The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous
by Suzanne Crowley
Really interesting, sweet book from the perspective of an abnormal child. Merilee – who hates her name, by the way, and has heard every “Merrily we roll along” joke ever, thank you – is a little girl growing up in small town Texas, who is well aware that she is different. Through her telling the story, you figure out that she is autistic, in the Asperger’s range of the Autism spectrum. She has a very specific way she would like everything in her life to be. She likes her VOE – Very Ordered Existence.
Merilee has her routines, her place in the world – and everyone else’s place – all figured out. Her parents are strange but she knows they love her and believe in her, even if they don’t understand her. Her sister, Bug – real name Bitsey – is annoying, and is completely annoyingly normal. Bug never stops talking, while Merilee has an amazing vocabulary inside her head, she has trouble getting words out – or the right words out. The story really begins, though, when another misfit – a lonely boy named Biswick with an alcoholic poet of a father moves into town, and against her will, becomes her friend. and an older woman named Veraleen also becomes her family’s cook, and just like that, her Very Ordered Existence begins to fall apart.
How she begins to deal with change, an unlikely friendship, and learning to try to understand other people is all a fascinating and heartwarming story, and makes this “odd child” as Autistic kids are often seen, seem not only human, but like a very good person despite herself.
A wonderful story, and a good book, and while there are some heavy issues, they are handled pretty deftly, and in a pretty kid-safe way.
I heartily recommend this book, it is far more fun than I may have made it seem, and will leave you smiling.