The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (Book Review)

"I may how found a solution to the Wife Problem."

Review: Wow, did I love this book and did I need this book as well! That's probably why I read it in just 5 days time! This year has been pretty slow for me in the reading department so I figured I would try something a little out of what I've been reading lately. I think I made an excellent choice. I felt about this book the way I felt after I read The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. I just felt good. Sometimes we need that feel good book the way we need that feel good movie.

I just wanted to stay in the frame of mind that this book gave me for ever and ever. It's how I feel at the end of Sleepless in Seattle or Notting Hill. Two movies that were mentioned in this book by the way. It's essentially how I feel sometimes when it comes to "dating" and why go through the hassle of it. 

There's this guy named Don, who I swear is me if I were a nerdy guy. He analyzes everything and his social skills are seriously lacking. Except, again this is like me to a T, he counteracted that by being the class clown in school! That's totally what I did. Instead of allowing others to pick on me I made myself funny to others before they could do it to me. Anyway, this book, is the guide to my life, and probably to the life of others because he decides to devise a questionnaire in order to find the perfect life partner. Why didn't I think of that? Oh, I know, because it would never work! But Don thinks he's created a questionnaire that will quickly eliminate unsuitable women as well as those who may not be 100% truthful in their answers. 

He has all of two friends, a married couple, Gene and Claudia. The husband sleeps around on his wife but "it's okay" because they are in an open relationship. I don't have to tell you what happens there! Anyway, Gene, (as a joke I guess?) sends Rosie to Don, who thinks she is meeting with him as a possible candidate to be his wife. Of course, Don has tried out his questions on several other women and social meeting settings, all of which have failed. Except for Rosie who fails the worst out of all the applicants. But, there is just something about her that makes Don start breaking rules and creating reasons for needing to be around her and near her. Thus romance and happiness and love follows.

Unlike most romantic love stories though, this one isn't as clear cut and simple as you might expect, which is why I love it. It's not all that mushy yet it does have a feeling of romance and reality that I can appreciate. It's been optioned by Sony Pictures (I think) so I hope to catch it as a movie very soon.

Summary: THE ART OF LOVE IS NEVER A SCIENCE

MEET DON TILLMAN, a brilliant yet socially challenged professor of genetics, who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. And so, in the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers.

Rosie Jarman is all these things. She also is strangely beguiling, fiery, and intelligent. And while Don quickly disqualifies her as a candidate for the Wife Project, as a DNA expert Don is particularly suited to help Rosie on her own quest: identifying her biological father. When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on the Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you.

Arrestingly endearing and entirely unconventional, Graeme Simsion’s distinctive debut will resonate with anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of great challenges. The Rosie Project is a rare find: a book that restores our optimism in the power of human connection.

The Rosie Project

by Graeme Simsion

292 pages

Simon & Schuster, 2013

Fiction

Read in 5 days

Rating: ★★★★★

Amazon | BN

To learn more about Graeme Simsion visit his website here.