English 325: Marcelo in the Real World

I really enjoyed this novel. I think the reason behind this is because, at its core, this is a coming of age story. Everyone at some point in their life has to step out from their comfort zone and enter “the real world.” I don’t see the real world as a derogatory term towards Marcelo, while I think it may have connotations that indicate that his world isn’t “real”, I think it is simply a term that is used to describe the environment that the large majority of people operate in. Marcelo joining the “real world” is a triumph, made greater by the fact that he did not have to lose himself in order to join it. This story may have a character with someone on the spectrum, but that’s not what the novel is about. This is a tale about growth, about discovering how incredibly terrible yet simultaneously beautiful the world can be. The plot is engaging, the progression of Marcelo is fantastic, and the themes of growing up to face a new, scary, and exciting world are incredibly relatable to almost everyone.

Despite my feelings towards the novel, it’s not perfect. I found that a lot of the characters, with the exception of Marcelo, were too one dimensional. Arturo is the clueless and ignorant father who just doesn’t understand. Jasmine is the beautiful girl with big dreams. Rabbi Heschel is the wise mentor. Ixtel is the sad hopeless victim saved by our hero’s brave and selfless acts. Wendell is unrealistically unlikeable, with no redeeming features whatsoever. There’s nothing wrong with these characters, but they are very cookie cutter. I give this novel a lot of credit for giving us a different type of hero, but it fails to provide a similarly complexed villain. Instead we are left with a stereotypical jerk, an oblivious father, and an evil corporation. Yeah, I haven’t seen that before.  

In a way I already addressed how this story is relatable above. This is a coming of age story. I find nearly everything about this book is either relatable or will be relatable. It doesn’t matter that the readers, for the most part, are not on the spectrum; the vast majority will be able to relate to the themes of the novel. The fear of a first job. Nervousness about leaving your comfort zone is completely normal. First love is also something pretty close to home. The battle between what is right and wrong is an incredibly human issue. I like this novel because I think it does the job of both a young adult literature book, and something from the cannon. It has relatability but also very adult world issues and themes. Have I said I liked this novel yet?

Not going to say it again. Though not without its flaws, I really enjoyed this one. With that in mind, I give it a solid A-.