BOOK REVIEW: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
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Title: The Rosie Project
Author: Graeme Simsion
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Publication Date: 2nd January 2014
Publisher: Penguin
Goodreads Summary: Meet Don Tillman. Don is getting married. He just doesn't know who to yet. But he has designed a very detailed questionnaire to help him find the perfect woman. One thing he already knows, though, is that it's not Rosie. Absolutely, completely, definitely not.
[ Review ]
Don is a little different. He has Asperger's syndrome (though he
himself fails to recognise this) and so can be rather blunt and socially
awkward. Often missing basic human signals Don frequently misinterprets
situations and thus finds himself with very few friends and no wife. Here comes
in: The Wife Project. Don creates a questionnaire that he believes is a foolproof
way of finding a wife. Although there are four answers to every question, only
one of them is correct in Don's eyes and a woman must score 100% on the test
before he'll consider taking her out on a date. But then there's Rosie, the
complete opposite of what Don is looking for, but something keeps bringing him
back to her.
I've heard so many good things about The Rosie Project ever
since it was published so I couldn't wait to get my claws into this on my
holiday away. This is the perfect holiday read for those who are looking for
something that is light-hearted and funny but not wishy-washy. Whilst this book
is about finding love, its not sappy in the slightest because it is written
from the perspective of Don and he is the sort of man who listens to reason,
and not his emotions (the few that he has). It's incredibly funny because you
get to see right into the mind of Don, a bizarre man, who doesn't think like
the rest of us. His reactions to social situations and general human
interaction are incredibly amusing, as is his lack of comprehension. To the
reader, it is obvious what is going on, but to Don it is not, so you yourself
feel like you're a part of the novel, keeping something from Don. You know
something that that doesn't and there's always something exciting about knowing
something your favourite character does not. I grew very fond of him as the
novel progressed and his character development over the course of the story is
truly heart warming.
Rosie, too, is a character that you start to root for, and I
really admired her for treating Don like an adult, like any other man, and didn’t
change, adapt or explain anything to him, preferring to leave him to develop
himself. There are a lot of unspoken thoughts and feelings in The Rosie
Project, which are all glaringly obvious to the reader, so the more you
read, the more desperate you are for all to be revealed and a real sense of
momentum builds up. Despite this, I wouldn't say that the story is all that
predictable in that Graeme Simsion still leaves the possibility for sudden plot
twists and as Don is not your typical man, you can never be quite sure what
he's going to do.
This isn’t the sort of romance that gives you butterflies, it’s
not a whirlwind romance and it’s not love at first sight. This story develops a
beautiful relationship between two people who are both a bit quirky and it is
because of that you keep reading. It’s not full of grand gestures; this is
about true love based on personalities, which I thought was very refreshing.
What’s more, the plot isn’t all about Don and Rosie, it’s much
bigger than that. This pair work incredibly hard trying to solve the mystery of
who Rosie’s father is – an experiment that leads them on many adventures, all
of which are hilarious. The ‘romance’ is at once one of the main features and
one of the side notes. It’s always there but rarely explicitly discussed.
In addition to Rosie and Don there are Don’s best friends, Gene
and his wife Claudia. These supporting characters are essential to the
plot line, slowly helping Don along without explicitly giving him a shove in the
right direction. Claudia acts as a sort of mother figure to Don, offering him
kind advice whenever he is in need. Gene is the opposite – he is a researcher
in human attraction who’s trying to sleep with women from every single country.
For research purposes of course. There are lots of characters in this book that
have ‘clashing’ personalities, and yet somehow Graeme Simsion manages to mash
them all together giving each individual character a different role in the
novel.
All in all, this is a fantastic and hugely funny read. At the
start of the novel, Don is the sort of man who has his weekly schedule planned
out to the hour and throughout the novel we see huge changes taking place in
life, all because of Rosie. This novel is quite as predictable as it may first
seem Rosie’s spontaneity mixed with Don’s unpredictability make it difficult to
really know what’s coming next. It’s rare to find a love story as gently and
finely developed as this so I’d highly recommend this to anyone who’s bored of
your stereotypical fictional romances.
I've head great things about this book. I must give it a read. Thank you for the recommendation.
ReplyDeleteI've seen so many fabulous reviews of this book. I love the cover - it makes me think of "he's her lobster!"
ReplyDeleteI keep hearing about this book too, it does sound a little bit different from the usual romances.
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An excellent review - this makes me want to go out and buy the book! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteI've been looking for a new book to read on my next holiday and this one looks good - thanks for sharing x
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