The Rosie Project

Simon & Schuster

The Rosie Project
Graeme Simsion
2013

The Summary
"The art of love is never a science:  Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics, who's decided it's time he found a wife.  In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner:  a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers.

"Rosie Jarman possesses all these qualities.  Don easily disqualifies her as a candidate for The Wife Project (even if she is "quite intelligent for a barmaid").  But Don is intrigued by Rosie's own quest to identify her biological father.  When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on The Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie - and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don't find love, it finds you."

The Good
The Rosie Project is an unexpectedly adorable romantic-comedy with endearing characters and hilarious situations that left me laughing.  Don is a wonderful narrator.  Socially awkward, but incredibly bright, Don weaves an intelligent and thoughtful story about the concept of friendship, family, and love.

Don is brilliant, an absolute genius, and he's such a quirky lovable character that his faults, such as they are, become part and parcel of who he is.  Moreover, he's candid, thoughtful, and oblivious to the obvious, but he's a stickler for the rules.

Until he meets Rosie.

I absolutely loved the dynamic between them - how they interact, how they manage to make the other laugh - and I loved that Rosie was able to coax Don out of his shell, that they were able to grow together in a relationship.  Don, in particular, undergoes a startling change in his efforts to help Rosie:  he's willing to break the rules and put social convention aside just for her.

It's romantic, it's sweet.  And, as they proceed with Rosie's Father Project, it's an epic adventure of comical proportions.  They get into some crazy situations (even going so far as to fly to New York City!), and they make mistakes; however, they develop and learn and discover - and, more importantly, they fall in love.

The Bad
Truthfully, I have no complaints.  Don is sometimes difficult to understand, seeing as how his IQ is rather astronomical and he's still learning "social protocols," but he's a wonderful character and an excellent narrator nonetheless.

The Ugly
Some aspects of Rosie's search are incredibly sad, such as the fate of her mother and Geoffrey Case. Similarly, Don's quest (i.e. his wife project) is silly, but sad at the same time.  Like Rosie, he's searching for a sense of belonging, a feeling of community and closeness - and love - that he's never quite felt.

It's a little heartbreaking.