Graeme Simsion |  Fiction, 2014

295 pages

Don Tillman is an Australian genetics professor who is obsessed with measurements, numbers, a high need for sameness and predictability, and schedules.  He times and plans everything to the minute.  The inference is that he is a highly functioning person with Asperger’s Syndrome.  Since his interpersonal skills are very poor, a fact which he fully recognizes, he cannot find and hold on to a romantic partner.  And so he creates a questionnaire in his “Wife Project,” designed to eliminate women who do not meet his exacting standards for a wife, and, surely, to find some good candidates.

Predictably, he meets Rosie, who does not meet the criteria ...

While I acknowledge that this novel provides hope for people on the autism spectrum, I am hard pressed to recommend it for the typical reader.  I found it rather unimaginative.  The professor laughs at himself and his faux pas over and over and over again.  I might call it, well, “cute.”  The outcome is fully present in the unfortunate title, so you know from page one what is going to happen.  Now, I laughed once, so I suspect this book may be entertaining because it is funny.  But, regular blog readers know me ... if it is funny, I can’t tell!

My apologies to my friend who recommended this.  Life is interesting ... I am glad our tastes differ at times!