Friday Recommends...

Penguin
Michale Joseph
April 11 2013

 The Rosie Project

by

Graeme Simsion

Don Tillman, by his own admission, is a bit of an oddball. He likes his life to be structured and organised, so when he sets out on the quest to find a suitable life partner, he uses his skill as a professor of genetics to construct a sixteen-page scientifically produced document with the intention of finding the perfect partner. When Rosie Jarman enters Don’s life, she is everything that Don dislikes about women, she certainly doesn't fulfil the criteria of his questionnaire, but when she enlists his help in searching out her real father, Don finds himself drawn into the quest which becomes known as The Rosie Project.

From the beginning of the novel it is implied that Don has some form of autism, he’s like the proverbial round peg in a square hole, fiercely intelligent and strangely captivating, and yet when Rosie turns his life upside down, there is an observed sensitivity about Don, which is as charming as it is poignant.

Overall, I thought that the book was really nicely done; the story was easy to read, with a warm and witty dialogue which had me laughing out loud in places, and yet there was an underlying compassion which revealed Don’s inner sensitivity. I thought Rosie was a great character, she’s quirky, completely off the wall at times, but the interaction between her and Don is lovely to observe. 

The Rosie Project is a unique reminder that love comes in many different guises, and with or without a sixteen-page questionnaire, most of us seem to get it right, at least once.

5*****

My thanks to Real Readers for an Advance Reading Copy of this book.