The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

So I hinted last week that I started a book club with my cousins. A few friends have been in book clubs and I always thought it would be cool to be part of one. The first book we selected was The Rosie Project. I paced myself to read to read most of the book shortly before our first meeting, which was today. More on that below. First, the normal review.

The book is about Don, a middle-aged man with Asperger's, who designs "The Wife Project" to find a suitable woman to marry. Don narrates the story, with many typical Asperger mannerisms dominating his life. Don is friendly and easy to like. Rosie crashes into his life, throwing off his rigid schedule. Rosie is clearly not a match for Don based on the questionnaire he designed to weed out incompatible women, but her desire to find her real father captivates him.

Pretty soon Don is acting out of character trying to help Rosie find her father. At the same time, he is enjoying basic dating activities with her, even if he does not recognize them as such. I started to fall off the wagon a bit here as parts seemed too out of character. Then I was almost certain I knew who Rosie's father was, although I ended up having this wrong. The ending goes fast - I did not even realize what was happening - although it is a tad on the unrealistic, fairy-tale side.

There were a couple of personally neat underlying themes...finding someone who accepts you for you and never seeing what is in front of you even when everyone else can see it. I also think it's noble to have a protagonist with Asperger's, although the caveat is it can be conflicting to some because in reality there is a spectrum.

Now for the good stuff: my thoughts on the book club. First, the neighbor knew we were having a book club meeting cause we were carrying in our books. Nerdy cool. We had a nice lunch to catch up on on things then we focused on the book. We followed the discussion questions in the back of the book, although they were not great. I thought it was fun to apply themes and situations from the book to our lives. Overall, it was a good experience and I am looking forward to the next meeting!

My rating for The Rosie Project: 3.5 stars out of 5. Get it here!