The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Looking for a quirky, fun romance with unique likeable characters?  Your hunt is over.  The Rosie Project is the story of Don Tillman.  Don knows he is wired differently than everyone else, and lives a very organized life as a professor in Australia.  He decides to enter the dating scene and starts a “wife project” complete with an extensive questionnaire.  He cannot find the “perfect” woman, but hopes his friend Gene can help out.  Gene sends over Rosie for a candidate and Don’s life is changed forever.  Will Don be able to find love?  Will he be able to change his routine?  Is he capable of feeling love?

I really liked how unique Don was and that novel was told from his point of view.  I like that he knows that he is “wired differently” than most people, but doesn’t seem to realize that he probably has Asperger’s like the many children in a seminar that he teaches once for his friend Gene.  Don has a hard time emphasizing with people, but he can make connections.  I loved the sweet story of his dinners with his elderly neighbor Daphne and how his trips continued to see her when she moved on to a nursing home with Alzheimer’s.  He has a hard time seeing beyond his routine and I love how the adventures he has with Rosie break him out of the routine and make him realize there could be fun doing different things.  I also like that Rosie realizes she can have fun with Don doing items in his routine.

This was a fun, quick story that made me laugh a lot.  I loved Don’s “voice” and how he uses logic to try to solve all problems.  As an engineer, I felt like I’ve met a lot of Dons. I read that it has been optioned as a movie and I really hope it is made into a romantic comedy.  There has really been a dearth of good romantic comedies lately.  The story was told from Don’s point of few, I wish we could have gotten more of Rosie’s point of view in the story.  Don is not always the most perceptive when it comes to lady’s feelings so sometimes I was wondering how exactly she felt.

This book was a Kewaunee Library Book Club selection for the month of February and is a great read for the month of Valentine’s Day.  I sadly will miss the meeting next week to discuss this book due to work.

Favorite Quotes:

“Gene and Claudia tried for a while to assist me with the Wife Problem.  Unfortunately, their approach was based on the traditional dating paradigm, which I had previously abandoned on the basis that the probability of success did not justify the effort and negative experiences.  I am thirty-nine years old, tall, fit and intelligent, with a relatively high status and above-average income as an associate professor.  Logically, I should be attractive to a wide range of women.  In the animal kingdom, I would succeed in reproducing.  However, there is something about me that women find unappealing.”

“At 2:50 a.m. I was riding through the inner suburbs.  It was not a totally unpleasant experience.  In fact, I could see major advantages for myself in working at night.  Empty laboratories.  Not students.  Faster response times on the network.  No contact with the Dean.  If I could find a pure research position, with no teaching, it would be entirely feasible.”

“In the last eight weeks I had experienced two of the three best times of my adult life, assuming all visits to the Museum of natural History were treated as one event.  They had both been with Rosie.  Was there a correlation?  It was critical to find out.”

Overall, this was a fun, exceptional book with one of my favorite new literary characters – Don Tillman.  I will be recommending this book to others!

Book Source:  The Kewaunee Public Library