Orange juice was not scheduled for Fridays.Although Rosie and I had abandoned the Standardized Meal System, resulting in an improvement in "spontaneity" at the expense of shopping time, food inventory, and wastage, we had agreed that each week should include three alcohol-free days.
Without formal scheduling, this target proved difficult to achieve, as I had predicted. Rosie eventually saw the logic of my solution.
Fridays and Saturdays were obvious days on which to consume alcohol.
Description:
What is the most important element of a great book: the writing, the characters, or the plot? I'm starting to lean toward "the characters." Why do I love and keep re-reading the Tarzan series? The Sherlock Holmes stories? Harry Potter? Jack Reacher? Why am I eagerly looking forward to Harper Lee's long-lost novel about Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird? Yes, I love the writing and plots in these works, but more and more I think it is the characters that pull me in. Great characters can make up for everything, even weaker writing and plots, but great writing and plots cannot make up for weak characters.
Case in point: Graeme Simsion's new book, The Rosie Effect, the sequel to one of my all-time favorites, The Rosie Project. Graeme's writing again is solid and funny, his plot delightful with numerous unexpected twists and turns. But it is the characters of Rosie and Don who make his new book shine once again. I, for one, welcome the opportunity to read more -- anything, please, just more -- about them.
Don Tillman, the eccentric Australian geneticist working as a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York City, is now married to Rosie, the first (only) woman he ever was attracted to and actually dated, as detailed in The Rosie Project. He is a consummate list-maker, a scheduler of every minute of the day, precise to a point of rigidity that is off-putting to many and eye-rollingly tolerated to those who love him. Picture Mr. Spock from Star Trek in all his serious intent and complete bafflement by human interaction and you have Don Tillman.
Rosie, his fiery, opinionated, free-spirited wife, is finishing her PhD in psychology at Columbia University. Their life is as quirky as these two opposites can make it, but they seem to have reached a happy balance and are doing well together. That is, until Rosie announces she is pregnant, ignoring their planned timetable for children. Suddenly all of Don's logic and spreadsheets face new challenges.
He tries to figure out what Rosie the expectant mother now needs, what elements will enhance the baby's (nicknamed BUD for "Baby Under Development") life and brain, and still keep his own disciplined life in place. Of course, the lists he makes, the schedules he creates, and his general Spock-like logic usually come across as a bit cold to many, including Rosie.
Rosie grows increasingly concerned over Don's commitment to the actual baby and their family in favor of the process of parenthood and his academic interest in researching the ideal pathways for everyone to tread. Don admits he might require insight and sound advice from others on even the most obvious (to us) social behavior. And he gets it:
Can Don prove himself a worthy candidate for fatherhood or will he once again drive everyone crazy with his rigidity to the scientific method and insistence that everyone follow his prescribed course of action? With the "advice" of his philandering friend, Gene, and other members of an odd men's support group who drink and watch baseball games together, Don searches for answers or at least a workable plan of action.
Don Tillman is a character I cannot get enough of. I think you will like him, too, as well as the other well-meaning, slightly off kilter people who inhabit his world and must deal with his foibles on a regular basis. Highest recommendation for all romantics, lovers of wit, and those who enjoy just plain fun.
Case in point: Graeme Simsion's new book, The Rosie Effect, the sequel to one of my all-time favorites, The Rosie Project. Graeme's writing again is solid and funny, his plot delightful with numerous unexpected twists and turns. But it is the characters of Rosie and Don who make his new book shine once again. I, for one, welcome the opportunity to read more -- anything, please, just more -- about them.
Don Tillman, the eccentric Australian geneticist working as a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York City, is now married to Rosie, the first (only) woman he ever was attracted to and actually dated, as detailed in The Rosie Project. He is a consummate list-maker, a scheduler of every minute of the day, precise to a point of rigidity that is off-putting to many and eye-rollingly tolerated to those who love him. Picture Mr. Spock from Star Trek in all his serious intent and complete bafflement by human interaction and you have Don Tillman.
Rosie, his fiery, opinionated, free-spirited wife, is finishing her PhD in psychology at Columbia University. Their life is as quirky as these two opposites can make it, but they seem to have reached a happy balance and are doing well together. That is, until Rosie announces she is pregnant, ignoring their planned timetable for children. Suddenly all of Don's logic and spreadsheets face new challenges.
I am aware that not everyone shares my view of the value of planning rather than allowing our lives to be tossed in unpredictable directions by random events. In Rosie's world, which I had chosen to share, it was possible to use the language of popular psychology rather than biology, to welcome the unexpected, and to forget to take vital medication [birth control pills].
He tries to figure out what Rosie the expectant mother now needs, what elements will enhance the baby's (nicknamed BUD for "Baby Under Development") life and brain, and still keep his own disciplined life in place. Of course, the lists he makes, the schedules he creates, and his general Spock-like logic usually come across as a bit cold to many, including Rosie.
I watched as she took a second sip [of watered down wine], imaging the alcohol crossing the placental wall, damaging brain cells, reducing our unborn child from a future Einstein to a physicist who would fall just short of taking science to a new level. A child who would never have the experience ... of knowing something about the universe that no one ever had before.
Rosie grows increasingly concerned over Don's commitment to the actual baby and their family in favor of the process of parenthood and his academic interest in researching the ideal pathways for everyone to tread. Don admits he might require insight and sound advice from others on even the most obvious (to us) social behavior. And he gets it:
"Don't try to argue her to death. And don't forget to tell her you love her.'
"She knows that."
"When did you last tell her?"
"You're suggesting I need to tell her multiple times?"
Love was a continuous state. There had been no significant change since we were married -- perhaps a diminution in limerence, but it seemed unhelpful to provide Rosie with progress reports on that.
"Yes. Every day."
Can Don prove himself a worthy candidate for fatherhood or will he once again drive everyone crazy with his rigidity to the scientific method and insistence that everyone follow his prescribed course of action? With the "advice" of his philandering friend, Gene, and other members of an odd men's support group who drink and watch baseball games together, Don searches for answers or at least a workable plan of action.
Falling in love with Rosie had been the single best event of my life. I had worked as hard as I could to maintain the situation, but -- like Dave and Sonia -- I had always suspected that there had been some sort of cosmic mistake that would be discovered and that I would be alone again.
Don Tillman is a character I cannot get enough of. I think you will like him, too, as well as the other well-meaning, slightly off kilter people who inhabit his world and must deal with his foibles on a regular basis. Highest recommendation for all romantics, lovers of wit, and those who enjoy just plain fun.
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Simsion, Graeme. The Rosie Project
The original is still the best, introducing odd-ball, socially inept genetics genius Don Tillman and Rosie, the emotional, fiery psychology grad student, with all their quirks and opinions (logical and emotional) as Don searches for a wife using the most involved questionnaire and interviews imaginable. Fantastic! (previously reviewed here)
Jonasson, Jonas. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
On the day of his 100th birthday party at the old folks home, Allan decides to sneak out and start living, starting off with stealing a suitcase full of money from gangsters and being pursued by police, along the way telling gathering new friends and telling about his unusual experiences with world leaders and historic events while on the lam (previously reviewed here)
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