Oh. My. Word. What a book!
First, it’s entertaining and hilarious.
Second, it’s insightful into those highly analytical Asperger’s types.
I heard about it thanks to Julie and Scott at the A Good Story Is Hard to Find podcast, and their discussion made me curious and a little compulsive. (I may or may not have bought it soon after listening.)
Don, the main character, just reminds me of the black-and-white person I guess I’d like to be. Seeing into his head is equal parts amusing and empathy-inducing.
Because how many times have you assumed that some other person should have known better? And maybe they didn’t. Or maybe they couldn’t.
Throughout the book, my image of Rosie, the other main character, kept changing. At first I pictured her as this rather unattractive person, and by the end, she was nothing less than princess level.
Simsion really does a great job of debunking the myth that people can’t change, but also upholding the truth that people can really only change if they’re the ones behind it.
So, without really telling you much about the book, that’s what I loved. Here’s the blurb from the back cover (which will give you some deets):
The art of love is never a science: Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics, who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers.
Rosie Jarman possesses all these qualities. Don easily disqualifies her as a candidate for The Wife Project (even if she is “quite intelligent for a barmaid”). But Don is intrigued by Rosie’s own quest to identify her biological father. When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on The Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie―and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you.
I’m going to be pre-ordering the sequel (so that should tell you how much I loved it).
There’s a SEQUEL? Squeeeeeeee! This was a wonderful story.
(In other news, Disqus and my iPad are NOT perfect together. I just cannot comment on your site from a tablet.)
Baaaaaah. Bad iPad. Bad Disqus. #frustrated