Graeme Simsion - The Rosie Project

Surprisingly, I first heard of this book through the website of my favourite Australian televised book show, the ABC's First Tuesday Book Club, hosted by Jennifer Byrne. I say surprisingly because the story of how this book came to be is such that I feel that I should have heard about it before. Graeme Simsion is an Australian IT consultant in his 50s, and this is his debut novel (although it was originally conceived of as a screenplay). Before it was published Simsion entered the manuscript into the Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award, and it won. The book was subsequently picked up by small publisher Text. And it has now earned Simsion over $1.2 million in international advances, with production companies on three different continents fighting over film rights. Amazing. So these things do still happen.

When I first started reading The Rosie Project I thought the tone was a little young adult, a little high school. It took me a while to get beyond that and realise there was more to the novel than the cute exterior which it first presented.

Don Tillman is a genetics professor who lives his life according to precise schedules. It is clear immediately Don has undiagnosed Asberger's Syndrome, though he does not realise this himself, even when he teaches a class on Asberger's to a room full of schoolchildren suffering from autism. There is obvious comedic value in this set-up, which Simsion uses to best advantage. Don is a lovely character, one to whom one warms very quickly. When he sets out to find a wife using a 16 page double-sided questionnaire, because he has determined that, statistically, married men are likely to live longer and consider themselves to be happier than unmarried men, we want him to succeed, as unlikely as that might be. When he meets Rosie, a woman who meets none of his rigorous criteria, who smokes, and has tattoos, and works in a bar, we cheer for the inevitability of their blossoming relationship instead of damning the predictability of the plot. This is because the novel has significant charm. There are scenes, too, that are very funny. I laughed outloud during Don's stellar debut performance as a cocktail waiter and mixologist for a conference crowd of medical professionals. And while some might decry Simsion's approach to the publishing and film industry as cynical - writing the story as a screenplay and then, afterwards, as a novel, so that a production company might be motivated to pick up the film rights - I admit I am looking forward to seeing this reinvented as a film. I think it will be sweet and fun and romantic. Also, these days, I think we need to be forgiving - aspiring authors must do what they need to do, given the current state of the publishing industry.

Overall assessment: 4 out of 5. This is a short review, partly because I read the book in the last few days before Lulu was born and have had little time since to sit down and think about it in any deep way. But it is a testament to Simsion's writing that I was able to read his novel, and read it so quickly, at a time when my mind was squarely focused elsewhere. I really highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun, diverting, uplifting read.

Pros: One thing this novel does is point out that there is, in fact, a silver lining to Asberger's. I hope people with autism or with close friends or family with autism, do not take this the wrong way - neither I nor Simsion intend to diminish the seriousness of the condition of autism. What Simsion does, though, is to portray a character in a very real way, without overt sentimentality. Don is not painted as someone we should pity - because he's not. He is someone with many gifts, who also faces more than his fair share of personal challenges, and who is finding his way just like the rest of us. I understand that the book has been well received by people with Asberger's for this reason.

Cons: Like most rom-coms, the story is predictable, and some might say the Rosie Project (the genetics project Don takes on in the book to gain favour with Rosie) is contrived. I was willing to forgive both of these elements in favour of being swept up in the lives of the characters. I actually missed the characters after putting the book down, which makes me think it might be one I will pick up again.