Rating: ★★★★1/2
Genre: YA lit
Synopsis: Marcelo has an Aspergers-like audio impairment that affects him and how he navigates the world. But in the summer before his senior year at Patterson, a school for kids with disabilities and impairments, his father makes him to go work in the mail room of his law firm. There, he meets Jasmine and Wendell, who help him–one way or another–navigate the real world.
Review: The first half of this book made me think. A lot. How could I assess the validity of how reality is structured in this book when I don’t have any tools to measure how realistic this character’s portrayal of autism is? Not only that, but his portrayal of autism is so unlike that of how I’ve seen some of my friends be–so then, is that inaccurate? Or ignorant on my part? Or perhaps its stereotypical? But after speaking with a friend about how to gauge this book’s realism in terms of Marcelo’s diagnosis (Aspergers-like, it is said), we came to the conclusion that what Stork does with this book is in fact create an opening for others who have similar cognitive realities, similar neurodivergences to come together and find representation in Marcelo’s character.
There were some other things my class and I discussed about this book as well. Like Wendell’s character–what an asshole, right? He’s certainly the antagonist as well as Marcelo’s foil, but what he plans to do to Jasmine didn’t settle well with me. Must we really have another plotline surrounding a boy saving a girl, and a boy wanting to sexually assault someone? I’m tired of threats of sexual assault being used as plot devices. Yes, they’re real things, but it just felt odd for me to read about it.
Not only that, but we discussed Marcelo’s eventual sexual awakening–he begins to understand feelings such as jealousy, romance, sexual attraction. So does this mean he’s becoming more ‘normal’, more socially acceptable, which is not radical? Or is Stork giving him, an autistic person, sexuality, which is radical?
There’s a lot of questions that arise from this book, and there’s a lot to be unpacked. A lot of it made me uncomfortable, but after having conversations with my autistic friends and discussing this text in a class, I feel much better about navigating this novel and understanding it. And ultimately, I have to say that I really like it! My initial thoughts on this book were wrong, and I’m glad for it. This book ended up being enjoyable, ethically interesting, and eye-opening. It’s definitely worth a read.
little lady librarian 