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> ...が、このごろはジョバンニは **まるで** 毎日教室でもねむく、本を読むひまも読む本もないので、...  
>  but these days Jobanni ?? was sleepy in the classroom everyday and had
> neither books to read nor the free time to read them, so ...

Grammar books tell me that まるで is used with a negative predicate or with
structures expressing similarity ( e.g. ようだ). This seems to be neither of
those.

I also thought it might be "in a circle" e.g. an endless cycle of going to
sleep in the classroom. I really have no idea.
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grammar
Meaning of まるで in this sentence
[まるで](http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%BE%E3%82%8B%E3%81%A7) - as if,
seems like

> Lately, it's as if Giovanni is always sleepy even in the classroom and has
> no time to read nor books to read...

Seems like whoever is saying this sentence is worried about Giovanni.
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2016-11-17T19:11:03.950
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The まるで here means 「すっかり」 「まったく」 "totally" "entirely".

It's definition #2 in
[デジタル大辞泉](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/210069/meaning/m0u/%E3%81%BE%E3%82%8B%E3%81%A7/):

> ２ （下に否定的な意味の語を伴って）まさしくその状態であるさま。すっかり。まったく。「まるでだめだ」「兄弟だがまるで違う」

Used with a negative phrase, it means "(not) ~~ at all."
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2016-11-17T23:59:53.893
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まるで can also mean "absolutely", "completely".  
<http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/edc/3000237601/meaning/m1u/%E3%81%BE%E3%82%8B%E3%81%A7/>
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