The Housekeeper and the Professor in Around the Year in 52 Books

Nov 22, 2014 Book Concierge rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library, friendship, concierge, strong-women, audio, book-club, family, literary-fiction, poetry, japan

Audiobook performed by Cassandra Campbell.
5***** and a ❤

A housekeeper is sent by her agency to the home of a problematic client. A blue star is stamped on the client’s card each time a housekeeper has to be replaced, and the Professor’s card already has nine stars. But she prides herself on her professionalism. The Professor lives in a small cottage next to a larger mansion occupied by his brother’s widow. A few years before he suffered a brain injury in an automobile accident and as a result hi Audiobook performed by Cassandra Campbell.
5***** and a ❤

A housekeeper is sent by her agency to the home of a problematic client. A blue star is stamped on the client’s card each time a housekeeper has to be replaced, and the Professor’s card already has nine stars. But she prides herself on her professionalism. The Professor lives in a small cottage next to a larger mansion occupied by his brother’s widow. A few years before he suffered a brain injury in an automobile accident and as a result his memory is limited to 80 minutes. His suit coat is covered in small notes to help him remember things he would otherwise forget. Each morning he asks the Housekeeper for her shoe size, her birth date and the age of her son, Root. Yet, despite having to introduce themselves anew each morning, they develop a unique friendship.

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but what I got was a beautifully elegant gem of a novel. The slow way in which the Housekeeper, Root and the Professor get to know one another is framed by his lessons on the poetry of mathematics. And it IS poetic the way he explains it. His love of the subject and the elegance of perfect equations is evident, as is his love of teaching. As limited as his memory is, the Professor’s ability to find the beauty in numbers (and to share that sense of awe with his companions) seems without limit.

I liked how Ogawa used the Professor’s and Root’s love of baseball to frame their growing friendship. And I liked the sensitivity Root showed when he refrained from correcting the Professor’s assumption that the great Enatsu was still playing (rather than having actually retired more than a dozen years previously). Root taught the Professor to enjoy the game for the camaraderie and joy of watching the team and cheering them on, while the Professor taught Root the wonder of statistics and the beauty of the numbers involved. ”His joy had little to do with the difficulty of the problem. Simple or hard, the pleasure was in sharing it with us.”

I could not help but remember my father and his great love for and natural ability with math. He taught me so many little tricks when I was a child and made solving problems fun. I’m sure that is partly why I had such a positive emotional response to this book.

Cassandra Campbell does a fine job narrating the audio book. She has a gentle quality that is perfectly suited to this book. There is a scene where the Professor praises the way in which the boy has read aloud a homework problem: “You make a boring problem sound just like a poem.” That is a perfect description for Campbell’s performance; even when she is reading equations, she makes them sound like poetry.

UPDATE 12June16 - I re-read this in preparation for my F2F book club discussion. This time I read the text and find the writing just as poetically beautiful as when I listened to the audio. ...more

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Feb 11, 2022 Cora rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, asia, japan, 20th-century, amnesia, japanese-literature, friendship, relationships, mathematics, translation

This was a beautifully written book with great characters. It was a moving description of the relationship between people despite the difficulties of a mental disability. It makes the reader think about friendship and how you can know the people that you love, even if you can't remember them. It was a sweet story that the perfect feel good read for stressful times. ...more

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Aug 14, 2020 Dixie rated it it was amazing

How beautiful.

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Jan 05, 2015 Cate rated it really liked it

As someone who's grandfather recently passed away from complications related to Dementia, this book hit a sore spot with me. Yoko Ogawa introduces us to three protagonists, whose real names we never learn, only referred to as "the housekeeper", "the professor", and "Root". Despite the lack of personal connection names usually afford to the reader, Ogawa relies on other things in the novel to create an atmosphere of warmth and familiarity between the characters and the reader. The writing style w ...more

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Sep 04, 2014 Martha rated it really liked it

I liked the story of the relationship the housekeeper and her son built with the professor, the math not as much. It might have been the closest I have ever gotten to appreciating the language of math, however.

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Dec 04, 2011 Bea rated it it was amazing

What would you do with only 80 minutes of memory? Well, that is what the professor has due to a TBI. The story is about a relationship that grows between the housekeeper, her son and this professor. A sweet, touching story that I will have trouble forgetting.

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