Guest Review - - The Rosie Project

Andrea and I are happy to welcome Hellie to our Romance Dish review team.  Some of you may know her from her comments here at TRD (as MsHellion) or as Captain of the former Romance Writers Revenge blog or perhaps from Facebook or one of the other sites she frequents.  We hope you all will enjoy her reviews as much as we do! ~PJ



The Rosie Project
By Graeme Simsion
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: October 1, 2013


 

Graeme Simsion’s THE ROSIE PROJECT is a story of a man who is a little left of center. He’s a bit too precise, particular, and peculiar for the average female to appreciate; and on the whole, he doesn’t understand them or what it is he’s doing wrong to upset them, though he knows he must have done something. He’s never been good with women, but he’d really like to do something about that. He decides to create The Wife Project.

Dr. Don Tillman is a very rational, scheduled, and disciplined man; he’s a genius in his field and he’s solved some of the most trying perplexities in his area of expertise. He can surely solve how to get a wife. So he treats the problem like he would any other scientific problem. He starts by gathering relevant data. He makes a questionnaire, only 16 pages long, to screen to the most likely “data”, not wishing to date a smoker, an alcoholic, or a perpetually late person. He doesn’t have time to waste; and he certainly wouldn’t want to waste anyone else’s time if he knows right away they’re not The One.

Except even with this exceptional screening application, the dates that come from this don’t exactly go to plan. What’s even more hilarious is that although we know Don is picky to a fault, we have to agree with him on his dates that the women he goes out with are not The One. I mean, he’s not being picky if it’s clear they’re not meant for each other, right?

And then he meets Rosie, whom he thinks was screened to be appropriate from his application, but come to find out early on in the date, she is the last person he could end up with. She smokes for one. She drinks like a fish. She swears incessantly. She waltzes around and changes up things in his apartment without getting his permission. She’s extremely stressful to his discipline and routine, never mind his schedule. Yet the time he spends with her is the best time he’s ever had in his entire life. Even better than the time he spent at the Museum of Natural History in New York. It’s unforeseen…and miraculous.

Despite that they are absolutely wrong for each other, which he doesn’t hesitate to tell her, Don finds himself drawn into helping her. Though he can’t explain why he needs to help her. What he doesn’t want to admit to himself is how much he enjoys being with Rosie, even though she’s absolutely the wrong person. It soon becomes apparent, given how he’s willing to disrupt his routine, schedule, and discipline to “help” Rosie with her little problem, he will do most anything to spend more time with her.

This book defies one classification. It’s a love story, yes; but it’s also a mystery and a laugh-out-loud comedy caper and a sweet, compassionate look at how when we set up walls for those we let into our lives, we’re not screening out people because we’re too picky or the persnickety ones, but that it’s our fear of being rejected and unloved for who we are and how we try to stack the odds in our favor. Yes, Don does seem on the surface quite a bit like a certain character on the Big Bang Theory; however, the more you know him, the more he reminds me of Ewan MacGregor’s character in Salmon Fishing in Yemen. The comedy of the first, but the sweetness and vulnerability and growth of the second. Aspies rule, as they say in the book.

So how good was it really? It was so good I actually bought it as an e-book and read it (and I hate reading on my computer; I’d rather have a “real book”); and I read it in about 2 days, but if I had started earlier I would have gotten it done in one. It was so good, I was afraid my neighbors would come over and tell me to stop laughing so loud, especially at 3 a.m., because it was freaking annoying; and I was afraid if they did come over, I would start reading the funny parts to them and insist they buy the book. It’s adorable and hilarious; and at the last page, it ended just the right way and I was so genuinely satisfied, I could have gone back to the beginning and read it again. So eat that, Nicholas Sparks. This is a love story worthy of the name. 

~Hellie

http://helliesinclair.blogspot.com

Hellie Sinclair (a.k.a. Fran) was one of the founding members of the Romance Writer's Revenge, where she frequently got to satisfy her love of good books and her need to expound by writing reviews. Hellie loves to craft on projects she rarely finishes, watch British dramas as a sort of Olympic marathon event, and do most anything that fits the description "indolent and pleasurable." Fortunately reading falls into that category. You can find her at her blog, where she writes the occasional review...and shares updates on her never-ending projects.


Readers, tell us about the last book that made you laugh out loud.