The Rosie Project

Title: The Rosie Project
Author: Graeme Simsion
Published: Simon & Schuster; 2013
Genre: Fiction, Romance, Humor
Source: Amazon Kindle store
From Goodreads:

"An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges."

Sheldon (from Big Bang Theory, for those of you who don't watch) searches for a wife.

That is how I would describe this book.  Don Tillman is socially inept, due to not being diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum.  I can't write much more about the story that the goodreads blurb doesn't say.    At least not without giving away the entire story.

I fell in love with the characters and the storyline.  It was charming and sweet.  I loved seeing the evolution of Don's feelings towards Rosie.  His goofy mistakes due to his lack of interpersonal skills were funny.

The book is written from Don's point of view.  This was really the only way to write a book about a character like him.  How else would the reader know why he was doing the things he did without knowing his thought processes?  I especially loved his attempts at using logic to explain Rosie's very obvious emotional responses to him.

This book is great.  I breezed through it in less than a day.  It's fun and light-hearted without making fun of autism spectrum disorders by taking low blows.  This book makes you smile and think.  It would make a great book club selection, especially after reading a more literary novel.  Buy this book because you will want to reread it.