Review: The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect

I'm reviewing both of these books together, but please understand that I will actually gush more about how hysterical I found The Rosie Project.

I read this book in a day. I'm not even joking. I started it on a Friday night and I'd finished it by Saturday evening. I haven't done that with a non-romance book in ages. 

My husband could hear me laughing, and he was in the man cave (aka basement) while I read in our bedroom upstairs.

Don Tillman, the narrator of these books, works as a genetics professor at an Australian university. You learn early on that he's very much into fitness and knows martial arts. I decided he looked like Eric Bana.

Here he is shirtless and holding a book. Excellent.

So, this guy is a genius, but has undiagnosed Asperger's. Think Sheldon Cooper, but not quite as horrible with other human beings. Don't think that means he's more socially adept. He really isn't. But, for instance, he drinks. This automatically put him in my good graces.

Dating doesn't work for him. He manages to scare his dates off. Not because of creepiness, but because he really doesn't know when to stop talking. He also doesn't know when a woman is hitting on him. I won't reveal too many details, since I can't do justice to these scenes. They had me giggling the whole time, though.

His socially ineptitude leads him to thinking that, if he wants to at some point get married, he will have to go about it in a non-traditional manner. He decides that he should employ more scientific methods to his search. He calls this the Wife Project. This project includes a questionnaire prospective candidates need to fill out before he goes on a date with him.

It sounds awful, but Graeme Simsion makes this work. Not because he can make this not awful, but because he really gets you into Don's head. If he couldn't make Don lovable and sympathetic, this book would not work.

Long story short, Rosie Jarman enters Don's life. During their first date, she walks into the restaurant after he's had to make use of his martial arts skills with the security staff. (It's funny. Trust me.) Rosie has her own issues, but social ineptitude does not figure among them. Don and Rosie's courtship takes the reader on a hilarious ride.

The Rosie Project also had really poignant and heartbreaking moments. During one part of the book, I got quite teary. Simsion does a fantastic job of making these characters real and relatable. I'm recommending this book to anyone that might listen.

Also, it's going to be made into a movie. Sweet baby Jesus, I hope they don't mess it up!

I'll mention a little something about The Rosie Effect. So, I think the fact the reader gets the story only from Don's perspective made the story here not work. At some points in the story, I hated Rosie. Don doesn't hate her, by the way, so that's not the problem. But I had to keep stopping to remind myself that I only had Don's side of the story. I didn't want to hate Rosie. I really didn't. But, it got to a point where I wondered what the hell a grown ass woman was doing acting the way she acted.

Anyway! If you're at all like me, you'll read both books because you want to know what happens. And, honestly, The Rosie Project is so much fun, that I'm recommending these despite my reservations about the second book.

Also, here's another picture of how I hope Don looks in the movie:

Yass,