I've sat here for about a week and a half with writers block for this review. I didn't want to fail my challenge of reviewing every book this year and therefore, sort of, stopped reading.
I've been struggling to write this review because I really liked it because it was a page turner mostly but I have a lot of criticisms with the book and I couldn't review it sounding positive. So you have been forewarned. I really liked it. Now I'm going to tear it to shreds.
Ok I pinched the blurb off goodreads. I'm just not good at marketing.
Meet Don Tillman.
Don is getting married.
He just doesn't know who to yet.
But he has designed a very detailed questionnaire to help him find the perfect woman.
One thing he already knows, though, is that it's not Rosie.
Absolutely, completely, definitely not.
Don Tillman is a socially challenged genetics professor who's decided the time has come to find a wife. His questionnaire is intended to weed out anyone who's unsuitable. The trouble is, Don has rather high standards and doesn't really do flexible so, despite lots of takers, he's not having much success in identifying The One.
When Rosie Jarman comes to his office, Don assumes it's to apply for the Wife Project - and duly discounts her on the grounds she smokes, drinks, doesn't eat meat, and is incapable of punctuality. However, Rosie has no interest in becoming Mrs Tillman and is actually there to enlist Don's assistance in a professional capacity: to help her find her biological father.
Sometimes, though, you don't find love: love finds you...
The narrative annoyed me. The lead was hinted at having Aspergers but I didn't warm to his tedious narrative like I warmed to the beautiful narrative of The Curious Incident by Mark Haddon. I didn't feel Don had any personality and lacked something that makes a character whole. He was academically prejudiced and was self-centred.
As a general rule, I avoid any book with the word "hilarious" on the back. This book was "hilarious." I found the humour wasn't funny. In Simsion's defense, I believe comedy relies on timing and you can not get that in books without clever punctuation. It was just very slapstick and sort of 12-year-old-boy-humour, which I feel like I've outgrown (nb. overheard 12 year old boys on bus: "would you rather have a bus full of money or a wife?").
The ending was very mishmashed and this was my main criticism of this book. It felt very rushed and not possible. I didn't really like it after this big build up it just left me feeling like I'd been robbed.
In the book's defence, even though Don is a terrible character, Rosie is fantastic. Also there are scene's in New York which are just beautiful.
I gave this four stars.
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