Tuesday, 19 September 2017 08:13 pm
Book Review: The Rosie Project
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deckardcanineMy mom likes reading up on Asperger's syndrome, if only because she raised me. When she's recommended such reading to me in the past, my interest has ranged from medium (Daniel Tammet's Born on a Blue Day) to low (John Elder Robison's Be Different), but a fictional story may help. In this case, the first-person narrator, genetics professor Don Tillman, studies up on Asperger's in the first chapter, but only when the Graeme Simsion novel is nearly over does he begin to entertain the idea that he may have it; he'd just assumed he was one of a kind.
Don might just be the biggest geek in Australia. He has an extremely strict routine, making a point never to be late or early for anything. Any time not spent working or meeting biological needs is for self-improvement, not recreation. He has pitiful taste in clothes. He never says "Yes" when "Correct" will do. As a student, he learned to embrace the role of class clown, because he kept making classmates laugh whether he meant to or not. He has absolutely no ear for sarcasm; indeed, his general cluelessness on emotions reminded me of Will Stockdale from Mac Hyman's No Time for Sergeants. The only thing not nerdy about him is his skill in aikido and karate, which he developed over years to deal with bullies.
At 39, Don has only two friends outside his family. I'm undecided on whether co-worker Gene can rightly be called a decent friend, but he's certainly not a decent husband to the other friend, Claudia: He's out to sleep with women from every nation on Earth. I suspect he lied to Don about Claudia ever agreeing to an open marriage; in any event, it's obvious to anyone but Don that she's not on board with it now. Claudia gives Don better advice, anyway.
Despite both friends' urging, Don has long given up on dating -- until he comes up with the idea of an online questionnaire to narrow the candidates ahead of time. I find it hard to believe that he'd get so many takers, especially if he was up front in calling it "the Wife Project." Naturally, it reveals more about himself than about them.
One day, Gene sends to Don a slightly punk barmaid named Rosie, ostensibly as a wild card. She has heard nothing of the Wife Project and is taken aback when Don offers a date, but she's open-minded enough. It doesn't take him long to determine that she is further from his documented ideals than anyone else he's looked into.
Nevertheless, Rosie has an issue for a geneticist to solve, and Don offers his services without a second thought. Having lost her mother early in life, she has become convinced that the man who raised her is not her biological father. She figures it must be someone who attended her mother's graduation party. When her prime suspects test negative, Don far surpasses her expectations, if not her personal interest, by making the Father Project his new primary focus.
Don can hardly account for his own behavior as he deviates from his schedule, breaks rules, and does various things he never thought he'd do. Readers should catch on sooner than he does. Pretty much every time Rosie pushes him out of his comfort zone, he has one of the happiest days of his life.
I can't help thinking that most women would write Don off within a minute. Rosie is not most women. Oh, she frequently gets annoyed at him and repeatedly acts ready to walk out of his life forever, but she also quickly recognizes his virtues. He's not just adorkable; he really does have a wicked skill set, not least thanks to his amazing memory. And for all his failures at empathy, he's pretty sweet. Much less of a jerk than Sheldon Cooper, from what I've seen of the latter.
Blurbs on the edition emphasize the hilarity. Me, I tended to cringe and didn't laugh, feeling too embarrassed for both Don and the people who interact with him. But it is amusing to read his commentary, often loaded with stilted language like "I commenced purchasing." The book gets less humorous in the third act, when Don has changed considerably in the course of weeks and is quite serious about doing what it takes not to lose Rosie.
Don may not connect well emotionally with cinematic love stories, but I certainly felt invested in his love story. Kinda makes me wonder if I'll ever find romance with someone I'd never have thought to be compatible. The literary format helps; while there are plans for a film adaptation of TRP, it's bound to miss the longish timetable of chemistry development between Don and Rosie.
The back of the book includes acknowledgments, "About the Author," a reading group guide (sorry, Richard; that seems to be a Simon and Schuster thing), an interview with Simsion, and the first two chapters of immediate sequel The Rosie Effect. Unlike with my previous book, I decided to go ahead and read the sample. I don't feel like it spoiled much of anything, but it does make me want more. Someday.
I have not decided what to read next. Maybe Stephen King's The Gunslinger, which is probably better than its new movie version.
Don might just be the biggest geek in Australia. He has an extremely strict routine, making a point never to be late or early for anything. Any time not spent working or meeting biological needs is for self-improvement, not recreation. He has pitiful taste in clothes. He never says "Yes" when "Correct" will do. As a student, he learned to embrace the role of class clown, because he kept making classmates laugh whether he meant to or not. He has absolutely no ear for sarcasm; indeed, his general cluelessness on emotions reminded me of Will Stockdale from Mac Hyman's No Time for Sergeants. The only thing not nerdy about him is his skill in aikido and karate, which he developed over years to deal with bullies.
At 39, Don has only two friends outside his family. I'm undecided on whether co-worker Gene can rightly be called a decent friend, but he's certainly not a decent husband to the other friend, Claudia: He's out to sleep with women from every nation on Earth. I suspect he lied to Don about Claudia ever agreeing to an open marriage; in any event, it's obvious to anyone but Don that she's not on board with it now. Claudia gives Don better advice, anyway.
Despite both friends' urging, Don has long given up on dating -- until he comes up with the idea of an online questionnaire to narrow the candidates ahead of time. I find it hard to believe that he'd get so many takers, especially if he was up front in calling it "the Wife Project." Naturally, it reveals more about himself than about them.
One day, Gene sends to Don a slightly punk barmaid named Rosie, ostensibly as a wild card. She has heard nothing of the Wife Project and is taken aback when Don offers a date, but she's open-minded enough. It doesn't take him long to determine that she is further from his documented ideals than anyone else he's looked into.
Nevertheless, Rosie has an issue for a geneticist to solve, and Don offers his services without a second thought. Having lost her mother early in life, she has become convinced that the man who raised her is not her biological father. She figures it must be someone who attended her mother's graduation party. When her prime suspects test negative, Don far surpasses her expectations, if not her personal interest, by making the Father Project his new primary focus.
Don can hardly account for his own behavior as he deviates from his schedule, breaks rules, and does various things he never thought he'd do. Readers should catch on sooner than he does. Pretty much every time Rosie pushes him out of his comfort zone, he has one of the happiest days of his life.
I can't help thinking that most women would write Don off within a minute. Rosie is not most women. Oh, she frequently gets annoyed at him and repeatedly acts ready to walk out of his life forever, but she also quickly recognizes his virtues. He's not just adorkable; he really does have a wicked skill set, not least thanks to his amazing memory. And for all his failures at empathy, he's pretty sweet. Much less of a jerk than Sheldon Cooper, from what I've seen of the latter.
Blurbs on the edition emphasize the hilarity. Me, I tended to cringe and didn't laugh, feeling too embarrassed for both Don and the people who interact with him. But it is amusing to read his commentary, often loaded with stilted language like "I commenced purchasing." The book gets less humorous in the third act, when Don has changed considerably in the course of weeks and is quite serious about doing what it takes not to lose Rosie.
Don may not connect well emotionally with cinematic love stories, but I certainly felt invested in his love story. Kinda makes me wonder if I'll ever find romance with someone I'd never have thought to be compatible. The literary format helps; while there are plans for a film adaptation of TRP, it's bound to miss the longish timetable of chemistry development between Don and Rosie.
The back of the book includes acknowledgments, "About the Author," a reading group guide (sorry, Richard; that seems to be a Simon and Schuster thing), an interview with Simsion, and the first two chapters of immediate sequel The Rosie Effect. Unlike with my previous book, I decided to go ahead and read the sample. I don't feel like it spoiled much of anything, but it does make me want more. Someday.
I have not decided what to read next. Maybe Stephen King's The Gunslinger, which is probably better than its new movie version.