The Rosie Project
By: Graeme Simsion
Hardcover, 295 pages
Published October 1st 2013 by Simon & Schuster
Type: Fiction, Romance
My Rating: 4 Stars
Synopsis:
Don Tillman is on a quest to find the perfect wife. He is a genetics professor and finds social interactions challenging. In order to find the perfect woman he begins The Wife Project- his very own handcrafted match.com/ e-harmony, complete with questionnaires for the eligible bachelorettes to complete before he determines if they are datable. His criteria is unrelenting and narrowly focused.
Rosie Jarman is the exact opposite of a woman that would pass muster in The Wife Project. She is on a quest to locate her biological dad and enlists the help of Don. Together, they begin The Father Project, where they pursue all possible fathers, steal some DNA here and there and try an unravel the mystery of Rosie’s mother’s secret.
During the course of The Father Project, Don Tillman loses steam on The Wife Project and finds himself being drawn the exact opposite of what he thought he wanted, and instead, discovers what it is that he needed.
Some awesome Quotes"
"And the pursuit of fun does not lead to overall contentment."
“How can you tell if someone is a vegan? Just wait ten minutes and they’ll tell you.”
“Fault! Asperger’s isn’t a fault. It’s a variant. It’s potentially a major advantage. Asperger’s syndrome is associated with organization, focus, innovative thinking, and rational detachment.”
“But why, why, why can't people just say what they mean?”
My Thoughts:
This is a fun and whimsical telling from the perspective of Don who ironically gives a class about Asperger’s without seeming to realize that he exhibits many of the same traits. He tries so hard to fit his future wife into a series of check boxes while the world has other plans. The story was really eye opening for me and helped me understand more about Asperger’s. I enjoy books from different perspectives and Simsion did a fantastic job. There were some wonderfully humorous scenes, some heartbreaking ones and a lot of surprises. A sweet and sassy romance/ coming of “age” story told from the perspective of a male who is clearly on the spectrum and struggles to assimilate with “normal” culture. It’s an amazing mirror for the reader to consider what we think of as being normal and how there are in fact many ways to view the world.
Who Would I Recommend This To?
I thoroughly enjoyed everything this book had to offer and would recommend it to anyone looking for something a little different and willing to learn about the way they view the world.
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