The Rosie Project

Starred review from July 1, 2013
Read-out-loud laughter begins by page two in Simsion’s debut novel about a 39-year-old genetics professor with Asperger’s—but utterly unaware of it—looking to solve his Wife Problem. Don Tillman cannot find love; episodes like the Apricot Ice Cream Disaster prevent so much as a second date with a woman. His devised solution is the Wife Project: dating only those who “match” his idiosyncratic standards as determined by an exacting questionnaire. His plans take a backseat when he meets Rosie, a bartender who wants him to help her determine her birth father’s identity. His rigidity and myopic worldview prevents him from seeing her as a possible love interest, but he nonetheless agrees to help, even though it involves subterfuge and might jeopardize his position at the university. What follows are his utterly clueless, but more often thoroughly charming exploits in exploring his capacity for romance. Helping Tillman are his only two friends, an older, shamelessly philandering professor, and the professor’s long-suffering wife, who may soon draw the line in the sand. With Asperger’s growing visibility in pop culture in recent years, as on CBS’s The Big Bang Theory, this novel is perfectly timed. Agent: David Forrer, Inkwell Management.

September 1, 2013

Don Tillman is a scientist. He thinks logically and approaches the world in a similar manner. Hence, when he needs to find a wife, he creates a long and involved questionnaire to winnow out unsuitable choices. (His requirements: nonsmoker, body mass index under 26, punctual, mathematically literate, a meat eater, and so on.) The 16-page, double-sided, scientifically valid document, he believes, offers his best chance of finding the perfect partner. That is, until he meets the fiery and intelligent Rosie Jarman. Rosie, who doesn't meet any of his requirements, is trying to track down her biological father, and she needs Don's expertise in genetics to do it. The two pursue their quests in tandem, but gradually, as their relationship deepens, their missions converge. VERDICT Readers will root for Don and Rosie throughout Simsion's delightful romantic comedy. Fans of the TV show The Big Bang Theory will see shades of Sheldon and Penny in these characters. [See Prepub Alert, 4/29/13; this title was also touted at the fifth annual BEA Librarians Shout and Share panel.--Ed.]--Robin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 13, 2012

This funny, feel-good take on Asperger’s Syndrome has been getting huge international and local buzz. It’s the story of Don Tillman, a 40-year-old professor of genetics at a Melbourne university who looks a little like Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockinbird. He also has undiagnosed Asperger’s Syndrome, which manifests itself in obsessive organisation and amusing social faux pas. Don hasn’t had much success in love so he designs a questionnaire to help him find his perfect wife. It’s a bunch of quirky questions that just about everyone fails, sometimes in quite hilarious circumstances. When Don hands over the wife project to his best friend Gene he is sent Rosie, who is a total failure on paper but, strangely enough, seems to make Don happy. The subplot involves Rosie’s search for her biological father, which sends Rosie and Don on various madcap adventures, including a whirlwind trip to New York. This is the debut novel from Melbourne writer Graeme Simsion, which won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2012. If you’re looking for something that has a serious message about Asperger’s Syndrome this is not the book. It sets out to be a cute-and-quirky love story and it delivers just that. 

Melanie Barton is senior category manager at Bookworld.com.au