44 pages • 1 hour read
Graeme SimsionThe Rosie Project
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1–4 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Don Tillman wants to get married. Thirty-nine and an assistant genetics professor, Don explains that he has tried a number of different methods to meet his future wife—including being set up by friends—so far without success.
Don explains that he has two friends: Gene Barrow, head of the university’s Psychology Department, and his wife, Claudia, who is a clinical psychologist. These friends have tried to help him with the Wife Problem, but the traditional dating paradigm fails to help Don find a wife.
Don realizes that there is something unappealing about him, despite his other advantages, which include intelligence, height, physical fitness, and a prestigious, well-paid job. Don hits upon a solution to the Wife Problem when he agrees to give a lecture on Asperger’s Syndrome for Gene.
Gene bows out of the lecture because he has an opportunity to have sex with a Chilean professor who is visiting Melbourne. Though he is married to Claudia, Gene claims that he has an open marriage and is conducting “research” by having sex with women from as many different countries as possible.
Chapter 2 Summary
Don delivers a lecture on the current research into the genetic causes for Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. He finds Asperger’s to be a natural genetic variant, rather than a fault or disability. According to Don, there are advantages to the way an Asperger’s person thinks, including “organization, focus, and rational detachment” (10).
In addition to Gene and Claudia, Don has had two other friends in his life: his sister, who died due to medical incompetence; and his elderly neighbor, Daphne. He has recently stopped visiting Daphne, because she no longer recognizes him due to her advanced dementia.
The solution to the Wife Problem, Don believes, is a 16-page questionnaire that he can use to eliminate all unsuitable potential wives. Therefore, he will confine his romantic efforts to the women who meet his standards. Up until now, dating has been disastrous, incredibly inefficient, and a waste of Don’s time. Don has structured his life into a strict schedule with a time allocated for everything, including shopping, cooking, cleaning, and his leisure activities. His regimented lifestyle leaves no room for deviation or spontaneity. His new focus is the Wife Project.
Chapter 3 Summary
In his excitement to get the Wife Project started, Don attempts to track down his friend Gene to discuss it. Don arrives at Gene and Claudia’s house at 7:30 a.m. Claudia asks Don if the symptoms of Asperger’s remind him of anyone, and Don says that they do: Laszlo Hevesi in the Physics Department. He arranges to come for dinner on Saturday night. Don has a good relationship with both of the Barrow’s children: Eugenie, age 8, and Carl, age 16.
Don finds himself in the Dean’s office the next day, discussing the academic dishonesty of one of Don’s graduate students, Kevin Yu. This is the second time Don has caught Kevin plagiarizing, and he wants him to be expelled. The Dean explains that the case is not as clear-cut as Don believes. The initial instance of plagiarism was a misunderstanding due to Kevin’s poor English skills, while the most recent example consists of a one-sentence repetition from another student’s paper. Since English is not his first language, Kevin uses a tutor to assist him with his papers. She encourages Don to find an alternative solution to the problem, rather than expelling Kevin outright during his last semester in graduate school. Don is left angry and confused, because the Dean seems more preoccupied with perception and image than with upholding academic standards.
Don decides that his questionnaire will ruthlessly eliminate any women concerned with appearances.
Chapter 4 Summary
Claudia and Gene help Don finalize his questionnaire on Saturday night. They both encourage him to broaden his requirements, because he’s being too picky. He joins a face-to-face dinner date service and sets up a profile.
During his first dinner date, he efficiently eliminates all four women present, despite the fact that he likes one of them—Olivia—and easily carries on an interesting conversation with her through the entire dinner. He eliminates her from the potential wife pool because she is a vegetarian. On his way home, he congratulates himself on his efficient use of the questionnaire, which saved him time and effort by eliminating all unsuitable candidates.
Chapter 1-4 Analysis
Though Don does not acknowledge it directly, the reader knows from the first pages of the novel that Don has Asperger’s syndrome. Much of the novel’s humor comes from Don’s misreading of social cues and his genuine confusion about the social mores that most readers take for granted. He offers readers another way to view the complexity and difficulties of social interactions. The juxtaposition between Don’s viewpoint and other people’s is often funny. However, the social misunderstandings are also painful and sad to witness, as the reader can see the constant problems Don encounters when trying to communicate with others. While he is aware that he does not always correctly interpret other people’s communication, he fails to identify the specific instances when these mistakes happen, and why. In addition, his manners, speech, and appearance also cause frequent social blunders.
Don’s quest to find a life partner is intensified by the loss of two of his friends: his sister and Daphne. Daphne told him he would be a wonderful husband, and her long happy marriage leads Don to trust her opinion. His loneliness drives him to want to change his life by finding a partner.
In his romantic pursuit, Don is open to the suggestions and criticisms of his friends, because he knows that he has many social deficits. Though he has experienced repeated rejections by women, he is not bitter or cynical; he genuinely wants a life partner. Encouraged by his friend Daphne to believe that he has the qualities it takes to be a good husband, Don pursues this new goal with determination. Though Don appears to be rigid, arrogant, and pedantic, he also demonstrates affection for children through his interactions with Eugenie and Carl, kindness in his relationship with Daphne, and humility through his insights into his own flaws.
