The Rosie Project: a brief review

taken from amazon.com

This was one of those books that I kept hearing about from all kinds of people, so I put it on my 2015 reading list to make sure I would get to it. And then last month I tricked my book club into reading it for February so I was able to knock it out pretty early into the year.

The Rosie Project is told from the perspective of Don Tillman, a genetics professor with (an undiagnosed case of) Asperger's who has decided it's time to find a wife. In order to properly weed out women who are a waste of time, Don creates a questionnaire that he widely distributes on dating sites, in speed dating circles, and through the help of friends' word of mouth with the hopes of finding the perfect woman. When he meets a woman named Rosie who doesn't even come close to qualifying as the perfect woman according to Don, he realizes that he may have to reevaluate some things.

I really liked this book. Lots of people at book club said that Don reminded them of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory; I couldn't get the image of a grown-up Max Braverman from Parenthood out of my head instead. I realized about three-quarters of the way through that I was reading other characters' responses and actions through Don's eyes, and that I could actually use the emotions and empathy that I possess to understand beyond what Don can see. This was the kind of book where you love some characters and hate others, which I think is a genuinely cool thing to be able to say about a book; the author created real and believable people. I had fun reading it, and when it ended (which, by the way, I loved the ending) I was very interested in reading the sequel so I could know what happens next with these characters.

Just for fun, here's my progress on my 2015 reading goals:

• Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
• Monster, by Walter Dean Myers
• Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
• The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion
• Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, by Mindy Kaling
• Yes Please, by Amy Poehler
• A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby
• This is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper
• Wild, by Cheryl Strayed
• Serena, by Ron Rash
• Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
• Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling
• Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling
• Half Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling
• Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling

In case you're unable to total those numbers yourself, that's 5 down, 11 to go. And it's only the end of February. AND I started Dash and Lily's last night on the Kindle and Goblet of Fire today on the audiobook. The way this is looking, I may actually get to read all of these AND some others this year!