I have been reading this book since March. Yes, I have been a lousy reader this year. I’m way off my target of 12 books in a year. If I’m not mistaken, I only finished three books, I need 2 more books to catch up with my self-imposed target. Nevertheless, I still have 6 months to achieve my reading goal. Good luck to me. Haha 

I discovered The Rosie Project from another blogger and as always, Goodreads. It received a number of great reviews. What made me decide to have the book is this consistent feedback: hilarious! My hopeless romantic hormones, that always long for romantic comedies, also convinced me to acquire the book. (Thanks to Book Depository. You gave me a cheaper paperback all the way from UK!)

In a nutshell the book presents the story of Don Tillman, a 40-year old professor from Melbourne. Single and as you can sense it, a very eligible bachelor. Unfortunately, Don is not the easiest man to please. If Don Tillman is a real man I met, I would have to say he is excessively obsessive compulsive. Beat that! Haha His entire life is structured. The meals he cook everyday have been planned and predetermined. The time he devotes for all his activities are strictly enforced and what I find both funny and annoying about him, his overanalysis of all things.

Finding the right partner for Don is obviously good as impossible. Don’s obsessive compulsiveness and being a researcher, led him to develop a questionnaire for The Wife Project. The questionnaire can supposedly determine a potential partner’s compatibility. Then here comes Rosie who is a perfect contradiction of the ideal wife. Along the way, Don becomes involved with Rosie’s Father Project. The project aimed to search Rosie’s biological father. In their quest to secure DNA samples, Don discovers the real Rosie. As predicted, Don falls to the trap he never imagined. It was too late for Don to realize that both the Father and Wife Project turned to The Rosie Project.

The Rosie Project has all the elements I’m looking for a book. Plot wise, I love the simple story line. Although it was obvious from the start that something great is about to unfold between Rosie and Don, the plot still bears the element of unpredictability. The transition of Don as a person and his love for Rosie were still creatively conceived and narrated. Added to this the humor element from Don’s weird personality. I literally LOL when Don described some woman as “unconventionally attractive.” My friend T and I realized that this was a modern and less harsh way to say that someone is "ugly." LOL

As for character development, I would like to believe that the author excelled in transforming his characters. The change in Don’s character was gradual and realistic. It was far from those drama series where a character’s transformation happens overnight. 

Overall, I would give the book 4 out 5 stars. You can consider it as a great beach read especially for the hopeless romantics. I also have to say that the book could become a perfect material for the big screen. And I'm already imagining who can be the Hollywood actors who can play the roles ;)  


A few quotes I love from the book

“I asked you here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

“I haven’t changed my mind. That’s the point! I want to spend my life with you even though it’s totally irrational. And you have short earlobes. Socially and genetically there’s no reason for me to be attracted to you. The only logical conclusion is that I must be in love with you.”

“Humans often fail to see what is close to them and obvious to others.”

“Her argument was simple: there’s someone for everyone. Statistically, she was almost certainly correct. Unfortunately, the probability that I would find such a person was vanishingly small. But it created a disturbance in my brain, like mathematical problem that we know must have a solution. “

“And it dawned on me that I had not designed the questionnaire to find a woman I could accept, but to find someone who might accept me.”