Monday, April 21, 2014

BOOK REVIEW: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

 
The Rosie Project
 
 
Narrator Don Tillman 39, Melbourne genetics prof and Gregory Peck lookalike, sets a 16-page questionnaire The Wife Project to find a non-smoker, non-drinker ideal match. But Rosie and her Father Project supersede. The spontaneous always-late smoker-drinker wants to find her biological father. She resets his clock, throws off his schedule, and turns his life topsy-turvy.


5 stars

This is a book club book that I recommended, and I hope that the others enjoyed it as much as I did. It was a fun, easy read - perfect for these snowy spring filled days we've been having.

Don Tillman is trying to find a perfect mate. He is sick of wasting his time on people who don't meet his very strict criteria. Enter the Wife Project- which is  a very long and tedious questionnaire . 16 pages to be exact. Any deviations from his desire answers, would result the girl to be chucked in the reject pile. Obviously NOBODY is going to be a perfect match.

Don has  Aspergers.  Everything is scheduled by exact time, he eats the same thing every week (to avoid change), allots a certain amount of alcohol per day, etc. Sounds like a great catch of a man.  This is one reason he started the Wife Project. He started to wonder if something was missing from him, a basic human connection 'gene', that made it impossible (or extremely difficult) for him to get along or to understand that some people have more than one favourite flavour of ice cream (for example)

Enter Rosie. She is everything opposite that Don wants in a wife- smoker, vegetarian, always late. They however start bonding, over the fact that Rosie is looking for her biological father and Don is a genetics professor. They call this the Father Project.

My favourite moment was probably when they travelled to New York together. Completely out of his element, Don allowed Rosie to take charge. I especially liked that he packed exactly what was needed and nothing more.

I enjoyed how it was written. Easy flowing with some definite laugh out loud moments. I can definitely see this book being made into a film....

{edit: I guess it was started out as a screenplay turned to novel]

“I haven’t changed my mind. That’s the point! I want to spend my life with you even though it’s totally irrational. And you have short earlobes. Socially and genetically there’s no reason for me to be attracted to you. The only logical conclusion is that I must be in love with you.” 

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