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A review by perilous1
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
4.0
I struggled with the rating on this one, but ultimately rounded up to emphasize just how much more I appreciated this book above and beyond the more famous one it is so often compared to: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime.
Marcelo is a mild, readily likable character. Which is fortunate, because it's through his sole POV we are told this story. There's a wisdom to his innocence and a relatability to his frustration with the less logical of human behaviors. Where the main character in TCIOTDITN comes across as a teen with the comprehension of a 5-year-old with savant prowess in terms of mathematics, Marcelo seems to think and act his age despite his naivete--which comes off as simply neuro-atypical rather than stunted. Marcelo doesn't have a particular savant talent, but he does have a "special interest" in religion, which he knows he must reign in conversationally and avoid altogether in certain environments.
This book was genuinely beautiful at points. It's got realistic stakes, languid pacing, and relatively low tension throughout. But the point seems more so a character study in the face of multiple moral quandaries. In spite of Marcelo's "special interest," the expression of religion isn't heavy-handed. It's more thoughtfully and consistently applied, yet safely vague. And though our MC seems to have a Catholic background, his primary religious advisor is a woman rabbi. I did appreciate the organic feel of their dialogue. (I had actually never heard that exact take on the fall of Man, and what the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil truly bestowed.)
I could have done without the decrepit old man ranting about bovine penises... on multiple occasions. Once was overlookable in the name of characterization. But the second (and extended) round of this made me seriously wish I weren't in a car listening to it on audiobook with no ability to skip ahead and spare myself. :/
Worth the read. Especially if you are in search of respectful, well-developed neuro-diversity. (The claim here is like-Asperger's-but-not, which offers a bit more interpretive leeway.)
Marcelo is a mild, readily likable character. Which is fortunate, because it's through his sole POV we are told this story. There's a wisdom to his innocence and a relatability to his frustration with the less logical of human behaviors. Where the main character in TCIOTDITN comes across as a teen with the comprehension of a 5-year-old with savant prowess in terms of mathematics, Marcelo seems to think and act his age despite his naivete--which comes off as simply neuro-atypical rather than stunted. Marcelo doesn't have a particular savant talent, but he does have a "special interest" in religion, which he knows he must reign in conversationally and avoid altogether in certain environments.
This book was genuinely beautiful at points. It's got realistic stakes, languid pacing, and relatively low tension throughout. But the point seems more so a character study in the face of multiple moral quandaries. In spite of Marcelo's "special interest," the expression of religion isn't heavy-handed. It's more thoughtfully and consistently applied, yet safely vague. And though our MC seems to have a Catholic background, his primary religious advisor is a woman rabbi. I did appreciate the organic feel of their dialogue. (I had actually never heard that exact take on the fall of Man, and what the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil truly bestowed.)
I could have done without the decrepit old man ranting about bovine penises... on multiple occasions. Once was overlookable in the name of characterization. But the second (and extended) round of this made me seriously wish I weren't in a car listening to it on audiobook with no ability to skip ahead and spare myself. :/
Worth the read. Especially if you are in search of respectful, well-developed neuro-diversity. (The claim here is like-Asperger's-but-not, which offers a bit more interpretive leeway.)