The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Review: ★★★★½
What an adorable, off-kilter, humorous life Don Tillman leads! Simsion draws you into a world unlike any you've quite seen when she introduces to us the odd, filterless, and sometimes dangerous Don, with his precisely planned meals and complete incomprehension of other's emotions.
Oh how I laughed through this book.
It's an adorable, heart wrenching experience to see him experience a whole spectrum of emotions and not recognize them. He is all head, and no heart—or rather, he has the capacity to be all heart (he's got a surprisingly big one), but his head won't allow it. Part of you wants to slap the back of his head and go "There, Don! Right there—that was you feeling (jealousy/love/anger/betrayal)!!" but dear old Don is on his own, and too rational for his own good.
When Rosie comes sweeping into his life asking about penis size, she is just what he needs to fully come in to himself and grow up. The two begin on a journey to find Rosie's biological father, and it leaves them both permanently changed.
I especially loved seeing Rosie's brokenness, and her frustrated attempts to get Don to feel guilty or appalled. Don simply takes everything in stride, and doesn't quite recognize or feel the sense of embarrassment that Rosie tries to evoke. And so begins a very odd, very satisfying friendship. All in all this book was excellent.
4.5 stars