The Rosie Project: A Novel

✍ Scribed by Simsion, Graeme

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2013
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 138 KB
• Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9781476729091

✦ Synopsis

THE ART OF LOVE IS NEVER A SCIENCE

MEET DON TILLMAN, a brilliant yet socially challenged professor of genetics, whos decided its 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 Rosieand the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you dont find love, it finds you.

Arrestingly endearing and entirely unconventional, Graeme Simsions 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.

**

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, October 2013: Full of heart and humor, Simsions debut novel about a fussy, socially-challenged mans search for the perfect wife is smart, breezy, quirky, andfun. Sure, its the precise equivalent of a well-crafted romantic comedy. (In fact, the book was clearly written with the big-screen in mind, and the film rights have already been sold). But youd have to be a pretty cynical reader not to fall for Don Tillman, a handsome genetics professor who has crafted a pathologically micromanaged life for himself but cant seem to score a second date. After launching his Wife Project, which includes a hilarious questionnaire intended to weed out imperfect candidates--smokers, makeup wearers, vegans (incredibly annoying)--Don meets Rosie, a stunning, maddeningly disorganized bartender/student whos looking for her biological father. The reader knows just where the story is headed: Rosies so wrong for Don, shes perfect. Thats not giving anything away. Half the fun of the book is watching pent-up, Aspergers-afflicted Don break free, thanks to Rosie, from his precisely controlled, annoyingly sensible, and largely humorless lifestyle. By the final third, youre cheering for Don to shatter all his rules. And youre casting the film. --Neal Thompson

From Booklist

Starred Review Genetics professor Don Tillmans ordered, predictable life is thrown into chaos when love enters the equation in this immensely enjoyable novel. Never good with social cues, Don explains his difficulty empathizing with others, which he forthrightly says is a defining symptom of the autism spectrum, as a result of his brain simply being wired differently. Diagnosis is not the issue here, as the reader is rooting for Don as he searches for ways to fit in. With his fortieth birthday approaching, he designs a questionnaire to find a compatible female life partner using his overriding devotion to logic. But he finds his quest competing with the request of a woman to discover the identity of her biological father. The protagonist is passingly similar to that of Haddons The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003), but Simsions first novel is not as dark, focusing instead on the humor and significance of what makes us human. Don is used to causing amusement or consternation in others, but as his self-awareness and understanding grow, so do his efforts to behave more appropriately. Determined and unintentionally sweet, Don embarks on an optimistic and redemptive journey. Funny, touching, and hard to put down, The Rosie Project is certain to entertain even as readers delve into deep themes. For a book about a logic-based quest for love, it has a lot of heart. --Bridget Thoreson

Library : Romance
Universes : Don Tillman [01]
Formats : EPUB
ISBN : 9781476729084