Graeme Simsion - The Rosie Effect

Forty-one-year-old geneticist Don Tillman had never had a second date before he met Rosie.
Now, living in New York City, they have survived ten months and ten days of marriage, even if Don has had to sacrifice standardized meals and embrace unscheduled sex.
But then Rosie drops the mother of all bombshells. And Don must prepare for the biggest challenge of his previously ordered life - at the same time as dodging deportation, prosecution and professional disgrace.
Is Don Tillman ready to become the man he always dreamed of being? Or will he revert to his old ways and risk losing Rosie for ever?

Comment: This is the sequel to the well received first book of the author, a story I really liked as well. In this new book, we follow the events which took place in the previous installment but after a few months have gone by.

Those who haven't read the first book would lose a lot, though, since everything is related and this is not a book one can fully understand on its own, even if the structure allows for new readers to get the plot. My comments are based on the idea the first book has been read already.

In this new book, Don is living with Rosie in New York so they both can work on their careers, Rosie in particular. When the book begins, Don is feeling conflicted because his friend Gene's family situation is now at a critical stage and he split up with his wife after she finds out he cheated on her. Don tries to help his friend by making things happen so that Gene can work in New York for a while but of course Rosie isn't fond of this idea, especially because something unexpected is going to happen: Don and Rosie are going to become parents.

While Don accepts and deals with this fact, his life still goes through many weird situations only his brain can provide enough explanations for and we, as a reader, surely follow his often complicated steps...

Overall, I think this second story wasn't as good as the first one. The innovative type of character is already known but his way of seeing and describing things is still the same and this is what obviously makes this story special, how Don acts and reacts to things so differently. 

I think what wasn't as well done was the portrayal of Don and Rosie's relationship in some specific situations. Of course Don would struggle a bit with the idea of being a father, even people considered "average" would, but there were certain details I wasn't such a fan of.

Basically, the relationship deteriorates as the plot moves forward because Don doesn't seem to act as if he truly cares about being a father but Rosie already knew he was different so... while valid she could now think differently when a child is on her mind, why did she decide on her own he would be "put aside?"

Another thing I was bothered with about Rosie in this book is why she got to decide to become pregnant in the first place! Unless I misread, she was the one who thought it would be a good idea to have a baby but she didn't talk to Don about it, she just let it happen and announced it later. Wouldn't it be better for someone like Don to deal with it had he known? I can see the plot purposes in this, but then why her reaction...

I really think Rosie, as a character, was placed in a position we would only be able to see her as a sort of opponent when compared to Don and I can't say this felt right or well done, even more so when the end tried to convince us it was all just a (expected) misunderstanding.

My personal preferences and dislikes aside, the story is still engaging and filled with funny and amazing situations only because we see them through Don's eyes. What would be easy or embarrassing for us is usually the opposite for Don and it's particularly interesting when he, not being aware of social interactions and subtleties, can create quite the scene without knowing it. At the same time, for me, this is what makes Don such a great character, his ability to process things differently and how he responds to it.

All things considered, this book should be much weaker for me but I still gave it four stars on GR because the element I liked the best is still here: Don's personality and his attempt to be social, to be the person others respect and even look up to but he didn't become a perfect man, husband or person just to suit the novel.

Some readers say this book suffers of being released too quickly after the successful first one and it's not as fun as the other one was. I kind of agree with the fact this book feels more serious too but at the end of the day, it still worked out, in general, for me. Just not as wonderful.

Grade: 7/10

Graeme Simsion - The Rosie Project

Meet Don Tillman. Don is getting married. He just doesn't know who to yet. But he has designed a very detailed questionnaire to help him find the perfect woman. One thing he already knows, though, is that it's not Rosie. Absolutely, completely, definitely not.

Comment: I got this book as a gift and it was already on my radar since the beginning of the year. I was really interested in seeing how things would develop with such quirky characters and how any HEA would be accomplished.

This is the story of Don Tillman and how the fact he's so smart and different makes him have the perfect idea to find a wife. He believes a questionnaire will be the better way to see through many possibilities who might be in a better position to be his wife. However, things don't go as smoothly as he estimated and knowing someone completely opposite of his wishes will make him re evaluate his aims and the process chosen until he realizes he left one factor out, love, which proves to be the most important of them all.

I had a great time reading this story. In fact, I read it quite fast because I really didn't want to put the story down. It's obvious the main character has a syndrome that turns him to someone with OCD and a need for routines and clear, precise happenings, thus his talent for science. But while he acts so differently, he feels the same as everyone else and love also finds him. I thought it was interesting to see how his personality adapted to what he was feeling. It was a fascinating dichotomy and something that in reality might not be as simple but for the plot's purposes, it was well done and offered a romantic side of things I really enjoyed reading.

I did feel curious about the main character's syndrome, despite it not being addressed in the story. I think his acts were a good showing off of what someone like him might go through, and how others can be judgmental about the unknown and what is different. In this aspect, the novel offered and interesting POV about it, even more so because the narrative is told by Don's perspective.

The story has several characters that play an important role. We are surrounded by all types of people and sometimes their personalities affect us too. Don might have his issues but he had a conscience about those closest to him. He cared and acted according to that. I think this is another good indication about our ideas of how someone different might be, we always think people with disabilities of some order don't feel the same as we do, but we couldn't be more wrong and in this novel we see a bit of that as well.

The romance was sweet. I smiled a lot though Don's trials about love, about falling in love without realizing it and how love found him in a way he didn't put into any statistic. As a reader seeing through Don's eyes it was obvious to us how certain things were changing but Don didn't see it like that as I suppose someone like him in real life might not, but in terms of fiction and romance, I was very happy with how things ended. It was sweet and cute even despite a little detail here and there I think could have been better explained.

Nevertheless, this romance is cute and Rosie is a wonderful character.

I do plan on reading ore about the author one day. This first book of 2015 was a success and that was great.

Grade: 8/10