The Rosie Project

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Blog written by Melissa B

Graeme Simsion’s novel, The Rosie Project, was an enjoyable, easy and often amusing read. The story focuses on the plight of a socially challenged genetics professor who is on a mission to find out whether he is capable of true love. Don Tillman’s ‘Wife Project’, ultimately becomes The Rosie Project as a consequence of helping Rosie with her ‘Father Project’.

Members of the Book Club enjoyed various aspects of the book, such as the gene hunt and the familiarly depicted Academic environment and the specific details of Professor Don Tillman’s unusual behaviour.

However, I think it’s fair to say that the majority of the group were a little disappointed in this book.  We struggled to believe that a person with Asperger’s Syndrome might be able to change as much as the Professor Tillman. We also discussed whether people should or could try to change for each other and indeed whether that change could be sustainable.

Many felt that Rosie’s character seemed underdeveloped and not fully believable.

Some members felt the book started strongly but petered out in terms of energy and interest by the end. Some did not care by the end, to find out who the father was, and as the main through-line on which the plot rested, this was problematic for the success of the story.

We all felt the subject matter had great potential, with insight into the experience of living with the condition of Aspergers (in it or beside it) and with the experience of needing to find out the source of one’s genes (ie. A missing father).  Yet both of these topics felt somewhat superficially presented and overall, our group seemed unsatisfied with the outcome.

The novel did inspire some fun and interesting conversation about the nature of dating and the process of questioning suitable partners. This lead to members sharing interesting stories about their own experience and the concept and process of meeting a match, especially contrasting the way partnership evolved 20-40 years ago, in comparison with the RSVP style searches today.

It was suggested by Jane that perhaps the book might be better suited to a market of slightly younger readers in their late 20’s or 30’s.  We also agreed that it had the potential to be adapted into a popular romantic comedy film.

Above is a photo of the brilliant creation that Marty made – a handmade chocolate framed Rosie book cover. No-one could bring themselves to eat it.

Our rating for the book is 6 out of 10.

Our next book choice is Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and our meeting will be at Lee's place on Thursday October 17th.

Having Cried Wolf

Having Cried Wolf by Gretchen Shirm
Blog written by Sally L

Hello bookclub blog readers! Our August reading was Gretchen Shirm’s “Having Cried Wolf”. This is a unique collection of fifteen short stories set in and around the fictional seaside town of ‘Kinsale’. I had been looking for some short story reading for our group and was intrigued by flipping through the first few pages of this collection that I picked up from Melissa (thanks Melissa!). First impressions were that writing was contemporary, fresh and stripped down (thats my non-writerly speak) – and the stories certainly lived up to this promise!

As a brief description, the setting and characters are distinctly Australian. Many of the stories begin by drawing us into familiar surroundings: two friends catching up in a café while “ the sound of cicadas rises and falls around us” (Breakfast friends); A mother observing an 18 year old son  arriving home from a party, car headlights  “through the frame of the old fig” (Carrying on). From these mild scenes, common and uncommon dramas unfold, and the reader is gradually immersed into a wonderfully rich larger narrative (very impressive). The stories develop along multiple dimensions , linked by place, with the coastline never far from view, but also weave together in unexpected ways, with characters who reappear in different stories, filling out narrative from different perspectives, and spanning across time. A fascinating common element to the stories is how quietly tragedy plays out, to be replaced by things moving on.

At our discussion (8 of us), there was general enthusiasm for reading short stories, and enjoyment of the writing in Having Cried Wolf. We were interested in the use of linking characters between stories and also thinking about how the stories left much unsaid for the reader to wonder, including the significance of the title! We read the authors comments about ‘Having Cried Wolf’ here: http://short.reviewofaustralianfiction.com/the-short-of-it/post/choosing-a-title-part-one/ and continue to be intrigued.
A couple of us who bought the electronic book version were disappointed they could not flip around the pages to track characters between stories (digital books need to include this as an essential function!).

Our group discussion was, as usual, fairly diverse, but a consistent response was something along the lines of having trouble engaging with the stories as a collection when it seemed the tone of depression would never lift.

Overall, we gave the book around 6 out of 10.

For some other blogging and examples of short stories with linking characters…
Tim Winton  - The Turning http://www.abc.net.au/classic/program/midday/listen-again.htm


Bookriot: http://bookriot.com/2012/03/16/short-stories-you-so-trendy-from-linked-to-thematic/

Our next meeting is at Melissa's on Sept 19th Thursday and our book choice is :
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion