Marcelo in the Real World - Francisco X Stork

Marcelo in the Real World
Francisco X Stork
Arthur A Levine Books


Marcelo Sandoval is different from other seventeen year old boys- he hears music in his head, has a perverse interest in religion, owns 100's of classical music CDs and sleeps in a tree house at his family home. When spoken to, Marcelo takes longer to process what is said before responding and when speaking about himself refers to himself in the third person. As a result he is often mistaken for being slow. In the private school he attends, Marcelo is classified as having a ''development disorder", an autism-like condition.


Marcelo's father never believed in his son's condition and feels Marcelo has been over protected. He wants him to join him in his law firm over the summer rather than look after the ponies at his school for kids with special needs as Marcelo had hoped. At his fathers law firm Marcelo meets Jasmine, beautiful and free spirited, as well as Wendell, the son of his father's partner.


At the law firm, Marcelo is thrust into an environment where desire, envy, cruelty and greed live along side kindness and compassion. He temporarily loses his inner music as he is forced to recognise and react to situations instantly rather than take his time to slowly analyse them. The complexities of daily human interactions confuse him but he eventually learns that not everything can be neatly separated into right or wrong - that there are grey areas where ones morals are challenged.


Marcelo in the real world is a moving, beautifully told coming of age story. As the story unfolds, I felt an urge to protect Marcelo from the "real" world he is forced to deal with. It was heart breaking to watch Marcelo recognise that the world is a difficult place, but at the same time, heart warming to see him discover that he can still find his sense of belonging and hence his inner music by staying true to himself.