The Rosie Effect

Last year, Graeme Simsion blew me away with The Rosie Project. Despite my qualms at the beginning, Don Tillman soon became a character who I absolutely adored. His punctuality, honesty, and over the top preparation for everything in life made him an intriguing person. I wasn't expecting to love Don. I wasn't even really expecting to like him, to be honest. Graeme Simsion's writing prowess changed all of that, and I was completely thrilled. So, when I saw The Rosie Effect pop up as a sequel? Well, I knew I'd have to read it. No question about it.

Now for those of you who might be coming in to these books new, let me tell you a little about Don. He has Asperger's, and as such is a rather complex man. He schedules everything, loves to gain show more new knowledge, and has a bit of a hard time with empathy and social situations. That's why I was so intrigued by the premise of The Rosie Effect. We all know that the prospect of a new baby is exciting, but stressful. I could only imagine how Don, of all people, would deal with an unexpected pregnancy. In my mind, I saw lots of intense planning! I was right. Oh yes, I was right.

I think it's only fair to mention that Rosie is rather insufferable in this particular book. I had a difficult time with her the first time around. Her feminist views, and overall demeanor in fact, were only bearable because Don was so sweet on her. I couldn't let her derail my adoration of him. This time, I almost put this book down multiple times because of Rosie's character. Her selfishness, her petty views, the way she treated Don, all of it made me want to slap her and tell her that he was too good for her anyway. As before, Don really stole the show and that helped a lot with my enjoyment of this book. I'm pretty sure my opinion of Rosie borders on abject hate at his point though.

Moving on, even Rosie wasn't enough to keep me from loving this story. Watching Don's growth from the last book to this one was wonderful and hilarious. His new groups of friends, the new problems he creates for himself, all of it was classic Don. He's a character that I can't help but like. I have to say that he just keeps on surprising me. Despite everything else, I had a lot of fun watching him navigate this new chapter in his life. Bravo, Mr. Simsion. Let's hope that if these two come back for another book, Rosie gets her act together. show less

“Rain Man! I had seen the film. I did not identify in any way with Rain Man, who was inarticulate, dependent, and unemployable. A society of Rain Men would be dysfunctional. A society of Don Tillmans would be efficient, safe, and pleasant for all of us.

Those who found themselves laughing and pulling for Don and Rosie in The Rosie Project will similarly enjoy The Rosie Effect. The Rosie Project was narrated by socially inept and brilliant geneticist Don Tillman, who approaches problems with excellent logic and little common sense. He's largely blind to the social cues we take for granted (he's been the subject of many diagnoses, including Aspberger's Syndrome), but he fell in love with Rosie ­Jarman while helping her find out who her show more ­father was. If you haven't read that first one yet, read no further in this review, and go read The Rosie Project.

In The Rosie Effect Don and Rosie have married and now live in New York, where he’s a professor and she’s a medical student. He loves sex with Rosie, and has studied carefully how to best approach her about it:

“Sex was absolutely not allowed to be scheduled, at least not by explicit discussion, but I had become familiar with the sequence of events likely to precipitate it: a blueberry muffin from Blue Sky Bakery, a triple shot of espresso from Otha’s, removal of my shirt, and my impersonation of Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Don has adjusted to Rosie's disorganization compared to him - he's philosophical, for example, about never being sure which room her bath towel will end up in. But something is off-kilter, as we know from the book's opening line: "Orange juice was not scheduled for Fridays." Rosie drops the bombshell that "we're pregnant." The ultimate chaos creator, as all parents know. Don responds with his usual determination, including creating a new Standardized Meal System with optimum nutrition for pregnancy, and as usual gets himself into deeper and deeper trouble. Having been advised to observe children interacting, he starts videotaping kids in a playground, and soon gets himself into more trouble.

He is surrounded by an eclectic group of friends, including his overly-amorous friend Gene and his insightful wife Claudia, Dave and Sonia, who are expecting their first child and experiencing their own chaos, and the rock star landlord for Don and Rosie's apartment who takes a shine to Don. All of them want to help Don, as does a disapproving therapist he is ordered to see, but their advice often is at cross-purposes. Meanwhile, Rosie, whom he views as "the world's most perfect woman", is developing serious doubts about Don's ability to cope as a father, and her ability to cope with him, and their relationship enters dangerous waters.

Will it all sort out? Read it and find out. As with the first book, you'll find yourself cheering for Rosie and Don to make it. Four stars. show less

I've been putting off writing this review for the sole purpose that my mother told me if I wrote a bad review for "The Rosie Effect" she's cut me. I think she was only partially kidding.

This is going to be rather short and I'm not doing a synopsis like I usually would. The cheat sheet version (in case you did know) is that Don and Rosie are now living in New York and Rosie has just announced that she's pregnant. As you can imagine Don doesn't handle it like one might expect.

*Spoilers Ahead*

I really enjoyed "The Rosie Project" it was a quick read and I was truly invested in the characters and what became of them. "The Rosie Effect" was ten steps back in that area. As I read I slowly began to hate Rosie and the way she was treating show more Don. She admits to getting pregnant on purpose without talking to him about it, she shuts him out of the pregnancy and in the end threatens to move back to Australia and take their child with her.

She doesn't understand, nor does it seem like she wants to, how Don is coping with the news of becoming a father. I'm sorry but you knew who he was and how he processed things when you married him, it's a little late to try to change him or his behavior.

There were some parts I liked, for instance, Don getting arrested at a playground for watching small children (for research, of course!). I honestly couldn't stop laughing, but these scenes were few and far between and were completely forgotten the moment that Rosie reentered the story.

It was as if she had been wiped completely clean of her charm and wit and lovable charisma and all that was left was a hollow shell of the old Rosie, taken over by, for lack of a better word, the worlds biggest bitch.

Perhaps I built up the second book to much, expected too much, thus setting it up for failure before I ever picked it up, but I can't imagine anyone who read the first book, who fell head over heels for the characters, liking "The Rosie Effect".

Until next time,
Ginger

In compliance with FTC guidelines I am disclosing that this book was given to me for free to review.
My review is my honest opinion. show less

If I'm totally honest, this book only deserved three stars. It was contrived and formulaic in a way that 'The Rosie Project' avoided. The Playground Incident was ridiculous and should never have gotten to the point that it did, and so much of the novel relies on that one incident that the whole thing ended up feeling forced, like the worst kind of rom-com. (And Don's lying to Rosie about it--albeit a lie of omission--was pretty much unforgivable. Even though his reasons for doing so were explained in a mostly satisfactory way, it felt out of character.) And Lydia was never a character so much as she was a Plot Device.

But...

I still love Don. And Rosie. And Gene. And George. But I especially loved Dave and Sonia, whose problems seemed show more more real and whose marriage seemed more precarious (but worth saving) than Don and Rosie's. Sonia's plotline got a little melodramatic, but she and Dave were the real heart of this story and kept it more grounded in reality than it would have been otherwise. They were the Carrie Fisher/Bruno Kirby relationship to Rosie and Don's Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal.

As a fan of 'The Rosie Project', I enjoyed catching up with Don and Rosie. But, as a fan of romantic and/or comedic novels, I found this one cliched and preposterous and only saved by a pair of excellent supporting characters. show less

The Rosie Project was so fresh and unexpected that the sequel is just a bit disappointing. It's still fun to read though, with the recurring characters (Rosie, Don and Gene) remaining consistent. New characters are added, primarily friends and colleagues of Don's after the move to New York, all trying to help when Rosie becomes pregnant, but generally complicating Don's assumption that he can't be a good father. This is not as light hearted as the first book but you won't read it without laughing here and there. 3.5

The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion is book two in the Don Tillman series that began with bestselling; The Rosie Project. Tillman is a character that is as lovable as he is socially inept. His audience will and does want to hug him tightly as he tries to make it through the challenges of the real world, outside of his genetics laboratory. He's funny without meaning to be. He is the literary embodiment of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory, only with a wish to love and care for others. But his inability to show emotion keeps him from doing so. So he must approach his relationships as an experiment. Weighing all the logical variables. Only in marriage there is little logic involved and the variables are always changing. And now, the biggest show more variable possible is about to be thrown into the equation.

"..Rosie raised the glass as if proposing a toast. This turned out to be exactly what she was doing.
'We've got something to celebrate, Captain,' she said. She looked at me for a few seconds. She knows that I am not fond of surprises. I assumed that she had achieved some important milestone with her thesis. Or perhaps she had been offered a place in the psychiatry training program on completion of the medical course. This would be extremely good news, and I estimated the probability of sex at greater than 90 percent.
She smiled-then, presumably to increase the suspense, drank from her glass. Disaster! It was as if it contained poison. She spat it out, over her white dress, and ran to the bathroom. I followed her as she removed the dress and ran water over it.
Standing in her half-purple underwear, pumping water in and out of the dress, she turned back to me. Her expression was far too complex to analyze.
'We're pregnant,' she said..."

Tillman, who is still gathering the knack at being a husband is now faced with the oncoming responsibility of being a father. Add onto it a best friend who is tossed out by his wife for continuing infidelity, another who is having difficulty sharing his emotions with his wife as well, and an aging rock star landlord with issues connecting with his children.

Tillman approaches all of this in his normal analytical way with disastrous results. He ends up arrested, threatened with prison or at the least having his visa revoked and being deported, and with the love of life Rosie, leaving him with his unborn child. Can this brilliant genetics scientist figure out the answer in time?

The Rosie Effect suffers from the same disease as most sequels. It isn't as good as the first. More so, its not even in its league. Tillman is as lovable as ever, but what was a nuisance in the first novel has become an overbearing albatross in The Rosie Effect.

Every other character in this book sucks! All the men are emotionally weak and unable to be of any support to anyone at all. The women are either hindered by emotional pain or angry and bitter at everyone to see beyond their own issues. But worst of all, is Rosie.

This is the love of his life? Seriously Tillman, you need to get out more. A well educated student of psychiatry can't recognize her own self-destructive and vindictive emotional mood swings? There is absolutely nothing likable about Rosie. Nothing that says she deserves a man who loves her. Even if the man is unable to express it well on an emotional level. But then she knew that well before she married him, and there is a lingering feeling that she got pregnant on purpose even though she knew they would not be in a position to support the child emotionally or otherwise. She is selfish and childish and if you really love the character of Don Tillman, the last thing you want is for him to stay with her.

The book ends with the baby born, everyone happy and the marriage saved. That is not a happy ending. The happy ending is the baby born, Tillman learning to become a father and Rosie run over by a freakin' train!

Now that's a happy ending! show less

I was anxiously awaiting this sequel and it did not disappoint. Geneticist Don Tillman is living in New York with his new wife Rosie. He has settled into a new university and Rosie is working on her MD and PhD simultaneously. Everything in his world seems right, until it is turned upside down by an unexpected pregnancy. On top of that, Don's friend Gene has been thrown out by his wife and is moving in with him, his new friend Dave is struggling to make his business survive, and the upstairs neighbor is trying to get his life together. Don tries to help all of his friends solve their problems but can't seem to find time to work on his own. Can Don's structured life handle the new chaos that he has been thrown into? Will he be able to show more handle being a professor, friend, husband, and father, or will the added pressure cause his whole world to crumble? Funny, touching, and a brilliant story that I couldn't put down!

Bettina P. / Marathon County Public Library
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