The Rosie Project – Amazing

The Rosie Project – a very addictive story of  Don Tillman, associate professor in Genetics and his incredible journey to finding his life partner through his  ‘The Wife Project’. Right from the word go, this book just grips you, with the subtle humor, the format, the style of writing, the characters, everything. It is a very light heart story about a 40 year old man having Asperger’s syndrome trying to find a wife through a well organized questionnaire. He approaches the task like he does everything else, organized and structured, only to come to know that this is one thing that might challenge even his superior analytic abilities.

As soon as I heard of Asperger’s syndrome, I did a quick check on what it actually means. I found this article, even took the test out of curiosity, and found out that our protagonist behaves exactly the same way as is described. But no where you are introduced to that fact. On the contrary, he actually lectures the impact of genetics on it. That is when I got the doubt and went for that article. It is not a laugh out loud comedy one. It has all these subtle humor in places where we don’t find generally. For e.g. He says something to Rosie and she responds the usual ‘Tell me something I don’t know’. What does Mr, sorry Dr Don Tillman do, he racks his brain and comes with something she doesn’t really know and that is something I cannot post it here, just to keep it clean 😉 So when Rosie takes his help to find who her actual biological father is, a sort of relationship starts to form between them. They are neither friends nor acquaintances, but getting there. She finds Don very refreshing and attractive too, but he doesn’t get the drift and that sets back their relationship and they continue with their ‘The Father Project’.

When the Father Project takes them to New York, that is when they really get to spend time with each other and realize that things are changing between them. Don is confused and seeks the help of his friends and making a few changes to his social behavior he finally gets her as his wife along with solving the father problem.

This is the first story I have read about a person having Asperger’s syndrome and their behavior and its relation to Autism. It was really interesting to know that. The story was interesting because it doesn’t deal with the syndrome but with how the person with the syndrome handles himself . It is a sort of positive thing, because it tells you in very direct and non-critical terms of what they are capable of and not. Not every one is perfect. But we have to compromise a few things in life when someone else is involved. The elements of compromise varies in this case, that is all.

I really really loved the character and the book.