Rating: 3.5 Stars
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion is one of those books that lie around for years, ignored and unread. I got this book way back when it was first published. Back then there were no signs of it being part of a trilogy! Unfortunately, during the last few years, my threshold for light romances has been really low. With so many other options available, this book seemed destined to remain unread.
This year, with the quarantines and the lockdowns, I decided to do something different, and read something light for Valentine’s Day. I don’t regret that decision. The Rosie Project is a fun read, with minimum mushiness, and a surprisingly relatable male lead!
Don Tillman is a geneticist in search of a life partner. He leads a very disciplined and scheduled life, and wants to find a woman who is compatible with his lifestyle. It might seem like an easy enough project, except Don is somewhat socially inept, and unable to gauge other people’s reactions to simple situations.
For Don’s world is systematic and organized. There is no place for unnecessary emotion and unexplained actions. Everything has a time and a place. This is why he needs a woman who will accept him for who he is and not cause undue commotion in his orderly life. Since he is a scientist, Don sets about achieving his goal in a scientific manner. He prepares an in-depth questionnaire to be filled by potential wifely candidates. He figures that this scientific approach will go a long way in saving time and effort which he would otherwise spend on ineligible women.
Rosie Jarman is not suitable for Don at all. For one, she is a smoker. Then, she is a vegetarian who eats “sustainable” seafood. Pursuing her has disaster written all over it. But Don is willing to shelve his project for the time being, and concentrate on Rosie’s Father Project. What follows is a hilarious courtship that gets out of the hands of both the protagonists.
The one thing that I didn’t really like in this book is how vague Rosie’s character is. Of course, the story tells Don’s perspective, but Rosie remains a peripheral character, even when Don is doing everything for her. You never find out the real deal with Rosie, and it leaves a discordant note in an otherwise good book.
After finishing the book, I realized that there must be people out there who are probably offended by the portrayal of Don. The book hints at him having Asperger’s or at least being on the Autism spectrum. Sure enough, I found plenty of unhappy people. For me personally, it is a light-hearted book, not a commentary on Autism. It is better to treat such books with the same light-heartedness, instead of taking them too seriously.
For me, The Rosie Project was a good rom-com, worth reading especially for the fans of this particular genre.