So Simsion made Hudson his father's avatar.

The Rosie Project demonstrates the ways in which people navigate the requirements of a meaningful relationship with another person while remaining true to yourself.Many readers had told Simsion they wanted to know about Don's childhood, but that would have meant writing a book set in the 1980s, when people were not as familiar with words such as autism and Asperger's. Rosie eventually agrees to marry Don, and they embark upon their “happily ever after” in New York City. With vigor, humor, and determination, he sets out to transform himself into a person she can love. Once Don realizes his love for Rosie, he knows he will have to change considerably if he is to win her affection. Rosie denies her feelings for Don because he lacks social skills, adheres to a rigid and obsessively structured schedule in all areas of his life, and dresses like a bum. She smokes, has weird food issues, and is chronically late. Don fails to recognize how he feels about Rosie because she does not fit the guidelines for his perfect partner. Through their madcap adventures collecting DNA samples from more than 40 possible fathers, Don and Rosie fall in love, though they both refuse to acknowledge the fact. She agrees to a date with Don, during which Don agrees to help her find her biological father in order to keep the relationship going. A graduate student in psychology, Rosie intrigues Don from the moment they meet, despite her clear lack of suitability. Rosie enters the picture when Don mistakes her for a Wife Project applicant. He hopes this process will identify a select pool of perfect candidates from which he can choose a partner. He develops a stringent and detailed 16-page questionnaire to weed out all of the inappropriate and unqualified women. Because of his difficulties with social interactions, when the novel begins Don has not had a significant relationship, or even a second date.ĭon decides that it is time for him to get married, so he organizes the Wife Project.

During the course of the novel, Don grows up and has his first experience with romantic love. The Rosie Project sits within the tradition of the initiation novel, though the protagonist is 39 years old.

The rosie project book 3