Autistic Narrators, Day Three: Marcelo in the Real World

Without planning for it to be, this week has somehow become devoted to autistic narrators in recent fiction. I'm not sure I can think of another example after today, but I do have one more recommendation in this sub-sub-genre: Marcelo in the Real World.

Marcelo is called autistic because the specialists he's seen all his childhood can't think of a better diagnosis. He's really only interested in pursuing activities that fit into his hobbies, and his hobbies narrowly revolve around music. But he's about to graduate from high school and his father wants him to have experience getting along in the real world.

Almost more sheltered than autistic, Marcelo comes of age assisting his father's law firm for the summer. Marcelo's real world matches the real one. Because he views the world through a narrow lens, the dishonesty of some co-workers, sexual appeal of women, and duplicity of his family is a unique revelation to him. Marcelo is a gentle introduction to the thinking of an autistic person, and an interesting one.

Autistic & Unreliable Narrators, Day 2: Curious Incident of The Dog in the Nighttime

Yesterday's post was about a heavy-handed Asperger's narrator. Want to read a good exploration of autism? In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time the main character just happens to be autistic. Unlike Mockingbird's main character, there's a plot beyond the autism aspect.

Of course, through his autism, Christopher John Francis Boone - Curious Incident's protagonist - sees the world differently. Emotions confuse him so he still buys wholeheartedly into his father's lies, even at age 15. The dead neighbor's dog is an injustice in his highly logical world (the chapters are numbered in chronological prime numbers because he likes math). But because he loves Sherlock Holmes, Christopher wants to solve a mystery: why did the neighbor's dog die? Because the book starts as a mystery with an unusual narrator (and it is now said that Sherlock Holmes himself would be diagnosed with a form of high-functioning autism), it is wonderful. The author isn't trying to make a point about autism. His autistic narrator has a journey to explore. His youth and sheltered world-view make that journey unique. Curious Incident is an unusual hybrid: coming-of-age mystery. And it is highly recommended.