Scan barcode
birdinflight1's review
5.0
Sweet story about growing up, learning to love, accepting different ways of being in the world. I like how the author highlighted the strengths of the nuerodivergent character--especially his sense of justice, his unwillingness to play the game, his kind heart.
reydeam's review
4.0
Marcelo in the Real World is a beautiful story, a story that touched my heart.
For my full review, check out my blog post on Polishing Mud Balls
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
For my full review, check out my blog post on Polishing Mud Balls
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
franklyfrank's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
carlisajc's review
4.0
This book is about a boy named Marcelo who is somewhere on the autistic spectrum, although highly-functioning. His father wants him to be able to live in the real world so he gives him a summer job at his law firm in the mail room. Marcelo has to really push himself out of his comfort zone and learn to stand up for things that he believes in...even if it's hard.
I actually really enjoyed this book. It was interesting because in my YA lit class we've talked about how one characteristic of YA literature is that it's very plot-driven. And to be honest, there's not much plot in Marcelo in the Real World. Well, there for sure is a plot. But it's a very, very quiet plot. But it's still engaging. I think it's because Marcelo is trying to figure out the world around him. We make connections before he does sometimes, and I found myself rooting for him, hoping he'll understand and be able to accomplish his goals. I don't know. It was interesting, but I definitely liked it. His character is believable (for as much as I know about autistic people... which, granted, isn't a lot) and I enjoyed getting to know him better and seeing him grow throughout the pages of this book.
I actually really enjoyed this book. It was interesting because in my YA lit class we've talked about how one characteristic of YA literature is that it's very plot-driven. And to be honest, there's not much plot in Marcelo in the Real World. Well, there for sure is a plot. But it's a very, very quiet plot. But it's still engaging. I think it's because Marcelo is trying to figure out the world around him. We make connections before he does sometimes, and I found myself rooting for him, hoping he'll understand and be able to accomplish his goals. I don't know. It was interesting, but I definitely liked it. His character is believable (for as much as I know about autistic people... which, granted, isn't a lot) and I enjoyed getting to know him better and seeing him grow throughout the pages of this book.
majorharris162's review
2.0
This book was very boring. Throughout the book I felt like nothing important was happening. I also didn’t like any of the characters, all of them where very flat and I didn’t feel bad for any of them when bad things happened. The plot felt off too, like we’d be focusing on something important and then the next chapter would be about nothing which didn’t make since. The only thing I did like about this book was the writing style, it was very descriptive and added lots of details which I love.
allicatca's review
3.0
3.5 stars? I began by listening to the story, then finished by reading it.
The dad is a jerk and that fact bothered me the whole time.
Marcelo was/is kind but lost his innocence in the “real world” and I don’t like that.
I suppose the book is good because it is making me think. Why is there so much suffering? Wouldn’t it be nice if we helped each other more?
No being a religious person, I had very little interest in the Bible verses and religious talk. Might have liked the book more if Marcelo had a different special interest.
I forgot to mention that I wish profanity were left out of this story. Ok for adults but I wish teenagers didn’t have to read it.
The dad is a jerk and that fact bothered me the whole time.
Marcelo was/is kind but lost his innocence in the “real world” and I don’t like that.
I suppose the book is good because it is making me think. Why is there so much suffering? Wouldn’t it be nice if we helped each other more?
No being a religious person, I had very little interest in the Bible verses and religious talk. Might have liked the book more if Marcelo had a different special interest.
I forgot to mention that I wish profanity were left out of this story. Ok for adults but I wish teenagers didn’t have to read it.
sam_hartwig's review
4.0
This book took me a couple of goes to get into it because the way it was written was very different and took a while for me to get used to. Marcelo is telling the story in the first person but when he talks to anyone he speaks in the third person so it was really weird. But once I got through the first couple of chapters I couldn't put it down. Once i finished I felt like there should've been more to the story, I really wanted to find out what happened between Marcelo and Jasmine....
novabird's review
3.0
All of us are uniquely wired. My interest in autism stems from a philosophical bent towards how the mind perceives and filters our experiences. For me this underlines the inherent worth and dignity of each individual. There is a ‘one within the all,’ tone to this book that I find very interesting, that at once would uplift some people and repress others.
Stork presents Marcello as a verbally challenged person within the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), who has an interior emotional capacity that he works very hard at continuing to develop, through a lot of go-between with analysis and this makes him capable of understanding motivations.
One of the things that I would like to avoid is imposing a neurotypical judgment on Stork’s characterization of Marcello. What I am left wondering, is the question of the link between understanding motivation and empathy.
For Stork this linkage is one with a grounding in Christianity where one listens with faith and hope for the right Stork openly acknowledges his work with people with developmental disabilities in a home that is centred around a faith-based community. However, Stork handles his faith-based bias very adeptly and does not overshadow the book with it.
The strengths of the writing I found were Marcello’s insights were particularly fresh and I also truly valued how Stork represented Marcello’s sexuality.
The ending has a ‘realness,’ to it that I wish some other books had. Not in the sense of a happy ending but rather that Beautiful and powerful ending – music to my ears! I read this just before, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and it is a far better read. 4
Stork presents Marcello as a verbally challenged person within the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), who has an interior emotional capacity that he works very hard at continuing to develop, through a lot of go-between with analysis and this makes him capable of understanding motivations.
One of the things that I would like to avoid is imposing a neurotypical judgment on Stork’s characterization of Marcello. What I am left wondering, is the question of the link between understanding motivation and empathy.
For Stork this linkage is one with a grounding in Christianity where one listens with faith and hope for the right
Spoiler
‘note.’The strengths of the writing I found were Marcello’s insights were particularly fresh and I also truly valued how Stork represented Marcello’s sexuality.
The ending has a ‘realness,’ to it that I wish some other books had. Not in the sense of a happy ending but rather that
Spoiler
Stork leaves us with the message that Marcello constructs his world and creates his own reality and there we have it, “Marcello in the Real World,” is still a world of his own making and not one imposed on him by society.siriface's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Ableism, and Toxic friendship