. 

As for my complaints, I was quite disappointed in the usage of "functioning" labels. Myself and many others in the autistic community regard functioning labels as harmful, and Marcelo is consistently praised for his "extremely high-functioning" autism. As someone who would medically be considered "mildly autistic", it was difficult to read that praise, as it denies support and recognition of my issues. Besides, it also implies "low-functioning" autistics have less worth, which is an inhumane statement in itself. 
Then, there was the focus on becoming a "regular" person. This was particularly emphasised at the end of the book: Marcelo managed to "fit in" by masking his autistic traits as much as he could and he's happy about it. That is not a message that should be spread, and this comes from someone who has mastered the skill of what we call masking in the autistic community.  The solution is not to have autistic people hide parts of themselves, it is to give them space to be themselves. 
I also didn't appreciate the inconsistent narrative. Marcelo switches from talking in first and third person regularly, even though it is implied in the beginning of the story that he only uses first person language when he consciously reminds himself of it. Some thing just didn't really add up. 

Despite my complaints, I really enjoyed this Y/A novel. Being a seventeen-year-old is hard enough, let alone being thrown into a judgmental, confusing world which is completely out of your comfort zone. I think the autistic representation could've been better, but it's a start (besides, a neurotypical will never be able to portray us as well as we deserve, so let's give autistic authors a voice!). 

  Note: this book includes several ableist slurs, such as the r-word, m*ron and imb*cile.

Marcelo in the Real World

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