Despite last Monday being Blue Monday, supposedly the most depressing day of the year, I managed to keep a smile on my face because I was reading Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project ! When I received a copy from the iVillage book club, I really didn't know what to expect but I was instantly won over by the central character, Don Tillman.
Don is a highly intelligent genetics expert but he's better with facts and figures than people and his lack of conventional social skills means that he's yet to find a girlfriend willing to go on a second date with him. When he decides to try to find himself a life partner, he develops a detailed questionnaire to weed out unsuitable candidates and launches The Wife Project. Don has some form of Aspergers or autism, tries to make everything fit into his totally logical and highly organised view of the world and takes everything at face value with frequently hilarious consequences, especially as his best friend Gene has an unconventional take on what makes a good marriage so isn't always the best person to advise him.
In this voyage of self-discovery (and I'd even go so far as to say coming-of-age novel, even if Don is 39 !), all of the characters, including Don, Gene and Rosie (who I'll say no more about - I'll let you discover how she fits in when you read it) learn a lot about themselves and how they interact with others. It's a refreshing, heart-warming and amusing novel that was a real pleasure to read.
What slightly unnerved me is that I took the Wife Project questionnaire at the end of the book and I appear to be a very good candidate for Don - eeeeek !
star rating : 5/5
RRP : £7.99
- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Penguin (2 Jan 2014)
- ISBN-10: 1405912790
- ISBN-13: 978-1405912792
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3 cm
Disclosure : I received a copy of the book in order to write an honest review.
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