The Rosie Effect — Book Review
Prologue: As part of my 2019 resolutions, I decided to read 4 books every month, maybe add 2 more to make 50 books by the end of December and then write one review for each 4 books I read in a month.
Unfortunately, I started on a terrible note. I was only able to read one book in January. I decided to postpone the last part of the resolution till I met my monthly target. But no, Justin (my one-man accountability team) wouldn’t let me get away with it, so here is the review for “The Rosie Effect”, my first read in 2019.
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion is a romance fictional book first published in 2014. Now, I picked this as my first read from Bill Gates’ recommendations and had no idea that it was a follow-up to an earlier book by same author called ‘The Rosie Project’. This review therefore does not compare or attempt to connect these two books.
Plot: Socially awkward Associate Professor Don Tillman and his PhD student wife, Rosie, are expecting a baby. Don feels he won’t be a good father, so he tries to get some experience, which leads to unforeseen circumstances. Narrated in Don’s POV.
Don is a pretty lovable character. He understands that he is unlike others and works so hard to get people’s understanding. Or the most logically sensible route to solve a problem. It works most times until the situation becomes mixed with emotions then logic doesn’t really bring the optimal answer. Sometimes he’s sweet, sometimes he’s really annoying. I recall myself screaming when Don made one of his numerous lists to deal with some trivial issues. Rosie was probably right.
Rosie is a hard character to get and gets annoying at times. Although she accepts Don for who he is, It is like her character was created to match the stereotypical pregnant woman: Less in tune with her partner and wanting to get her way most of the time regardless of what everyone else thought. At times, I felt like strangling Rosie for the things she was saying. Getting Don to find tuna for her at midnight was one of those.
Then there’s Gene. I don’t need to point out Gene’s also smart. Though not as socially awkward as Don. I pictured Gene as the Barney Stinson to Don Tillman’s Ted Mosby ( Would have loved to use Sheldon Cooper here, but Penny is just not smart). Every Don Tillman needs a Gene. Even if Gene is a bad influence, he is able to interpret social behaviour that Don finds weird to him. Gene along with a couple of other guys make up Don’s ‘support group’ that gets together once a week to drink beer and discuss their lives. That is pretty incredible.
“You’re actually not trying to upset me, are you?’ she said. ‘You’re really not. You’re just so insensitive you don’t know what you’re doing.”
There are other characters who even though we don’t get to meet them as often, we know exactly what their character traits are. George, Dave, Sonia, the Dean. Lydia (like in the above quote to Don) also makes me realise how psychologically complex and detailed these characters are. Graeme did a good job with his characters development.
Some parts of the early chapters make me feel like I was preparing for a GRE verbal exam. My brain just slides away mid-paragraph and I would rather return to arguing about soccer with the boys. Gradually it picks up.. or rather, some wild plots and witty lines and conversations like one below make up for it.
“I am well aware of my incompetence in predicting human reactions. But I would have been prepared to bet on the first word that Rosie would say when she received the information. I was correct by a factor of six.
‘Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Even with all the lovable characters, this book gets quite difficult to read at times. Plots are dragged and it didn’t have to go on for 39 chapters. It gets predictable and repetitive so much I gave up a couple of times. Then there are some situations that seemed quite far-fetched.
However, The ending was quite satisfying even though cliché.
You would totally enjoy it more if you had a relation with Asperger’s or a socially inept friend as it would let you understand the effort they put in their works and relationships that is mostly unseen.
Would err, recommend it for the humour.
Best Parts: The characters (excluding Rosie), the mis-interpretations from Don and conversational banter
Worst Parts: Repetitive nature, long plots
Favorite Quote: “Social Protocols. Unfathomable” -Don Tillman
Rating: 3.5 / 5 stars
Note: If you loved ‘The Rosie Effect’, the third book in the series is being released coming Tuesday (5th February). You might as well check that out.
