• Published: 2013
• Completed: 15/08/2023
• Pages: 329

This was a very easy and light hearted read about Don Tillman, a university academic with autism and his efforts to find a partner via an exhaustive and awkward questionnaire. Along the way he meets Rosie Jarman, who, despite being completely incompatible in theory, inspires Don to change and ultimately fall in love with her. That’s not a spoiler because it’s pretty evident that it’s going to happen as soon as the two characters meet. This is definitely more about the journey rather than the destination.

The novel is primarily a romantic comedy predicated on the incongruous application of Don’s strict routines to what would normally be done by feel or intuition. The novel also manages to integrate a decent mystery component, as Don and Rosie embark on progressively ridiculous plots in an attempt discover Rosie’s real father.

I felt I rush read this novel as there was a lot of detail written to impress upon the reader the rigidity of the autistic narrator – exact travel times, schedules and facts etc – I glossed over a lot of these. In the process, I probably missed some of the finer plot details. My brain is almost the total opposite to the narrator, and I tune out when there are too many details!

It is a very accomplished novel though, simultaneously funny, poignant and exciting. There were lots of entertaining sequences – the highlight being a bar sequence whereby Don utilises his superior memory to serve by name, hundreds of people complex cocktails from memory. Despite all this…I found the novel a bit pedestrian. It was enjoyable in the moment, but i wasn’t very invested in any of the characters. Definitely won’t be in a rush to read any of the following instalments.

Typography

Serviceable

New Words

• Ostensibly

Ratings

• Hayley: 7
• Kaye: 4
• Liz:
• Sarah:
• Sally: 7
• Thành: 6.5

Restaurant

Ghan Kebab Restaurant
(Just because we liked it so much last time)