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eumacask's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
katykelly's review against another edition
5.0
I was around two pages in when I realised I was falling in love with the main character. Not many books make you feel from the first chapter that you never want the book to end; that the journey you're starting with a character is going to be a complete joy. By page three, I was already casting the film roles in my head.
I've read several books very recently with highly intelligent but socially awkward male narrators. This is definitely a class above. Don is a fully-formed, routine-driven, social misfit. He's frustrating, maddening but completely adorable.
Don may be the awkward (genetics) Professor but he is also lovely, and so designs a 'foolproof' questionnaire to weed out unsuitable women as part of his Wife Project. No woman who doesn't fit the criteria can be considered. You may think you know where this is going...
His search for a perfect partner is at the core of the book. It's a search that brings a smile to the reader's face as Don faces situations in which his literal self struggles with social conventions, and often causes titters, sniggers and beaming smiles at his reactions, and those of people around him. There are some wonderful set-pieces; the dancing scene at the start hard to beat.
It's important to stretch yourself sometimes with a challenging book and it's just as important to wallow in a warm-hearted and comic story.
This is begging for a Hollywood adaptation. Just cast it right, please, producers!
Such a fabulous read. One of the very few I may put on the 'to read again' list. High praise indeed...
I've read several books very recently with highly intelligent but socially awkward male narrators. This is definitely a class above. Don is a fully-formed, routine-driven, social misfit. He's frustrating, maddening but completely adorable.
Don may be the awkward (genetics) Professor but he is also lovely, and so designs a 'foolproof' questionnaire to weed out unsuitable women as part of his Wife Project. No woman who doesn't fit the criteria can be considered. You may think you know where this is going...
His search for a perfect partner is at the core of the book. It's a search that brings a smile to the reader's face as Don faces situations in which his literal self struggles with social conventions, and often causes titters, sniggers and beaming smiles at his reactions, and those of people around him. There are some wonderful set-pieces; the dancing scene at the start hard to beat.
It's important to stretch yourself sometimes with a challenging book and it's just as important to wallow in a warm-hearted and comic story.
This is begging for a Hollywood adaptation. Just cast it right, please, producers!
Such a fabulous read. One of the very few I may put on the 'to read again' list. High praise indeed...
katykelly's review against another edition
5.0
I was around two pages in when I realised I was falling in love with the main character. Not many books make you feel from the first chapter that you never want the book to end; that the journey you're starting with a character is going to be a complete joy. By page three, I was already casting the film roles in my head.
I've read several books very recently with highly intelligent but socially awkward male narrators. This is definitely a class above. Don is a fully-formed, routine-driven, social misfit. He's frustrating, maddening but completely adorable.
Don may be the awkward (genetics) Professor but he is also lovely, and so designs a 'foolproof' questionnaire to weed out unsuitable women as part of his Wife Project. No woman who doesn't fit the criteria can be considered. You may think you know where this is going...
His search for a perfect partner is at the core of the book. It's a search that brings a smile to the reader's face as Don faces situations in which his literal self struggles with social conventions, and often causes titters, sniggers and beaming smiles at his reactions, and those of people around him. There are some wonderful set-pieces; the dancing scene at the start hard to beat.
It's important to stretch yourself sometimes with a challenging book and it's just as important to wallow in a warm-hearted and comic story.
This is begging for a Hollywood adaptation. Just cast it right, please, producers!
Such a fabulous read. One of the very few I may put on the 'to read again' list. High praise indeed...
I've read several books very recently with highly intelligent but socially awkward male narrators. This is definitely a class above. Don is a fully-formed, routine-driven, social misfit. He's frustrating, maddening but completely adorable.
Don may be the awkward (genetics) Professor but he is also lovely, and so designs a 'foolproof' questionnaire to weed out unsuitable women as part of his Wife Project. No woman who doesn't fit the criteria can be considered. You may think you know where this is going...
His search for a perfect partner is at the core of the book. It's a search that brings a smile to the reader's face as Don faces situations in which his literal self struggles with social conventions, and often causes titters, sniggers and beaming smiles at his reactions, and those of people around him. There are some wonderful set-pieces; the dancing scene at the start hard to beat.
It's important to stretch yourself sometimes with a challenging book and it's just as important to wallow in a warm-hearted and comic story.
This is begging for a Hollywood adaptation. Just cast it right, please, producers!
Such a fabulous read. One of the very few I may put on the 'to read again' list. High praise indeed...
bdmoody's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
sftasca's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
katteboo's review against another edition
4.0
It is a strange thing, reading a book you have never read before that you already know the ending to. It's "The Rosie Project" - what other outcome could there (reasonably) be than for Rosie to end up with Don, the protagonist? Pairing Don off with a different woman would cheat the reader's investment in Rosie as a character; any other end would cheat the tone and character of the book itself. But despite knowing what's going to happen, I enjoyed the journey immensely. The reader engages with Don, and his unorthodox responses to plot plot points make you want to know what happens next, what scrapes he will get into along the way to the end, and how he will handle them. Simsion draws his characters clearly, yet they are constantly surprising the reader. You root for them. Even though you already know that they will end up together, you're drawn in to learning /how/ they reach that point. I really liked this book and would recommend it to anyone wanting a light, unconventional read.
katjacatbeans's review against another edition
This is awful. The main character is a stereotype of the worst characteristics of autistic people, and absolutely feeds into the idea that autistic people (especially men) don't need to take accountability for being rude or inappropriate, because it's "just their autism". There's some nuance there, but him calling on a woman in the lecture by addressing her as "the obese woman....err, the overweight woman" is beyond the pale. Additionally, he talks about how a colleague touched him on the shoulder and he didn't want or like it, and noted that nothing would happen to her but if he did the same it would result in disciplinary action. That's probably true, but that doesn't refute the fact that if he doesn't want to be touched, he could ask her not to touch him. Then, per every single sexual harassment training I've encountered in professional and academic settings, repeated instances of unwanted touch are reportable. Men especially like to rail against how women can report them for every damn thing but women still get away with the same stuff - partly because they refuse to use the tools at their disposal to advocate for themselves. I'll be honest, because of the patriarchal nature of "Western" society, it's likely that not much (if anything) would follow from such a report but the tools for Don to advocate for himself are there. He's just not using them, and blaming it on women. There are countless other examples of sexism & misogyny in the first hour alone. The author is really showing his ass.
Furthermore, his obsession with BMI as an indicator of health is easily refuted by a cursory internet search - even in 2013, when the book was published, it was easy to find data that BMI was never intended to be used for individual health metrics (rather, at a population level) and that it simply does not work for many ethnic groups (aka, anyone other than the European population it was based on decades ago). I think the author is just unquestioningly propping up his own fatphobia and shielding it with commonly accepted knowledge rather than scientific fact - which quite honestly undermines the data-driven nature of the MC.
Furthermore, it's ableist. The first iterations of the questionnaire make it clear that he's using someone's BMI and exercise habits as a proxy for lifelong health. Able-bodiedness is a temporary condition. We all succumb to accident, illness, genetic predisposition, and aging. Additionally, his comment about a woman's low BMI being desirable, since she shows no sign of anorexia, is complete trash. First, no one can tell if a person has an eating disorder simply by looking at them. In severe cases of anorexia it may be obvious, but I've known several people who fall into the overweight or obese bmi ranges (just saying, so we can compare apples to apples) who have or have had anorexia without becoming "too thin". That's just not how bodies work - another truth that is pretty easily understood with fairly cursory research.
The author's biases are punching holes in character development, showing a lot of shoddy background research, and doing more to uphold gross societal expectations than I think he realizes.
Furthermore, his obsession with BMI as an indicator of health is easily refuted by a cursory internet search - even in 2013, when the book was published, it was easy to find data that BMI was never intended to be used for individual health metrics (rather, at a population level) and that it simply does not work for many ethnic groups (aka, anyone other than the European population it was based on decades ago). I think the author is just unquestioningly propping up his own fatphobia and shielding it with commonly accepted knowledge rather than scientific fact - which quite honestly undermines the data-driven nature of the MC.
Furthermore, it's ableist. The first iterations of the questionnaire make it clear that he's using someone's BMI and exercise habits as a proxy for lifelong health. Able-bodiedness is a temporary condition. We all succumb to accident, illness, genetic predisposition, and aging. Additionally, his comment about a woman's low BMI being desirable, since she shows no sign of anorexia, is complete trash. First, no one can tell if a person has an eating disorder simply by looking at them. In severe cases of anorexia it may be obvious, but I've known several people who fall into the overweight or obese bmi ranges (just saying, so we can compare apples to apples) who have or have had anorexia without becoming "too thin". That's just not how bodies work - another truth that is pretty easily understood with fairly cursory research.
The author's biases are punching holes in character development, showing a lot of shoddy background research, and doing more to uphold gross societal expectations than I think he realizes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Sexism, and Misogyny
smelsenti's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
sarahthereadingaddict's review against another edition
4.0
Really interesting read. It was a good insight into some male psychy.
I felt it took me a while to get into but that is quite often the case with me.
I would read another book by this author for sure.
I felt it took me a while to get into but that is quite often the case with me.
I would read another book by this author for sure.