The Rosie Project

Fault! Asperger’s isn’t a fault. It’s a variant. It’s potentially a major advantage. Asperger’s Syndrome is associated with organization, focus, innovative thinking, and rational detachment.

The Rosie Project is a quick and easy read; totally lightweight and undemanding, and considering the buzz that has surrounded it since it was released here last fall, I guess I was expecting a bit more from it (but can't actually complain about being mindlessly amused for a few hours). There's really nothing new here -- pop culture seems to be full of "Aspies" lately, and although it's only hinted that the main character of this book is on the spectrum, he totally reads like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory or Abed from Community -- and it follows the standard Rom-Com formula of two completely opposite people meeting, sparring, and falling in love. 

The twist is in the story being told from the point of view of Don Tillman, a brilliant and rigidly scheduled Genetics professor whose social skills (probably Asperger's related) make for accidental comedy. Because it's told from his point of view, we're never laughing at Tillman but laugh at his perspectives, and so far as that goes, it was well done. The funny:

“But I’m not good at understanding what other people want."
"Tell me something I don’t know," said Rosie for no obvious reason.
I quickly searched my mind for an interesting fact.
"Ahhh…The testicles of drone bees and wasp spiders explode during sex.”

And since Tillman is constantly analysing social cues and situations, trying to break the code of human interaction, there are brief flashes of philosophy. The deep:

I need not be visibly odd. I could engage in the protocols that others followed and move undetected among them. And how could I be sure that other people were not doing the same - playing the game to be accepted but suspecting all the time that they were different?

Apparently Graeme Simsion wrote The Rosie Project first as a screenplay, then adapted it as a novel, and then immediately optioned the movie rights -- and it reads as a very visual book. I can totally imagine what the movie will look like, and especially because Tillman learns his romantic moves from the films it's recommended he watch (and while he's unaffected by Bogey and his hill of beans in Casablanca, he learns to quote from When Harry Met Sally and Bridges of Madison County and to dress like Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird). There are also broad physical comedy scenes (aikido in a snooty restaurant, ballroom dancing, interactions with a skeleton) that will be even funnier on the big screen, and with ironic self-consciousness, Tillman recognises that he's in a proper romance when his declaration of love to Rosie is met with a burst of applause in a crowded restaurant. 

From the goodreads reviews, I understand that The Rosie Project isn't universally praised by people who know and love Aspies, and that perspective must be respected -- although it seemed to me that Simsion didn't mock his character, I can understand that it's probably unlikely that a person could change his entire behaviours by force of will alone (or that such changes are entirely necessary). While the character does spend some time explaining that he never changes his essential self, just his outward aspects (dressing nicer, learning to say "hi" instead of "greetings"), he also says this at one point:

By the time Rosie came back, I had performed a brain reboot, an exercise requiring a considerable effort of will. But I was now configured for adaptability.

Okay Mr. Roboto. It's a fine line there and I really hope no one is offended by this light read -- in the end, this is every Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan movie: someone will need to change before the happy ending, and when he does, we at the neighbouring tables in the restaurant can't help but clap and cheer.