The Housekeeper and the Professor (edition 2009)

Charming & thoughtful. Nice use of language. ( )

My choice of reading The Housekeeper and the Professor by Japanese author Yoko Ogawa immediately after reading a Murakami novel was neither deliberate nor intended. How I ended up owning the book is a story unto itself. I just happened to be listening to a review on NPR of Ogawa’s short story collection, Revenge, which sounded intriguing enough that I added it to my birthday list, which is always composed more of books than any other item. My daughter dutifully bought that for me, but my wife, while shopping with my list, came upon The Housekeeper and the Professor at Barnes & Noble and flipped it over to read the plug by Junot Diaz, author of The Short Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, whom she knows to be one of my favorite writers. I recently met Junot at a lecture and book signing for his collection of short stories wrapped around a common theme, This is How You Lose Her, shortly before he was awarded the MacArthur Genius Grant. Junot Diaz calls it “. . . one of the most beautiful novels.” So she bought it, I read it and I have to say I have to concur with Junot – and it is more than simply beautiful.
The Housekeeper and the Professor is not the kind of novel that I would think I would typically enjoy. In fact, at first glance I would probably characterize it as a “chick book,” not only because the protagonist is female, but because the themes of love and loyalty and children seem very much to rise up out of that literary milieu. But my first glance would assume too much and fail to give the novel the justice it deserves as it tends neatly but quietly with a multiplicity of deeper themes.
The eponymous housekeeper is a young single mother whose latest assignment happens to be at the residence of an elderly, brilliant professor of mathematics who suffered a head injury some years back that has left him with the inability to remember anything that occurs more than eighty minutes before, while leaving fully intact the memories he made prior to the accident. While the novel ostensibly revolves around the interactions between the housekeeper, the professor, and her young son whom the professor nicknames “root” because of his flat head, the central character is really mathematics – the beauty of mathematics as it defines the universe and the riddles it often implies. The housekeeper, like myself, has little background in mathematics and is at first baffled by much of it, but over the course of the book she becomes nearly obsessed with its ubiquity and her abilities in this regard increase while her wisdom grows on so many fronts.
I still haven’t fully forgiven the brilliant physicist Roger Penrose for succumbing to “mathematical Platonism,” as revealed in Jim Holt’s Why Does the World Exist, but after reading The Housekeeper and the Professor I think I can better understand the nature of the seduction. While certainly not unaware of the power of mathematics to define our universe, prior to reading this novel I never before detected a beauty in its nature and scope. Ogawa’s slim, seemingly simple yet masterful novel has rewarded this reader with a true sense of awe not only for mathematics but for the essence of how people fit themselves into a greater reality.
I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. For everyone. Read it. Today. ( )

I really liked this one. All in nuances and a true story about friendship, compassion, fidelity and the utter brilliance of mathematics.

The math is brilliant and the characters pull at your heart strings delicately. You end up a part of this somewhat unusual trio of friends an old professor with a short term memory condition, his housekeeper and her 10 years old son. It's what I've nicknamed in my mind "frivolité" literature. Every word, every sentences have their place. It's like the most beautiful piece of lace. ( )

Although I have never been a math person, this book made me wish that I understood the language of math better -- it certainly made me recognize that there is beauty to it, even if I have trouble appreciating it. This book about the relationship between a professor with short term memory problems, his housekeeper, and her son, is short (less than 200 pages) and a quick read. ( )

The Professor is a brilliant mathematician who suffered some brain damage in an automobile accident years ago. He can remember his entire life up until the accident, but afterwards, he only has a memory of the past 80 minutes. Luckily, his sister-in-law steps in to help care for him. She hires housekeepers to come in to his little cottage and cook his meals. Needless to say, the Professor scares off many of these women. But then The Housekeeper comes along. She's something of a specialist in difficult cases. She is patient with the Professor and introduces herself to him every morning, respects the days when he is thinking, and generally wins him over again every day.

This is an elegantly-written novel. There aren't any wasted words, but it is still beautifully written. Every word seems to be chosen with care.

I can't say that a lot happens in the story itself. There's no big, romantic love, no adventure, no heartbreak. But the story is beautiful too.

These are characters that I learned to care about. The Professor is overwhelmed by the world and seeks solace in his orderly numbers. He obviously has a huge heart. He adores the Housekeeper's son, and really all children in general. The Housekeeper is a single mom doing the best she can and finding the time to care for and about this slightly damaged man. They are both lonely and they find each other and they form their own unique kind of family. It's a beautiful story and I loved it.

Quite a bit of the book revolves around mathematics. Don't let that put you off. The Housekeeper tells the story, and she is not a mathematician. None of that is overwhelming.

I wouldn't change a thing about the book, but I do have to say that I am curious about the Professor's past. The Housekeeper finds an old photo that brings up a lot of unanswered questions. And I just get the feeling that there's some kind of tragedy that led to the Professor's intense concern for children's safety. I'm happy to leave my questions unanswered though. The Housekeeper and her son learn to care for the Professor just as he is, without any concern for his past, so it feels right that the past stays in the past.

The translator, Stephen Snyder, obviously did an amazing job. This kind of writing is rare from authors who write in English. It takes a very talented team of author and translator to produce it in a translation.

For a quiet, beautiful, feel-good book about friendship and families, pick this up. ( )