The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion

[goodreads]

Title: The Rosie Project
Author: Graeme Simsion
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 327
Date read: March, 2015

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a "wonderful" husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical - most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent - and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie - and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.


I think this is one of those situations where the book suffered from too much hype. I liked it well enough, but that was it. And when you go into a book expecting to absolutely adore it, "liking it well enough" is a bit of a disappointment.

But when I try to separate my thoughts of the book itself from that disappointment, I really did enjoy it. Don and Rosie were both delightfully described, and thanks to "Big Bang Theory" I had no problems at all imagining somebody as utterly socially clueless as Don. (Although, on the other hand, sometimes the similarities between Don Tillman and Sheldon Cooper seemed too huge to be coincidental, which did rub me the wrong way somewhat). There were a lot of funny scenes, and I loved seeing Don slowly fall in love - without realizing it himself until it was almost too late.

So on one hand I'd probably have liked this more if I'd approached it without any expectations, but on the other hand I did look at it back when it was brand new, and put it down again, because the back blurb didn't catch my fancy, so obviously I did need the hype to get me curious. I doubt I'll be reading any more of this series though.