Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork

Marcelo is a 17 year old who has an undisclosed diagnisis that is the the autism spectrum and his mother has allowed him to do exactly what he wants. He goes to a private school that meets his needs and doesn't push him in any way. He is smart, he hears music no one else hears, and he loves to work with horses. He lives in a tree house in his back yard and he does what he wants and doesn't do what he doesn't want. Enter Marcelo's father, Arturo, who thinks that Marcelo should go to public school and learn to deal with what the real world has to offer. He demands that Marcelo work in his law firm for the summer, and at the end of that time, they will negotiate his future. What Arturo doesn't reckon with is the jealousy of his partner and how that might affect Marcelo, and what effect Marcelo might have on the world. Marcelo is put in the mail room, working under Jasmine. Jasmine is a beautiful woman, which has no effect on Marcelo, but Arturo's partner's son is seriously interested in bedding her. Nothing more than that. He cares nothing for her, and Marcelo, while wanting to please everyone, realizes there is something majorly wrong with that, and resists getting involved with that. Jasmine, for her part, takes a real liking to Marcelo, and she likes him for who he is--no one in Marcelo's life feels that way, so that is a real plus of his summer job. He also realizes when the partner's son is using him, and that is good as well. The bad part is that Marcelo discovers that his father is not the knight in shining armor that Marcelo thought he was. Arturo also underestimates Marcelo in a way that changes their relationship forever. It is a well told story, with a complicated moral dilemma and an ending that has real world pluses and minuses. Highly recommended.