Saturday 4 October 2014

The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

****

Firstly, I must say I loved The Rosie Project; where Don Tillman, socially inept but brilliant geneticist, set himself the challenge of finding an appropriate wife.  However, I had this as an audiobook and the narrator did a fantastic job and I'm not quite sure whether I would have liked this one a little more if I’d listened to it rather than read it.

In this second novel we find Don and his wife Rosie, newly relocated from Australia to New York and Rosie is expecting a Bud (baby in development).  Understandably, Don struggles with his feelings towards this huge event and there follows a sequence of events demonstrating Don’s unique take on life that become increasingly bizarre.  Some are funny but others missed the mark for me.
What I found a little sad was that Rosie seems to lose all her understanding of Don’s differences and I lost sympathy with her very early on.  Don is complete star, he tries so hard to do the right thing and I'm glad that there is a group of committed friends that become “Team Don”, even the obnoxious Gene becomes more likeable.  Through these friends Don becomes a more rounded and complete character (minus Rosie) whilst keeping his endearing quirks in a way that is both believable and readable.

Overall, I didn't love it, which was disappointing, but it is worth a read and Don remains a unique and engaging character who you really want to win through.


Thank you to Netgalley and the Penguin UK for my advance review copy.

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