Read this book. Soon. If you don’t laugh your way through The Rosie Project
Don Tillman is a professor of genetics at a university somewhere in Australia, short on charm and high on organization. His life is well-organized and efficiently measured rhythm, and he works hard to avoid the unpleasant distractions that complicate his life. His organization and planning extends to every aspect of his life, even to finding love, or at least a suitable marriage partner. There’s nothing romantic about his methodology, and nothing is left to chance. Unsurprisingly, the appearance of Rosie, an offbeat and unconventional woman, throws Don’s life into a series of strange and comedic events that will require Don to reconsider, recalibrate, and redo every bit of his plan.
High jinks ensue.
This is not the kind of book that I would typically pick out for myself. It’s a romantic comedy with all that comes with it, and I’d rather enjoy a good space opera or epic fantasy. And yet, I can’t help but put this near the top of my list for the year. I watched my better half walk around the house listening to it an audio version on her mobile device, laughing at random moments, then pausing to tell me why (and no, most of the funny stuff made no sense when she was telling the story), and with a flight across the country decided to listen to it myself. It was well worth it.
My best regards to Graeme Simsion, who managed to take a person that we might all find a little uncomfortable to be around in real life and transform him into a sympathetic character in whose head we might all see a little of in ourselves. The Rosie Project is a fun, fast, and entertaining look, a good reminder that life is not what we plan, but is as good as we make it.
The Rosie Project
Fiction
Simon & Schuster
October 1, 2013
Audio
304
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.
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