Love isn’t an exact science – but no one told Don Tillman.
A handsome thirty-nine-year-old geneticist, Don’s never had a second date. So he devises The Wife Project, a scientific test to find the perfect partner.
Enter Rosie – ‘the world’s most incompatible woman’ – throwing Don’s safe, ordered life into chaos.
Just what is this unsettling, alien emotion he’s feeling?
So although I’m about 3 billion years late to The Rosie Project party, I finally got around to reading it after a friend sent me a copy in the post! (Thank you!) After hearing people talk and rave and debate this book for almost a year, I can finally join in and say I was not disappointed. The Rosie Project is about 39 year-old single, geneticist, Don who has never had a second date, let alone a girlfriend. He creates The Wife Project – a questionnaire in which he hands around to potential candidates in order to try and find the perfect life partner. However when Rosie, the most unsuitable of partners turns up in his office one day, Don’s life gets thrown into turmoil when he realises how incompatible they really are. She’s disorganised, always late, a smoker and mathematically illiterate. But they say opposites attract, right?
Now, you can’t blame me for being a bit apprehensive when starting this book because of how much everyone in the blogosphere has raved about it but after a chapter I knew I was sold. The writing style was so compulsive that you find it hard to stop. Don was an extremely likeable main character and you couldn’t help but feel for him. He shows a lot of characteristics of Asperger’s Syndrome but isn’t aware he has it – it seems obvious to us, the reader but to him, his behaviour is totally acceptable. If you’re a Big Bang Theory fan, you’ll instantly notice the similarities between Don and Sheldon. I loved the contrast between Don and Rosie and their relationship right from the word go was worth rooting for. I loved seeing Don open up gradually throughout the book – Rosie really brought out the best in him and allowed him to see a whole new world, completely different from his own.
This really is one of the most unique and important love stories I’ve ever read. Completely unconventional but poignant and incredibly moving – it shows that you don’t need all the rainbows and sunshine for a truly universal romance to blossom. I’m kicking myself that it took me so long to get around to reading but now I have, this one definitely won’t be leaving me anytime soon and I cannot wait for the sequel! Funny, entertaining, emotional, un-put-down-able; everything you could ever want in a story. An absolute delight to read.
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5/5
So good to see you loved this one too. Don’s character is so loving constructed that it really is a case of laughing with a character and not at them, which was my fear with this book. It is one of those books that I know will always have a special place in my heart.
I completely agree! I loved Don so much – can’t wait to read the sequel!