It is safe to say that humanity is concerned about what we cannot understand, causing us to explore frontiers, discuss theories and search the past for hints and answers. Some might even venture to say that everything can be explained by science and logic. “The Rosie Project” by Graeme Simsion explores this idea, navigating the boundaries and complications between science, emotion and humanity.

Protagonist Don Tillman is a genetics professor with a few quirks due to his extreme intelligence and social disconnect. Everything in his life sticks to a strict schedule, planned out to exact minutes, meals and conversations. Attempts at typical dating always go awry, so Don develops a 16-page scientific survey to efficiently find the perfect wife, entrusting his dating life to science and logic. Rosie Jarman fails nearly every expectation set by Don’s questionnaire, but their accidental friendship grows into a whirlwind of events. Don flounders for answers in science, and comes up empty handed as he confronts the complex universe of human emotion.

Simsion is manipulative and clever in how he tells the story of Don and Rosie. This novel is not a typical love story reminiscent of Nicholas Sparks, thanks to the unique storyline and characters developed therein. The novel is told solely through Don’s voice, forcing the reader to understand the way Don processes and reacts to the world around him. Simsion allows Don to be blunt, practical and simply unemotional while still holding a dry sense of humor that keeps the readers’ attention and interest.

Don’s story provides a perspective that allows readers to be comfortable and more willing to fully engage with a somewhat foreign mindset. With Don, readers venture through the innately human tumble of falling in love with the added complication of not knowing how to truly feel emotion. The romance feels real and genuine, reminding readers that while love is elusive and clever, it may be perfectly within reach the whole time, simply waiting to be noticed.