The Rosie Project by Graeme SimsionMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Description: An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.
Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.
Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.
The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges.
My thoughts: This is so delightfully written! I am so disappointed in myself for not writing a review immediately upon finishing this book! I have to remember why I loved it so much but I know that the author does an exceptional job with capturing the mind of a brilliant man with Asperger's Syndrome. He is literal, lacks insight to sarcasm, guileless and honest to a fault, and sees absolutely no irony in the fact that he is begins the book by stepping in for a friend to give a lecture on Asperger's. Remind you of anybody you know, he was later asked. No.
The book is about how Don eventually finds someone that can appreciate his quirkiness. It is also about how love and commitment are a choice. When push comes to shove, Don is uses his strengths of analysis to call out his best (only?) friend and tell him what he sees. We all have blind spots. Don is included. This is a book about choosing to look at our blind spots and address them.
This is a clever, wonderful book. I loved it.
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