Haven’t read The Rosie project, Rosie effect and The Rosie result, now is your chance. You can even ask the author Graeme Simsion a question. Meet the author at Riverside Theatre and find out how these quirky and some times hilarious characters go through their lives.
Tag Archives: Graeme Simsion
Librarians with Bite
What do Librarians do at lunch, you ask? We discuss books of course!
Find out what our Staff Book Club think of their monthly reads.
We are…………………. Librarians with Bite!
NOVEMBER 2014
Deeper Water is a real coming of age story focussed very much on the relationship of the three female characters – Mema, her wild friend Anja and Mema’s mother. One day, after a downfall, Mema saves a man from a creek near their home. This man, Hamish, is the catalyst to an emotional upheaval that unsettles the family unit.
The settings and descriptions are very good. It makes you want to spend time in northern NSW and you get the feeling the nvoel is a touch autobiographical. Mema is a fantastic character, particularly in the way that she relates to her mother – she feels very loving towards her, despite their relative isolation.
It this novel, everyone accepts who they are and seem very content. This in particular resonates in the character of Mema who has a disability that is barely acknowledged in the book. It is nice that the story isn’t at all focussed on that. The friendship between Anja and Mema is a bit unresolved, but overall is definitely a worthwhile read from a new Australian talent.
The Wedding Gift by Marlene Suyapa Bodden
The Wedding Gift is set in 1852 and is a story about slavery. Sarah is a slave on a cotton plantation and is given as a wedding gift to her half-sister (same father, different mother). Clarissa, her half-sister, has been raised as a proper Southern belle, but wishes she had more choice in her life, and in particular who she loves.
With alternating viewpoints, The Wedding Gift is a real page turner. The language and writing style is quite simplistic with clear perspective, but the story is well worth reading, especially if you enjoyed titles like The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd and The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
The Rosie Project is about Don Tillman, a professor of genetics who has a few social ‘quirks’. He decides it is time he found a wife and comes up with a lengthy questionnaire to filter out those who aren’t suitable. Then he meets Rosie Jarman who possesses none of those ‘suitable’ qualities.
The Rosie Project contains brilliant observations about life and those things we take for granted. It proves that we shouldn’t categorise people because of the stigma attached to being different and being judged in that way.
There was some debate that perhaps Rosie as a character was a bit clichéd and didn’t have enough depth, but overall, the book was a fantastic read. It does have elements of romance but it was generally agreed that it was more of a general fiction title.
Can definitely see it being made into a movie!
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
Book Summary
Don Tillman and Rosie Jarman are now married and living in New York. Don has been teaching while Rosie completes her second year at Columbia Medical School. Just as Don is about to announce that Gene, his philandering best friend from Australia, is coming to stay, Rosie drops a bombshell: she’s pregnant.
In true Tillman style, Don instantly becomes an expert on all things obstetric. But in between immersing himself in a new research study on parenting and implementing the Standardised Meal System (pregnancy version), Don’s old weaknesses resurface. And while he strives to get the technicalities right, he gets the emotions all wrong, and risks losing Rosie when she needs him most.
Review
The Rosie Effect continues the story of Don and Rosie, now married and living in New York. While I enjoyed ‘The Rosie Project’, I found ‘The Rosie Effect’ BRILLANT!
Don and Rosie are settling into their new life in New York when Don is thrown a curve ball, Rosie announces; “We’re pregnant”.
This is the beginning of a hilarious and delightful story; one which I am sure everyone will find hard to put down.
There are some familiar characters Gene, Don’s best friend and Dave the American who Don met on his trip to New York. All the characters both old and new fitted so well together. Their stories and the way they interacted with Don added those special elements that made this book so AMAZING.
Graeme Simsion’s writing style is very engrossing; you feel like you are actually part of Don’s story. I found it hard to believe Don was not a real person and that I wasn’t his friend sharing his ups and downs.
‘The Rosie Effect’ will make you laugh; be prepared for strange looks if you are reading on the bus or train. You will also hold your breath and hope against hope that Don will triumph.
It would be very hard not to like ‘The Rosie Effect’. Instead I feel people cannot help but be sucked into the vortex that is Don Tillman.
I can already tell that ‘The Rosie Effect’ will be very high up on my list of books that I loved this year.
Reviewed by
Jody