Mark Porton's Reviews > The Rosie Project

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion is an absolute gem.

Simsion is an Australian author who is also an IT consultant and data analyst, he is currently a Senior Research Fellow at Melbourne University, in 2007 he enrolled in a screenwriting course and now he has written several best-selling novels. This certainly won’t be the last book of his I’ll read. I’m making a MASSIVE assumption here but judging by the fact he’s an IT guy and a data analyst, he may have some direct experience of being on ‘the spectrum’ himself, or of working with others who are.

Truth is, most of us are on some sort of spectrum. Defining normal is fruitless. For example, when a pathology laboratory gives you a Serum Sodium result, we specify a range whereby 95% of the population can be found, but you may be in the 5% of people who are outside the so-called ‘normal range’ – and still be considered okay. Hence the more appropriate term ‘Reference Range’. What is normal?

To be sure, it must be enormously more complicated if measuring indices of psychological well-being. This is not a dry synopsis of psychological conditions, it is a rollicking, interesting, amusing and delightful love story.

Professor Don Tillman is a forty-something, Genetics Scientist and displays certain behaviours that are a little challenging to friends and associates. For example, he allocates specific days of the week for the same meal (thus achieving efficiencies in time and resources), he times his showers to the second and maps out every minute of every day for each activity and wears quick dry clothing. His personal activities are given titles and called projects such as ‘The Wife Project’, this is a well-developed questionnaire he has created to screen possible life-partners. He has never experienced a second date.

He meets the Beautiful Rosie, a bartender who smokes and is often late – thus not meeting some key criteria on his Wife-Project Questionnaire. They do become friends, in a sort of way, and this becomes a central theme of the story. Rosie also has an issue with her stepfather and wants to find out who her real father is, this is where Don’s expertise in genetics comes in handy and the so-called Father-Project comes to the fore.

I found Don’s interactions, and the situations he found himself in and the awkward exchanges and situations totally hilarious. The interplay between he and Rosie is fascinating, this is no ‘normal’ love story.

The author presents several study/discussion questions at the end of the story (maybe reinforcing an earlier assumption of mine) – one of these was:

”Does the humour in the novel come from Don’s awkward responses to social situations or the absurdity of falling in love in general? Do you feel as though you are laughing with Don or at Don?”.

My response to Q1 is: Both.
Response to Q2: I was laughing at Don, because Don wasn’t laughing.

I need to declare a conflict of interest here; I am not an objective observer. As a laboratory scientist of 35-plus years experiece, I myself have certain proclivities and work with some who also possess these ‘amusing’ behaviours. When I was a teenager (and still), I could say the entire English cricket team backwards (that is, each word backwards), have also spent considerable time counting my teeth with my tongue (guess what?......it really does as I get older) and I have worked with people who take 20 minutes to wash their hands and walk on one side of their hallway when walking one way, and the other side when walking back – so as to ensure an even wearing of the carpet. But, in exchange, you (as the public) get people who are meticulous when it comes to attention to detail, understand complexity, love patterns and thrive on working things out.

Perhaps, this is one of the best messages in this book. For all the social awkwardness – people who live on the autism spectrum exhibit, they possess other qualities, and for all the social awkwardness and other socially unusual behaviours – there are some aptitudes required in certain professions and endeavours.

This is a charming book about acceptance (a term that is better than tolerance) and understanding. It’s also funny.

5 Stars