lpaton2's review against another edition
5.0
Contrary to Crank, I absolutely loved how this book made me feel. Marcelo is such an easy character to connect to, and his story is incredibly heartfelt. The minuted I finished this book I had to purchase it (as I borrowed it from Dave), because I knew it was one I would read at least another time.
heatherinjapan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Goddamn the amount of ableism Marcello has to put up with is astounding! I think Stork does a really good job of depicting autism at least from my own experiences of living with autism. I'm glad that Stork doesn't just like Marcello get pushed around because he's autistic. Tbh, he's more ballsy than a lot of characters I read!
honeypielovesbooksnthebeatles's review against another edition
The ablism in this book is really off-putting
annebennett1957's review against another edition
5.0
(Added to this list on 7/21/21) This was one of my favorite YA books of 2009. I talked about it, read other books by the author, I even referenced it in a sermon I preached for a Sunday Service. The plot has faded over the years but not the good feelings I had from the way the book resolved.
kricketa's review against another edition
4.0
marcelo, a teen in the autistic spectrum, is disappointed when his father, arturo, tells him his summer plans have changed. instead of working with the therapy ponies at his school, paterson, marcelo finds himself in the mail room at arturo's law office. arturo wants him to experience the "real world."
and experience it he does. marcelo learns to get around boston on his own, learns to work with new people. he makes friends with his boss, jasmine, and with arturo's partner's son, wendel, who teaches him about sleaziness. it is when he is helping wendel with some files that he finds a photograph: a teenage girl missing half of her face. marcelo is compelled to find out who she is and to help her if he can, even if it means hurting his father's business.
it is a pleasure to be in marcelo's head because he is such an endearingly real character. totally warm-fuzzy inducing without being saccharine. thanks, lindsay!!
and experience it he does. marcelo learns to get around boston on his own, learns to work with new people. he makes friends with his boss, jasmine, and with arturo's partner's son, wendel, who teaches him about sleaziness. it is when he is helping wendel with some files that he finds a photograph: a teenage girl missing half of her face. marcelo is compelled to find out who she is and to help her if he can, even if it means hurting his father's business.
it is a pleasure to be in marcelo's head because he is such an endearingly real character. totally warm-fuzzy inducing without being saccharine. thanks, lindsay!!
pagesofpins's review against another edition
5.0
Marcelo has always attended a special school despite being high functioning enough on the autism spectrum to go to a public high school. He loves his school, working with the therapy ponies there, and reading about his special interest, religions. His father, who loves him but is frustrated with how his "different" son is perceived (and how that reflects on himself) wants his son to begin public high school. They agree that Marcelo will work for his father's law firm over the summer and, if he does well, Marcelo will get to choose where he spends his senior year. This is the beginning of a summer in which Marcelo begins to witness good and evil in the "real world", and discover things about human beings, their greed and capacity for love, that have never been part of his reality before. With the help of his friend and boss Jasmine, who works in the mailroom, and sidestepping Wendell, the arrogant and lustful senior partner's son, Marcelo learns to do his job. Then he finds himself in the center of a mystery surrounding a girl with half a face, a major conglomerate with a major lawsuit, and decisions that affect the future of his family forever.
"That's what faith is, isn't it? Following the music when we don't hear it." -279
"That's what faith is, isn't it? Following the music when we don't hear it." -279
jaimek926's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
clairebartholomew549's review against another edition
5.0
Entering my reviews over from my old Goodreads profile I unearthed recently...here are some super sappy thoughts from 2010-era 15-year-old Claire!
I learned a lot from this book. Marcelo is engaging, insightful, human. Amazing. His voice is intriguing and entrancing, and his interactions with people are...well, there isn't a word to describe it. Suffice to say that I was blown away.
Also, I loved the blossoming affection between Jasmine and Marcelo. It was so tentative, so caring. So real.
I learned a lot from this book. Marcelo is engaging, insightful, human. Amazing. His voice is intriguing and entrancing, and his interactions with people are...well, there isn't a word to describe it. Suffice to say that I was blown away.
Also, I loved the blossoming affection between Jasmine and Marcelo. It was so tentative, so caring. So real.
dlberglund's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoy narrators who have an unusual voice. Marcelo has characteristics of Asperger's syndrome, and his voice is sometimes endearing and engaging. (I might, in circles of professional people who I thought could be light-hearted about this topic, refer to him as Asp-y rather than having a full-blown diagnosis of ASD.) Other times, however, I didn't think that the author was able to be consistent. I didn't believe that he could make such amazing progress in reading facial expressions and body language, and in understanding figures of speech and metaphors in only one short summer.
Marcelo evidently has experienced sufficient impairment to attend a self-contained school for kids with various disabilities. Heading into his senior year of high school, his father challenges him to succeed in "the real world" by strong-arming Marcelo into a summer job at his law firm rather than the pony stables at Marcelo's school. This is stressful for Marcelo and for me.
Like the voice, the plot also gave me some problems. I wanted to understand his father's motivations somehow, as I had a hard time not villainizing him. I understand that the author is comfortable in the law office, but this almost turned into a Grisham novel. I would have liked the plot complications to be more subtle.
Marcelo evidently has experienced sufficient impairment to attend a self-contained school for kids with various disabilities. Heading into his senior year of high school, his father challenges him to succeed in "the real world" by strong-arming Marcelo into a summer job at his law firm rather than the pony stables at Marcelo's school. This is stressful for Marcelo and for me.
Like the voice, the plot also gave me some problems. I wanted to understand his father's motivations somehow, as I had a hard time not villainizing him. I understand that the author is comfortable in the law office, but this almost turned into a Grisham novel. I would have liked the plot complications to be more subtle.
sandraagee's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent story dealing with a 17-year-old with a condition much like Aspergers. Lots of great characters and intrigue. The voice of this story is melodious, which really fits in with the "music" that Marcello hears.