Marcelo in the Real World

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I believe that the author Francisco X Stork did a very good job of placing his audience in the mind of Marcelo. At parts it was confusing because I wasn't sure what was going on because of how chaotic his thoughts were. The plot was well done in that it wasn't strictly about someone that was disabled--it was about friendship and growing up. Marcelo learned what it was like to be in the real world but he also learned what it was like to come up with his own opinions and to stick by them (this is an important thing to be seen in YAL and I will discuss later in this post). For character development I couldn't really see until the end. Throughout the novel it sounded and felt as if Marcelo was talking. Until the end when he was talking with his Rabbi did I truly see a character development. I think this is something that would be better seen in a movie version where you notice him not bringing up bible quotes and where they are in the bible, but in the book it felt like the same character throughout. On the topic of cultural and gender stereotypes I did not see this with culture. I do not believe there were cultural stereotypes but there was also not much cultural diversity. This I believe is because it was the point of Marcelo and he was not a character that noticed peoples looks nor cared: as shown by his confusion with Jasmine and her looks. There were a lot of gender stereotypes though. Wendell was seen as this frat star sex king who only cared about what women looked like. Marcelo's mother though seemed--in a sense--like a weak mother who listened and did what her husband wanted most of the time (and was later found to be cheated on). Jasmine was seen as smart but not smart enough to do more then work in a mail room and just tried to get out of her small town; another gender stereotype. Although I did enjoy this book some of stereotypes and lack of obvious character development was a bit frustrating and took away from the overall plot of the story--Marcelo.
I believe adolescents would thoroughly enjoy this novel. I think it would be an interesting text to teach high school students because of the issues that are posed. I think this book would appeal to adolescents because of its quick pace as well as this need to figure out what is right and what is wrong. In high school students often struggle with this idea of right and wrong and don't know if they should stand up for someone or let it slide. This book shows that it is alright to say that something is wrong and to go with your gut. I do not think this book is appropriate for middle school students though. Even though there are good messages I think some of the sexual connotations and family aspects are too much for that age. I would recommend teaching this novel to 9th or 10th grade students.
My grade for this book is a B+