rosie-project

The Rosie Effect

Book Notes Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 18:09 on 28 December 2015

And here we go, the 104th book of the year for me, and likely the last one I will finish this year.

This is book two of the Rosie series, the sequel to The Rosie Project. In this one, we have much of the same humour derived from a person (yes, an autistic person) taking everything said literally. Balance this with always making objective statements, without any social nuances, and you have the humour and charm of the first book.

What you also have, unfortunately, is an ass in the book. I really do not like books where one person is abusing power, which is the premise of much of the plot in this book. I should be less upset by it, given how much the world is about abusing power and not doing the right thing. Less upset, sure, and I also can choose not to seek out that particular style of conflict, given there are plenty others to choose among (Man vs. Fate/God, Man vs Self, Man vs. Society, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Supernatural (-ish), and Man vs. Technology).

It is a quick read.

It's an amusing book, but much less so than the first Rosie book. I would liken the two books to the first and second bites of a treat: the first bite is amazing and delicious, and while the second bite is good, it isn't as amazing as the first bite.

The Rosie Project

Book Notes Posted by kitt at 22:11 on 31 October 2015

Mom and I were wandering around Sydney after Web Directions, and wandered into Dymocks, a bookstore and stationery store, because, you know, paper. I was tired and winding down from the stress of speaking and giving a workshop, and I just wanted to be around paper. Thing is, I don't need more journals, so I pretty much just wandered around, picked up a few classic books, oogled over the fantastic number of well-bound classics, put the books and journals I had picked out back, and let her know I was ready to leave.

Mom, on the other hand, found The Rosie Project and told me I had to read it. Mom is often soft spoken about her book suggestions, so her enthusiastic recommendation meant a buy from me.

Wow, books are expensive in Australia. Oucharoo.

I started reading that evening as I was brushing my teeth, and it didn't take long for me to realize why Mom had recommended the book. It is a hysterical read, mostly in the way the fundamental source of the humour is never mentioned. The protagonist has difficulty meeting women, as he takes everything said as exactly literally, so decides to try a questionaire to weed out poor mate matches. As mentioned, hilarity ensues.

Worth the read. Highly recommended. Can't say I'm thrilled that Jennifer Lawrence has been chosen to be Rosie in the movie adaptation, but I prefer books anyway. Worth the expensive Australian price I paid for the book.