The Rosie Project

Don Tillman is wonderful. Actually, it is his self-awareness that is absolutely priceless. While he might not understand exactly why he is wired differently, he is cognizant of his differences and knows that he sees and does things differently from almost everyone else. This leads to some of the most insightful and charming behavior. His structure, his punctuality, his logic, and his efficiency are all admirable traits; when seen through his eyes, his extreme structure, punctuality, logic and efficiency are even understandable. It is his matter-of-fact approach to his quirks that makes him truly charming though. He is completely unashamed of his differences and even somewhat derisive of those who view him as odd or insist he follow show more nonsensical (to him) rules. He is so aware of his differences that when he cannot understand his continued interactions with Rosie, a reader takes notice. He might not know what is happening, but readers will. In true romantic comedy fashion, readers end up cheering Don as he slowly begins to realize that sometimes love and happiness do not follow any structure or logic or rules.

Dan O’Grady is great as Don Tillman. His deadpan performance perfectly mirrors the emotionless responses Don gives his circle of acquaintances. Yet, Mr. O’Grady adds a twinge of desire in his voice that lets listeners know that Don not only acknowledges his differences, he wishes that he were not quite so different. Mr. O’Grady embodies Don’s natural lack of empathy, his directness, his logic-fueled mind, and his propensity for making sure others have a reason to laugh at him outside of his tonality and delivery. Mr. O’Grady makes a fun story that much more delightful.

It is supremely difficult not to fall in love with Don. He is so earnest and logical, and his lack of filters is refreshing in a world that hides behind subterfuge and mixed messages. Then there is his self-awareness which is so endearingly pathetic. His approach to the Wife Project may not be the most romantic, but the desire for happiness and fulfillment is there. Watching him fall in love with the most unlikely Wife Project candidate is absolutely adorable. The Rosie Project is indeed an excellent, charming, feel-good story. show less

"Asperger's isn't a fault. It's a variant. It's potentially a major advantage.”

Don Tillman is a genetics professor. He is handsome and brilliant. He is also socially awkward, fastidious and unreasonably demanding. He has had zero luck with the opposite sex and nearing forty, comes up with “The Wife Project”: a questionnaire, to assist him in finding the perfect mate. Of course, he is confident, that this ploy will work.

Enter, Rosie! A smart, young, sassy redhead, who is everything Don is NOT looking for. She is about to turn Don’s insulated, structured little world, upside down.

This is a charmer. Filled with humor and romance. The theme is light but it is fast-paced, solidly written, with a fresh Melbourne setting. I dare you show more not to smile. show less

In the spirit of full disclosure, I did not expect to like this book as much as I did! As you'll see from the glowing five star rating, The Rosie Project totally threw me for a curve. It's impressive to me that I went into this book completely annoyed with the main character, and then two chapters later I couldn't stop reading. Things kept getting better. Don kept surprising me. By the time I reached the end, I was breathless and satisfied. That, my friends, is the mark of a damn good book.

The thing is that Don, our main character, has Asperger's. I've read quite a few books with protagonists that faced the same challenge, but Don takes the cake in the personality department. How would I describe Don? Words that come to mind are: show more punctual, organized, brutally honest and often insufferable. At least, that is, at first. If you go into this book not loving Don, please keep reading. The growth that he shows, the barriers that he knocks down, it's just all so amazing. He ended up being one of my favorite characters. I definitely wasn't expecting that.

I've seen others take issue with the way that Asperger's is portrayed in The Rosie Project, and I'll honestly say that I can't take a stand on that. Not having any previous interactions with anyone like Don, I don't know if this is an accurate portrayal or not. What I can say is that I never felt like the author was being negative about Don's behavior, or trying to make him a joke. Quite the opposite actually. I learned so much about the ways that he had to adapt simply to fit in with the craziness that is us. When you look at it from his perspective, we're the ones who make no sense.

That, and I think a lot of the more negative light falls on Rosie in this instance. She's a feminist at heart, but still wants her swoon-worthy romance as well. She's all about standing out, but sometimes is uncomfortable with not fitting in. Rosie is a paradox, but that fits perfectly into this story. She helps Don find his best self, and learns more about herself along the way. I liked her, I loved him, and the whole story that revolved around them drew me in.

So what am I trying to say through all the rambling? This is a damn fine book. I wasn't sure about picking it up at first, but after reading so many glowing reviews I gave it a shot. I'm sincerely glad I did. The Rosie Project deserves all those fantastic reviews, and I'll happily add another one into the mix. show less

Don Tillman is a highly intelligent but socially inept professor of genetics. He is able to count his friends on one hand, is painfully literal and brutally honest – not through any cruelty, but just through lack of social skills. When he decides that he needs a wife, he acts in typical fashion and devises a questionnaire to select the perfect candidate and weed out anyone who is not suitable.

So when Rosie walks into his life, Don immediately dismisses her as entirely unsuitable – she smokes, drinks, is led by emotion rather than logic and is habitually late. She is also on a mission to find out the identity of her real father – and Don, as a geneticist, is ideally placed to help her. As they become friends and go through a number show more of adventures to obtain the DNA of the various candidates, Don finds that sometimes emotions do trump logic, and what should make two people incompatible can sometimes be exactly what makes them click with each other.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. It is narrated from Don’s point of view, which gives plenty of opportunity for humour, and also means that the reader empathises with him in a way that wouldn’t have been so easy if it were told in the third person. I also really liked Rosie – she is feisty, intelligent and witty, and the two of them made a great main couple of characters as they navigated the highs and lows of friendship.

The ending really made me smile as well – it covers more than just the outcome of the friendship between Don and Rosie – and manages to be both surprising and heartwarming.

I highly recommend this book and am already looking forward to reading the sequel, The Rosie Effect. show less

I have seen complaints that this story was written as a comedy rather than a drama, but I liked that about it. Sometimes, a reader needs a light-hearted take on a serious subject. It is uplifting to see a positive representation of a person who shares many characteristics with with people who have Asperger's, or who are on the autism spectrum. Thankfully, despite this being humor-driven, the reader is never laughing at Don. Instead, we see the world through his eyes, and it is hard not to become drawn in to his particular brand of logic.

Lots of people have read this book and are already onto its follow up, The Rosie Effect and we can now all have fun confusing both book titles and getting the story lines mixed up. But The Rosie Project is where it all starts, when genetics professor Don Tillman accidentally falls on what he thinks is the ideal device to find the perfect wife in the form of a questionnaire which is bound to eliminate all the unwanted candidates to avoid dating disasters, such as women who insist on eating only one specific flavour of ice cream (when he is scientifically certain that the taste buds once frozen can't differentiate between one ice cream flavour and another). One thing which becomes clear from the very beginning is that Don is a peculiar show more guy with very rigid habits and zero sense of what appropriate interpersonal behaviour should be like. His best friend Gene sends him off as a replacement to give a talk on Asperger's Syndrome to a bunch of kids and their parents early on in the story, by which time it seems everyone in the book and the reader has figured out Don must have just that syndrome, but meanwhile Don himself feels incredibly clever to have figured out the kids in the room must be 'aspies' themselves, but meanwhile seems clueless that he must be one himself too. Rosie walks into his life and Don assumes she's passed his test, yet she doesn't meet a single of his requirements. She is looking for her real father though, and Don takes on her quest like it's his own life mission. Before long, he and Rosie are spending loads of time together and devising all kinds of unlikely feats to dredge up DNA from likely candidates and... even while Rosie shakes Don up considerably, could it be that they're falling in love, even though Don isn't actually capable of empathy or feeling emotions like love?

I knew everyone else had loved this book, which to me wasn't an indicator that I would love it too, but I picked up the audio version narrated by Dan O'Grady and pretty much started enjoying it and not wanting to stop to listen from the get-go. Don narrates the story from his point of view and his perspective on life is both incredibly stilted and very amusing. Rosie is a strong character who doesn't let anyone jerk her around and the result of their time spent together is surprising and heartwarming. I'm not a fan of romance novels, nor of romantic comedies in general, but this one was very well done and I was more than willing to be led along. Only caveat is the ending was wrapped up so quickly that I couldn't figure out who Rosie's dad was in the last couple of sentences finally, but I found a Goodreads thread to help me figure it out and this detail didn't really affect my overall appreciation of the book finally because the search for Rosie's father finally became secondary to Don's unique character and a budding relationship. show less

The life of Don Tillman, Melbourne genetics professor, is scheduled down to the minute. He is ultra-hygienic. He's something of an expert on Asperger Syndrome and autism spectrum disorders but does not suspect himself of having either. In social situations, Don's a disaster, so he comes up with a questionnaire to find a wife instead of wasting precious hours on dating questionable women. Don calls his survey The Wife Project.

Enter Rosie, a friend of a friend, who is as devil-may-care as Don is meticulous. Rosie gets most of the questionnaire wrong and promptly turns Don's life upside down. Don logically concludes that this cannot be love, both because Rosie is an unsuitable candidate (he has scientific proof) and because Don has none of show more the emotions associated with romantic love (apart from--the reader observes--jealousy, lust, and euphoria when in Rosie's presence and despondency when she is not around).

Another symptom of Don's growing infatuation: extreme rationalizations to be in Rosie's company, including an ill-advised crusade to find her biological father, which Don dubs The Father Project. The Wife Project gets put on hold for this madcap escapade, which quickly spirals out of control and covers two continents. The Father Project involves blood samples, hair follicles, swabs from drinking glasses, used handkerchiefs, sweaty tee-shirts, and more than a little subterfuge, theft, jet lag, and alcohol consumption.

I fell for Don much earlier than Rosie did--on page one--and remained enraptured throughout the novel, which I read in one sitting. When it comes to falling in love, we're all "deficient" and scared to death. At the end of the book, after laughing and crying and looking at the world (and at Rosie) from Don's perspective, with all his longing for scientific safety and control fighting a yen for adventure and ecstasy, Don seemed more loving than most people--not as measured in crying at romantic movies or in scientific calculations, but in solid hard work and willingness to change and compromise. Don devotes a staggering amount of time and energy to those lucky few he counts as friends--and also to Rosie, whom he illogically but accurately calls "the most beautiful woman in the world." show less