Superb character

This book made me laugh out loud countless times, and then in one short sentence pulled the rug from under my feet and had me on the verge of tears. It is both brilliantly written, and beautifully read as an audiobook. Don, the centre of the book, could so easily be a caricature, but Graeme Simsion brings him alive. In order to do so Simsion sucessfully pulls off a couple of hard tricks. Don has a major problem understanding regular human interaction, so the reader has to view all the other characters in the book through Don's eyes. Instead of this being a limitation, the author uses it to great comic effect (as a reader, one has to stand back and imagine scenes through the eyes of the people Don comes across, notably in The Jacket Incident). It is also a way of holding back information that is gradually revealed, thus moving on the plot. Equally Simsion could have fallen into the trap of making Don a boring person through his lack of insight into himself and those around him, but as the novel progresses we realise just how complex Don is as a human being. He is the creation of an author with real empathy, compassion and insight. The plot is knowingly written as a romantic comedy, but there is pain just beneath its surface, and the fact that the reader just gets glimpses of this pain, gives the book real depth. Dan O' Grady, who reads it, gives a perfect balance between the slightly monotonous tone of Don's voice and more depth in the voices of the other characters; again this is not easy to pull off. Without question I will read or listen to this book again. It was a pure joy, and I envy anyone coming to it afresh.

70 people found this helpful

An absolute delight

I listened to this during my lunchtime walk around the park. People must have wondered why I had a massive grin on my face. Easily the most charming and funny book I have read for years.

34 people found this helpful

Loved it!

Sometimes an audible story comes along and it hits all the right buttons for you. This one did it for me! It's original, brilliantly written - I wanted to memorise so many phrases. And walking the dog, I was bursting into spontaneous laughter. Superbly read as well. Wonderful!

24 people found this helpful

Just loved it and its a romcom?

How could I enjoy this so much? Great question. So not my thing. well it clearly was I loved it. it was witty and brilliantly annoying. The main characters were so flawed and quirky.
the narration was excellent and enhanced the humour greatly.
Generally a light easy read I can only say it was a pleasure and it will remain as a book to return to if I am ever feeling blue and just want to feel nice and warm in side.
Don't like romcoms? you will like this

20 people found this helpful

An incredible first novel from Graeme Simsion.

What an enjoyable read, my favourite book of the year so far. An incredible first novel from Graeme Simsion.



Quirky with realistic and likable characters; a predictable romance told beautifully, with perfectly pitched humour and fabulous insight of Asperger's syndrome. A feel-good book!

18 people found this helpful

Delightful

Not my usual book preference, but I bought after reading good reviews. This is a really sweet, delightful tale. Having close contact with people on both Aspergers and Autistic spectra - I found this really fascinating. Our 'hero' has absolutely no idea how his reactions and responses are viewed by other people, he knows he is a 'bit odd' (aren't we all), and he does manage to modify his behaviour. I really enjoyed reading this, it is written in the first person and is fascinating.

17 people found this helpful

Made me laugh!

I loved this book. I know that some people slam it because the main character is stereotyped, but he's such a lovely character and in spite or (perhaps because of) his quirks, I was rooting for him every step of the way.

Gentle humour (sometimes very clever), wonderful observations, and an a-typical "love" story.

Sometimes we all need something that simply makes us smile and that's what this book did for me. I've already recommended this to several people.

16 people found this helpful

Great Fun, Good Story, Brilliant Characters

The Rosier project won't take you long to listen to. I couldn't wait for an excuse to get out and put my earphones in.the dogs got more walks over the last few days than for months previously. The central character has the wonderful honesty that anyone familiar with ASD will recognise immediately. The story is told through his voice and the dry deadpan description of the other 'neuro typical' characters is hilarious. On another level it's a rather sweet love story stealing unashamedly from plenty of other clichéd love stories but with a major twist.
This is well written, well read, great fun and a little thought provoking. Just about all I ask from any book.

16 people found this helpful

Garbage

What disappointed you about The Rosie Project?

The characters were very broad and crudely drawn. Don is a typical oddball who is clearly somewhere on the autistic spectrum (while the book never specifies this, it makes several clumsy and thinly veiled attempts to hint at what I can only presume is the non nuanced caricature of a person with Aspergers that lives inside the author's mind after having watched every available episode of the Big Bang Theory) and "needs a woman to shake things up". His best friend is a particularly unpleasant sex pest and the reader is just expected to go along with his unpleasantness with no acknowledgement to how harmful his behaviour is. Rosie is a typical "manic pixie dream girl" whose sole job is to come into Don's life and turn things upside down in order to develop Don's character and make him a better person. All we really know about Rosie are some very preliminary and sketchy facts about her parentage and who she is. Oh and she's hot, we know that about Rosie too. Her character doesn't develop at all and the reader is expected to believe that a person like Rosie would end up with Don because, of course, Don is the protagonist and she's the female lead. Rosie could literally be anybody. Rosie's identity is whatever it needs to be to further Don's story. I know this is told in the first person so we're getting Don's side of things but that is such an easy way out and such a common and disappointing trope in this kind of romantic story.

Would you ever listen to anything by Graeme Simsion again?

No

Would you be willing to try another one of Dan O'Grady’s performances?

Probably not

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No, it was a complete waste of time.

Any additional comments?

Be warned, if you are not especially interested in love stories, steer clear of this book. If you're not interested in anything that borders on ableism and relies on the super played out trope of a woman who exists solely to make a man a better person, run the other way right now. I was lured by the amazing reviews and I only wish there had been a review like the one I just wrote to save me the credit I spent on this book. This is the kind of lowest common denominator airport garbage read that I usually try to avoid but I didn't know that because, shockingly, everyone loves it. Hey, everyone loved the Davinci Code too so really I should have known better. In the immortal words of Cher, "if I could turn back time".

12 people found this helpful

Couldn't stop listening!

Once I got into it, I really loved this book. The characters come alive and you care what happens to them. In particular I liked it for the insight it gives you to those on the autistic spectrum. There are so many of the characteristics of those with Asperger's Syndrome that are really well reflected, but it's told in a light-hearted manner.

11 people found this helpful