“I may have found a solution to the Wife Problem. As with so many scientific c breakthroughs, the answer was obvious in retrospect.” These are the enticing opening lines, which was described by one reviewer as “an instant classic”, from Australian author Graeme Simsion’s “feel-good novel of 2013″, The Rosie Project.
Don, the protagonist, is a genetics professor with very awkward social skills, leaning towards Asperger syndrome. His eccentricities make it difficult for him to find a life partner until he decides to use them to his advantage: He creates a questionnaire and embarks on an adventure he calls The Wife Project. This eventually “teaches Don some unexpected things. Why earlobe length is an inadequate predictor of sexual attraction. Why quick-dry clothes aren’t appropriate attire in New York. Why he’s never been on a second date. And why, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love: love finds you.”
This “original take on love” has received a lot of attention worldwide. Originally written as a sreenplay, The Rosie Project won the Australian Writers Guild / Inscription Award for Best Romantic Comedy Script in 2010, after which Simsion reworked it into a novel. According to reports, Sony Pictures optioned the rights to the screenplay at the end of last year while the rights to the novel has been sold into over thirty five countries.
Read the first two chapters of Simsion’s popular debut novel:
1
I may have found a solution to the Wife Problem. As with so many scientific c breakthroughs, the answer was obvious in retrospect. But had it not been for a series of unscheduled events, it is unlikely I would have discovered it. The sequence was initiated by Gene insisting I give a lecture on Asperger’s syndrome that he had previously agreed to deliver himself. The timing was extremely annoying. The preparation could be time- shared with lunch consumption, but on the designated evening I had scheduled ninety- four minutes to clean my bathroom. I was faced with a choice of three options, none of them satisfactory.
1. Cleaning the bathroom after the lecture, resulting in loss of sleep with a consequent reduction in mental and physical performance.
2. Rescheduling the cleaning until the following Tuesday, resulting in an eight- day period of compromised bathroom hygiene and consequent risk of disease.
3. Refusing to deliver the lecture, resulting in damage to my friendship with Gene.
I presented the dilemma to Gene, who, as usual, had an alternative solution.
Simsion’s publisher, Text Publishing, has created a test to see whether or not you would be compatible with Don; as well as a fun quiz to see which character you would be in the book.
Watch The Rosie Project‘s trailer, also created by Text Publishing:
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Image courtesy of Herald Sun
Book details
- The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
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EAN: 9781922079770
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