Story in Review: The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

After reading – and loving – The Rosie Project (my full review here), I couldn’t wait to dive into The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion.

The novel leaves off where the last ended: Don and Rosie have moved to New York City, with Don taking a job at Columbia as a visiting professor, and Rosie committing to finish her dissertation there. The major inciting incident occurs in the first chapter: Rosie announces to Don that she is pregnant, and Don, well, reacts in true Don fashion: with charts and processes and all things that a pregnant woman doesn’t want to hear. The rest of the novel is the story of the pregnancy, Don’s attempts to deal with the idea he is going to be a father, and Rosie’s attempt to handle a dissertation, a potential residency and being a mother of a newborn whose father is a bit unconventional.

I have to admit, I liked this novel less than the first one. I felt like while Don was trying, in his own way, to be a husband and soon-to-be-father, he didn’t receive good advice from his friends and definitely didn’t receive the benefit of the doubt from Rosie. I also feel like Rosie was unfair in her treatment of him, knowing the man that she married would react differently to a pregnancy than most and that he had the best intentions all along. This was one of those books where I just wanted everyone to sit down in a room and talk it out!

It was enjoyable, nonetheless, as Don’s antics and narration are truly hilarious at most moments. This book still elicited some full, out-loud laughs from me as I read it.

Favorite Quotes:

“The reduction in room numbers, combined with marriage, meant I had been thrown into closer sustained proximity with another human being than ever before.” – p. 3

“It was incredible that tho such dissimilar people had become a successful couple.” – p. 6

“The dean of science in Melbourne was extremely concerned with the public image of the university. It seemed to me that having a homeless person in charge of the department of psychology would be, to use her habitual expression, ‘not a good look.'” – p. 8

“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.” – p. 16

“Other than the amendment to beverage management, life would be unchanged.” – p. 23

“It defies belief that a person’s emotional state could be deduced from such an inconsistent set of messages.” – p. 37

“A society of Rain Men would be dysfunctional. A society of Don Tillmans would be efficient, safe, and pleasant for all of us.” – p. 42

What made it a good story? Getting to see Don react to new situations, and learn to manage them in his own way and with his own style.

What could have made it a better story? I feel like this story paints everyone in a poorer light than the original. Don is less able to overcome obstacles. Rosie is less understanding of Don. I also feel like the novel is paced oddly – I can’t put my finger on it, but I feel like there are too many threads that don’t necessarily all wrap up at the end. If you like the first one, I think the second is still worth a read, but not a must. It’s still OK, but not great.

Have you read The Rosie Effect or The Rosie Project? What did you think?