When Marcelo’s lawyer father forces him to give up his dream summer job working with horses to deliver mail in his law firm, Marcelo only agrees because it means he can choose to stay at his “special school” senior year. Otherwise, his father will enroll him in the local public school, a pros... more

When Marcelo’s lawyer father forces him to give up his dream summer job working with horses to deliver mail in his law firm, Marcelo only agrees because it means he can choose to stay at his “special school” senior year. Otherwise, his father will enroll him in the local public school, a prospect that scares Marcelo even more than confronting the “real world” for the summer. At first, even the daily train commute is a challenge for autistic Marcelo, who, though high-functioning, is fairly clueless about some mundane aspects of everyday life. Saying the rosary out loud on the train? It’s not the done thing. Talking about oneself in the third person? Brands you as odd in the work-a-day world. In a Forest Gump way though, Marcelo soon proves he has it all over some of the folks at the law firm … and that could include his own father. The unscrupulous and predatory son of his father’s partner may appear to have his future sewed up, but Marcelo’s superior sense of morality will win the day. This novel makes an interesting contemporary statement about integrity and social conscious that casts a skeptical eye on the “haves” among us. I also like that Marcelo learns to see his parents as fallible creatures who don’t always have the right answers for him. Beautifully written and surprising in its plot twists, Marcelo in the Real World also can make us laugh as Stork subtly reminds the reader that there is indeed a place for everyone in this “real” world.