The Rosie Project

How about this for a first sentence? "I may have found a solution to the Wife Problem." In this screwball comedy, the narrator is a professor of genetics named Don Tillman, who teaches at a Melbourne university. He is tall and bears some resemblance to Gregory Peck, but is such an odd duck that he has trouble connecting with women and, really, anyone. His two friends, fellow prof Gene and his wife Claudia, understand his idiosyncrasies and appreciate his warm heart.

Don creates a questionaire for potential mates to fill out, that will eliminate unfavorable candidates like those fixated on one flavor of ice cream. (This derived from "the Ice Cream Incident", in which an ice cream store's failure to have his date's ice cream choice leads show more to a dating disaster). Lack of punctuality, vegetarianism, and other eliminating criteria are included. Then, via a misunderstanding, he meets the unpunctual, vegetarian Rosie. Rosie has many other eliminating qualities, but Don finds himself drawn to help her find her biological father, even though it means that for the first time he will be breaking some of his rules. Their adventures together collecting DNA from potential candidates are very amusing, and their pushme-pullyou relationship is charming. Don knows from the beginning she is not a suitable candidate and yet . . . and Rosie finds his crazy ways entertaining, but his difficulties with emotions too frustrating, and yet . . .

Many thanks to Mark for recommending this one. Simsion nails the tone perfectly throughout. A set piece at a party in which Don helps Rosie by acting as waiter and bartender, taking advantage of his phenomenal memory, is classic. This is a fun romp that has the bonus of helping us look at ourselves and our relationships from a different, gently odd, perspective. show less

The Rosie Project is a screwball romantic comedy with a neurodiverse character (no formal diagnosis). There is effort to distribute the humor across characters: the neurodiverse protagonist is the source of most of the humorous irony as he makes his way through a lot of awkward interpersonal interactions, but the author gently pokes fun at Rosie and Gene as well (maybe not so gently at Gene, the stereotypical philandering psychology professor).

Romcoms often have some very large relationship red flags built into the plot (e.g. infidelity, attachment disorder) so that there is some dramatic tension, but this one is built around Don's misunderstanding of emotional content (and Rosie's, as well). You have a sense pretty early on that this show more is a workable relationship because they are both putting in a lot of effort. While it's one kind of fun to read romantic comedies where the leads are honestly terrible for each other, this is a much warmer, love-affirming fun.

I can see why the book was optioned as a movie, but it's going to be hard to translate to the screen: how do you portray everything that's going on in Don's head? show less

Simsion has written an absolutely delightful, endearing romantic comedy that made me smile and laugh as I read it. The romantic comedies I have read in the past have all followed the same old pattern of boy/girl develops interest in boy/girl and pursues the object of their attraction, usually with mixed/comic results. Simsion has incorporated a number of romantic comedy elements into his debut novel, with an interesting twist: The key protagonist, Don, is a logic-driven autistic genetics scientist with OCD tendencies and who is incapable of feeling or experiencing emotions such as love – that key ingredient that usually ‘runneth over’ in other romantic comedies - because, as he states, he is 'wired differently'. It came as no show more surprise that Simsion chose to craft Rosie as the perfect “opposites attract” personality, opening the story up to a myriad of possibilities and entertaining dialogue as Don helps Rosie with the 'Father Project'. I really enjoyed the academic setting and the awkward scenarios that crop up. I also really appreciate the inclusion of the supporting cast of Don’s friends – his Melbourne university hormone-sex driven colleague Gene and Gene’s psychologist wife, Claudia – to exemplify the differences in Don’s way of thinking/acting and how some individuals may interpret his actions. As you can imagine, I was cheering for Don from the very start of the story – who wouldn’t? – even as I was trying to picture what it must be like to try and live in a world where deciphering, understanding and registering emotional cues is so essential for social interactions. I think all of us can relate to an instance in our past where an inability or insensitivity to the nuances of what we said/meant ended up having disastrous social consequences. Try living you whole life confused or baffled as to why people act a certain way or say certain things. I would feel as though I was an alien dropped in from a different planet, which makes me appreciate all that much more how challenging our social world must be for individuals with developmental disorders that make up the autism spectrum.

Overall, a quick, delightful weekend read that has given me some food for thought regarding the human diversity that surrounds us, and how everyone has something special to offer. show less

Humorous without being farcical.

A highly entertaining look at the problem of finding a wife when your brain isn't wired like the majority of the human race. And being a book group choice I then had the opportunity to go over all the most amusing parts for a second time :)

Don Tillman is a highly intelligent geneticist, but his personal life is less satisfactory. He exhibits many traits that we have come to recognise as typical of Asperger's Syndrome, though it is only towards the end of the book that it even occurs to him that these are the symptoms that he, himself, demonstrates. He has two close friends, fellow geneticist, Gene, and his wife, Claudia. Occasional attempts at meeting prospective partners have ended disastrously, so he show more decides to eliminate future failures by constructing a questionnaire, which becomes dubbed The Wife Project.
Rosie (of the title) is sent to Don by Gene, to settle a bet relating to genetics, but Don assumes she is a prospective candidate for The Wife Project. Their friendship is fraught with difficulties, but Don decides he is going to use his ability to test human DNA to determine who Rosie's father is and so their relationship develops in spite of the fact that he has long since decided that she is totally unsuitable as a future partner.

The author has managed a humorous series of misunderstandings and errors of judgement, without the book falling into the realm of farce. It was a pleasure to read and I would highly recommend it. show less

Brilliant, hilariously funny, and surprisingly moving. This book manages to deliver sharp wit and laugh-out-loud moments while offering a compassionate lens on social dysfunction. The humor never feels mean-spirited—rather, it invites empathy for characters who are often misunderstood or marginalized. A deft balance of comedy, insight and being comfortable with who you are !

Determined that it's time to find a wife, Don, an Australian genetics professor, draws up a series of questions for potential mates designed to disqualify women who don't meet his exacting requirements. Unsurprisingly, after disseminating his questionnaires he finds that he's left with a short list of approximately zero candidates. But then Rosie comes along, who doesn't match with any of his criteria, but who is accompanied by an intriguing mystery and is just fun to be around.

I would categorize this book as "charming but with reservations." The story itself is a page-turner, engaging and entertaining — no issues with interestingness. I realized early on, though, that I would have to compartmentalize the experience: I perceived the show more depictions of autism to be, at best, lacking nuance and, at worst, caricatures. It also felt a little cringey for a neurotypical person to write about neurodivergence for entertainment, as opposed to a neurodivergent writer inviting the reader to chuckle _with_ them while they write from their unique perspectives and experiences (e.g., Helen Hoang). It was disappointing to see that the suggestions for book clubs in the back direct readers to the organization Autism Speaks, which is problematic in a number of ways. show less

I made an error and dodged this book when it was first being promoted. I'd assumed that any humorous book in which the hero is a neuroatypical man would source its laughter at his expense. I should have had more faith.

What Graeme Simsion has managed to achieve is a perfectly formed RomCom which works because the hero is neuroatypical. He, like any other romantic hero, has obstacles to overcome, some of which he creates for himself and some of which are created by the people around him, and we hold our breath to see if he can win through. We cheer for him for being himself. We want him to succeed without having to change anything essential about himself.

Don Tillman, our hero a tenured associate professor of genetics at an Australian show more university. He understands that his brain is wired differently from most other people's and that, while this gives him many strengths that other people don't have, strong powers of concentration, an excellent memory, the ability to maintain a rational distance when solving problems and an aptitude for being disciplined and organised, his lack of social skills are likely to make it harder for him to find a life partner.

He decides to solve the problem by starting "The Wife Project", a questionnaire-based search for his perfect match. When he meets Rosie, a self-evidently poor match for his search criteria, he gets involved in "The Father Project", helping her to identify her biological partner.

"The Father Project" leads Don into many activities he would not normally have considered, some of them illegal and all of them in Rosie's company.
The plot is beautifully structured as a RomCom quest. It has a number of surprising twists and while I wanted Don to succeed, I was kept guessing about if or how this would be possible.

The writing is light but deft. Seeing the world through Don Tillman's eyes is a revelation. While there are some very funny scenes, the main tone of the book is compassionate and hopeful.

I stayed up late because I had to know how things worked out. It was worth the loss of sleep.

I'm glad to see that there are more Don Tillman books. I need to spend more time in Don Tillman's company.

I recommend the audiobook version, brilliantly narrated by Dan O'Grady. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.
https://soundcloud.com/penguin-books/the-rosie-project-by-graeme show less