The Rosie Project: Don Tillman 1 (The Rosie Project) (Don Tillman, #1)

by Graeme Simsion

'Marvellous' John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
'Adorable... A gem of a book' Marian Keyes

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion is a story about love, life and lobsters...

Meet Don Tillman.
Don is getting married.
He just doesn't know who to yet.
But he has designed a very detailed questionnaire to help him find the perfect woman.
One thing he already knows, though, is that it's not Rosie.
Absolutely, completely, definitely not.

Telling the story of Rosie and Don, Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project is an international phenomenon, sold in over thirty countries - and counting.

Don Tillman is a socially challenged genetics professor who's decided the time has come to find a wife. His questionnaire is intended to weed out anyone who's unsuitable. The trouble is, Don has rather high standards and doesn't really do flexible so, despite lots of takers - he looks like Gregory Peck - he's not having much success in identifying The One.
When Rosie Jarman comes to his office, Don assumes it's to apply for the Wife Project - and duly discounts her on the grounds she smokes, drinks, doesn't eat meat, and is incapable of punctuality. However, Rosie has no interest in becoming Mrs Tillman and is actually there to enlist Don's assistance in a professional capacity: to help her find her biological father.
Sometimes, though, you don't find love: love finds you...

Like The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion is a truly distinctive debut. With the charm of Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and the romance of David Nicholls' One Day, it's both funny and endearing - and is set to become the feel-good novel of 2013...

Graeme Simsion is a full-time writer. Previously an IT consultant and educator, he wrote his first book in 1994 (the standard reference on data modelling, now entering its fourth edition), and is married to Anne, a professor of psychiatry who writes erotic fiction. They have two children.

• ISBN10: 0718178122
• ISBN13: 9780718178123
• Publish Date: 11 April 2013 (first published 30 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 19 December 2013
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Imprint: Michael Joseph Ltd
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[bearley]

Author did a great job at world building and made the characters feel very realistic.

[vagasker]

I listened to the audiobook and I really enjoyed it. The voice fits perfectly with how I imagined the main character, Don. It kept my attention and it was a shame whenever I had to put it down. One little thing confused me at the end of the book though and I had to google it to be sure I had understood correctly (I had not). But I do not know it is because it is due to the fact it was an audiobook and English is not my native language or if it was actually vaguely explained. But nevertheless I had a great time listening to this book.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I had completely forgotten this book was on my TBR until it popped up as available on my Overdrive wishlist!  It turned out to be a really great surprise.  The Rosie Project is light, fun, and interesting all at once.

1.  Don Tillman is an excellent character.  His narrative voice is engaging, detailed, and keeps the pacing comfortable.

2.  I surprised myself by being on again, off again about Rosie.  Sometimes I like her, sometimes I didn't.  That made her a highly engaging character, because I wasn't sure if I wanted them to be in love, to be friends, or to be far away from one another.

3.  While this is clearly categorized everywhere as a "fun, romantic read," I found the analysis of Don to be the most engaging aspect of the story.  At no point in this book was I certain of the outcome, even as a "romance".  That was nice.

4.  While it's never specifically stated in the book, it's widely accepted that Don has Asperger's Syndrome.  I did a little research on this topic and found an article saying that Simison didn't actually do much research on this topic - Don is based off people he has encountered in information technology.  Despite the lack of in-depth technical research, Don seems like a good character.  I don't have Asperger's myself and therefore have no real right to judge... but the community opinion of Don's representation seems widely positive as well.

5.  I just really liked Claudia's character.  And I wanted to punch Gene.  Or at least smack him upside the head, the self prick.

I don't really have a lot to say about this book other than I really enjoyed it, and that I liked the characters.  It was quick, and fun... as advertised.  It's a bit out of my normal range as well, so that was a nice change!  After The Cider House Rules, The Rosie Project hit the spot.  I'll definitely read the sequel.

This book is perfect if you just want a nice story for a change.  Something without excessive drama.  Something light and interesting, that you can real over a weekend or on the beach.  It's simply wonderful.

[wcs53]

This was one of those books that I had no idea what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised by. The more I got into it, the harder I found it was to put it down. It was funny, interesting, moving, and many other things. The story centred around Don, a thirty-something associate professor of genetics in Melbourne, who is very intelligent, but has problems functioning 'normally' on a daily basis. He has set up a 'Wife Project' for himself, which, as the book progresses, changes into the 'Father Project', but in the end is the 'Rosie Project'. Don is obviously somewhere on the Autism Spectrum, although this is never explicitly mentioned in the book. Although the author used many of his traits in a comical way, I didn't feel that he did so in a demeaning way. Maybe I've watched too much of 'The Big Bang Theory', because I kept on seeing the main character as Sheldon Cooper, with an Australian accent.

Although this book is often described as chick-lit, don't be put off by that if it's not normally your thing. This is a fun read, has a decent story and I look forward to finding (and reading) its sequel, 'The Rosie Effect'.

[jamiereadthis]

This is a swing and a miss for me. (There, a sports metaphor for New Don to appreciate.) I like the premise, I like the logic vs. feelings, but for a book purportedly grounded in logic there’s not a lot of it. The third act is strange, Rosie is more of a cipher than she should be, and Simsion seems scared to write the scene that should have happened in New York.

It’s not that I think guys can’t write romance,* it’s just that this book felt weird to me. And not weird in the way it was supposed to be weird. In short, I liked it enough to finish it, but not enough that I’d read it again. There you go.

*I contend Lou Berney’s Shake series is one of the best romances I’ve read.

[ellieroth]

Me caes mal Rosie

[Sam@WLABB]

I loved every second of this sweet, adorable, quirky romance. The MCs were delightfully damaged, but perfect to each other. 3

[Bianca]

If you really love someone, you have to be prepared to accept them as they are. Maybe you hope that one day they get a wake-up call and make the changes for their own reasons.

[nitzan_schwarz]

4.5 stars
Originally posted on my blog.

Okay, the Rosie Project was high on my TBR pile for a while - and I finally got my hands on a copy and dived in!! 

I'm going to start with my few (and minor) complaints. 

At first, I had a very hard time grasping how the characters look and appear. They've changed themselves in my mind a few times during the course of the first 100 pages because of crucial information about them that was withheld at first. For example; Gene. He is over fifty, but we don't get that info until 60 pages or so in. Suddenly, my whole image for Gene had to shift. It was hard to get a fix.

And... that's it. 

Yep, that's the entire of my complaints about this book!! The rest are just great things.

The main character, Don, is just so adorable, sweet, and relate-able - despite the fact he has some syndrome (possibly Asperger's). Because we're inside his head, everything makes sense. Aside for us, the "normal" people. We're terribly irrational, aren't we?... Even though he claims not to feel love/emotions, he shows a lot of these (between the lines) throughout this book and I loved it! I also adored the small change in him. Who he is did not change, but he learned to be more in tune with what other people are feelings, and that - same as everyone else on the planet - he can "fake" fitting in.

Rosie is not necessarily my favorite character in the book, nor is she in the top 10. I loved that she forced Don out of his comfort zone and expended said zone. I loved what she brought in him. But she herself, with all her "daddy issues" and the way she "rebelled", was not someone I particularity liked. I mean, I didn't hate her or anything similar, not at all, but... 

The rest of the cast were pretty awesome. I loved the Gene plot-line, and I liked how eventually Gene realized - thanks to Don!! - that what he was doing was wrong. I loved Claudia and how she was such a place for support. I loved the Dean (even though we didn't see much of her), and the cast of daddy candidates. 

In short: I really really loved this book! It was the first book in a long time I basically read in one sitting, and felt compelled to read once I got it. I'm really looking forward to the sequel - though I have no idea what it might be about. 

Another cool aspect is that there is a twitter account for Don, the MC here, and he answers and interacts with readers talking about the Rosie Project as Don! Dunno if its something supported by the author (or if it is the author, but still cool 'cause it sounds like the character actually talks with you, which is awesome the the extreme). I checked in my copy of the book, and there isn't a real Don.

[elvinagb]

A nice read, funny. If you like rom-coms this is for you.