The Rosie Project (2013)

The Rosie Project is the story of genetics professor Don Tillman who devises the Wife Project, a scientific test to find the perfect partner. He doesn't feel comfortable around most people. He flinches from physical contact and follows a rigid schedule ruled by logic. He cooks all his meals according to an unvarying schedule called the Standardized Meal System and routinely allows 94 minutes a week to clean his bathroom. This all goes out the window when he meets barmaid Rosie Jarman, who scores miserably on the questionnaire. She can't cook, doesn't eat meat, dyes her hair and is never on time. She may be beautiful but Don sees her as highly incompatible.

Don is a more complex character than he at first appears. Don's differences are real, but he likes to see himself as an independent thinker with too much integrity to make ordinary social and professional compromises. He might be wired differently, but it doesn't mean he doesn't have wants and needs. He wants to be the man he thinks Rosie wants him to be, not realizing that she's falling in love with the man he already is.

I completely loved this story from the first page to the final page. It was funny and touching and difficult to put down. I'm not sure I believe some of the antics related to the Father Project but none of it took away the enjoyment I got from this book.
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I really loved this book.

The main character of Don Tillman was in a word fantastic.

I had some problems with others around him, but he was astute, funny (without meaning to me), loyal, and above all true to himself. And to have a main character be an adult with Asperger's and not realizing it, was actually sort of brilliant. In Don's mind other people should pick up more of his foibles since it would make them happier and actually be on time.

Don is a professor teaching genetics in Australia when he happens decides to take up the advice of a dearly departed friend and find a wife. Not used to doing things by halves, Don creates a questionnaire and goes about finding a wife. After some disastrous (and funny) outings, Don meets Rosie and his life gets turned upside down again when he decides to help Rosie find her father.

Though I gave this book five stars, I honestly have to say that there were some things that I didn't think worked at all in this book. First, there are not that many books that take place in Australia that I have read and I was happy to read this one. However, Don does not read Australian to me at all, instead he reads as "American" to me. I don't need people talking about dingoes or kangaroos or anything, but a few times I would forget this took place in Australia until some mention of it was made. Sad, but true. The author does a good job of describing New York though, so I wish that there had been that same level of detail for Australia.

And the other big hurdle I had to get over was with the character of Rosie. She was not at all what I pictured for Don and part of me wondered at him even wanting to be with her since she was just awful at times to him. At one point, Claudia says to Don that apparently she was providing advice to the wrong person meaning that Don was fine and Rosie was the one with the problem.

Even with that though I have to say that the writing and pacing was excellent. The dialogue we get with Don with certain characters does crack me up a lot and I was rooting for him from beginning to end. ( )

Lost momentum & will. Just wasn't for me; officially flipping to DNF. (I think I've been reading it > 1 year!)

This has been reviewed a gadzillion times in the press and online. A few notes....

It doesn't surprise me, having read a little of the background of this once I finished the book, that it was intended as a screenplay. It is sloppy as a novel and, as many have mentioned, once it moves to NY, the story really becomes a corny romance.

However, I am surprised to see it is considered chicklit, it deserves better. It is hilarious from that fabulous start: 'I may have found a solution to the Wife Problem.' I can see why it's described as that old-fashioned thing, a screwball comedy.

It is impossible to write a book like this without having to endure the moral considerations. Is it okay to write about weird people if one isn't weird (perhaps the author is?)?. Is it a politically correct portrayal of Aspergers if the person does have Aspergers? Some people who deal with it at close quarters say yes, others no. I don't really understand why books (etc) have to be scrutinised in this way, why characters have to be labelled, why they have to receive approval. This is a book about a weird guy. He is inadvertently funny. As the story develops it may be that he plays up on that on purpose, making him advertently funny. The situations are funny. They are described in funny ways. The author's had fun. Probably his lucky proofreader had fun too.

The darn thing's funny, really funny, most of the time. That should be enough. It's enough for me. ( )

This has been reviewed a gadzillion times in the press and online. A few notes....

It doesn't surprise me, having read a little of the background of this once I finished the book, that it was intended as a screenplay. It is sloppy as a novel and, as many have mentioned, once it moves to NY, the story really becomes a corny romance.

However, I am surprised to see it is considered chicklit, it deserves better. It is hilarious from that fabulous start: 'I may have found a solution to the Wife Problem.' I can see why it's described as that old-fashioned thing, a screwball comedy.

It is impossible to write a book like this without having to endure the moral considerations. Is it okay to write about weird people if one isn't weird (perhaps the author is?)?. Is it a politically correct portrayal of Aspergers if the person does have Aspergers? Some people who deal with it at close quarters say yes, others no. I don't really understand why books (etc) have to be scrutinised in this way, why characters have to be labelled, why they have to receive approval. This is a book about a weird guy. He is inadvertently funny. As the story develops it may be that he plays up on that on purpose, making him advertently funny. The situations are funny. They are described in funny ways. The author's had fun. Probably his lucky proofreader had fun too.

The darn thing's funny, really funny, most of the time. That should be enough. It's enough for me. ( )