A society of Rain Men would be dysfunctional. A society of Don Tillmans wold be efficient, safe, and pleasant for all of us

Remember when Emily of As the Crowe Flies (and Reads) wrote about how great The Rosie Project is and then I read it and it was great? And then Simsion wrote a sequel to it and though he didn't call it Rosie and Don Take Mahattan, it was still pretty fun. Apparently even Bill and Melinda Gates are fans.

In the first book, Don Tillman is looking for a wife and in typical Don fashion, breaks it out into questionnaires and spreadsheets. He then gets pulled into a separate project to help Rosie identify her father and of course those two projects result in the unlikely pairing of Rosie and Don falling in love. (Spoilers, I guess...)

This book picks up with Don and Rosie living in New York. He's teaching at Columbia and she's a med student. Things are going well when Rosie announces she's pregnant and Don begins to freak out. Which is not necessarily the wrong reaction, especially for someone who does not do well when things are not following a carefully curated scheduled. Which I hear babies are TERRIBLE at following.

Don's reaction to finding out about the pregnancy:

I was happy in a the way that I would be happy if the captain of an aircraft in which I was traveling announced that he had succeeded in restarting one engine after both had failed. Pleased that I would now probably survive, but shocked that the situation had arisen in the first place, and expecting a thorough investigation into the circumstances.

This tips off a series of events where Don does what he can to try to prepare for the baby while Rosie is seriously worried he'll actually be able to bond with this kid. Then there are a series of wacky misunderstandings that keep building on each other and yeah, the book probably would have been a lot shorter if the characters actually stopped and took like 10 minutes to explain things to each other. But of course that doesn't happen.

I liked the book. I did. BUT it's not as good as The Rosie Project, though I suppose sequels rarely are.

My biggest problem with this book was the fact that Rosie didn't seem to make much sense. As I mentioned, Rosie is worried that Don won't be a good father because he won't be able to bond with the kid, but she never actually talks to Don about this. Or anything. The two of them hardly speak and I get this is supposed to be them drifting apart, except Don isn't drifting because Don cannot read subtle cues so it's really just Rosie slowly sneaking out because she KNOWS Don isn't going to pick up on little things like the two of them sleeping in separate rooms. I mean, I get her being overwhelmed with her work and also being pregnant and not seeming to have anyone to talk to but the things she expected from Don seemed out of character. I'm not saying her concerns about Don aren't valid, but she's one of the few people that understands how Don operates so a lot of the way we see her interacting with Don seemed out of character.

BUT OVERALL the book was entertaining and Don was still Don, who I've been picturing as Dr. Reid from Criminal Minds, so that's fun.

It may not be better than the first one, but I was still entertained.

Gif rating

Title quote from page 42

Simsion, Graeme. The Rosie Effect. Simon & Schuster, 2014

Throughout my life I have been criticized for a perceived lack of emotion, as if this were some absolute fault.

Do you remember in December I did an end of year survey and I maaaay have mentioned Where'd You Go, Bernadette? as an amazing book that everyone needs to read? There's a good chance The Rosie Project is going to be that book when I inevitably do a 2014 end of year survey. I am sure this is a book in my pre-blogging days I would have missed, which is sad. Well, I guess sad for alternative universe me, since this version of me did read The Rosie Project and is much better for it.

Don Tillman is a genetics professor at a university in Melbourne and he's a little odd. It's never definitively determined that he is somewhere on the Autism spectrum, although it's heavily implied. He is very literal, has difficulties understanding social cues, and follows a very regimented schedule with every minute accounted for. He has friends, though not a ton, and he's mostly happy with his life. Except he decided he'd like to get married. However, dates don't typically go well for him so he decides to go all scientific with things and create a detailed questionnaire for women to fill out so he can weed out incompatible possible mates. Sexy stuff. Thus begins The Wife Project.

The Wife Project isn't producing a lot of qualified applicants (SHOCK) so his friend and fellow professor Gene sets him up with Rosie. Although Don can't figure out WHY since she fails so much of the criteria: she smokes, is late, a vegetarian, and a barmaid. Don decides they are completely incompatible. But Rosie is more interested in finding her biological father. Something a genetic professor might be able to help with. Don offers his (and his lab's) services to help solve Rosie's mystery. But then, against all logic, Don finds himself spending more and more time on The Father Project.

And the book is so funny. I love Don... 

We survived US Immigration. Previous experience had taught me not to offer observations or suggestions, and I did not need to use my letter of recommendation from David Borenstein at Columbia University characterizing me as a sane and competent person.

...and I love the interactions between Don and Rosie.

"Wow," said Rosie. "Ever thought of being a grief counselor?"

"No. I considered a number of careers, but all in the sciences. My interpersonal skills are not strong."

Rosie burst out laughing. "You're about to get a crash course in advanced grief counseling."

It turned out that Rosie was making a sort of joke, as her approach to grief counseling was based entirely on the administration of alcohol.

I feel like it would have been easy for Don's character to become a cruel stereotype, so good job to Simsion for avoiding that. At one point he's describing growing up to Rosie and all of the doctors and psychologists he visited.

"I now believe that virtually all my problems could be attributed to my brain's being configured differently from those of the majority of humans. All the psychiatric symptoms were a result of this difference, not of any underlying disease." 

First Attachments, the Fangirl, and now this. Part of me thinks maybe I do like romantic comedies. Maybe. I'm probably not going to search them out, but I will be less skeptical of ones that come with strong recommendations from trusted sources. And hey, this is a great Valentine's Day read, so that timing worked out nicely.

Speaking of those trusted sources, since I mentioned I read this book because book bloggers brought it to my attention, I should probably highlight some of those reviews that made me want to pick this up.

Emily from As the Crowe Flies and Reads

Sarah from Sarah Says Read

Rayna from Libereading

Title quote from page 134, location 1627

Simsion, Graeme. The Rosie Project. Simon & Schuster, 2013. Kindle edition.