Cassandra Campbell

Yōko Ogawa

The Housekeeper and the Professor

Stephen Snyder

He is a brilliant maths professor with a peculiar problem - ever since a traumatic head injury seventeen years ago, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory.
She is a sensitive but astute young housekeeper who is entrusted to take care of him.

Each morning, as the Professor and the Housekeeper are reintroduced to one another, a strange, beautiful relationship blossoms between them. The Professor may not remember what he had for breakfast, but his mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past. He devises clever maths riddles - based on her shoe size or her birthday - and the numbers reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the Housekeeper and her ten-year-old son. With each new equation, the three lost souls forge an affection more mysterious than imaginary numbers, and a bond that runs deeper than memory.

Housekeeper and the Professor

ariah 

My son and the professor shared a secret bond now that no one could break, just as the professor and I were linked by 220 and 284

. The Professor was right: my birthday and his watch had overcome great trials and tribulations to meet each other in the vast sea of numbers.

He is a brilliant math Professor with a peculiar problem--ever since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory. She is an astute young Housekeeper--with a ten-year-old son--who is hired to care for the Professor. And every morning, as the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to each other anew, a strange and beautiful relationship blossoms between them. Though he cannot hold memories for long (his brain is like a tape that begins to erase itself every eighty minutes), the Professor's mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past. And the numbers, in all of their articulate order, reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the Housekeeper and her young son. The Professor is capable of discovering connections between the simplest of quantities--like the Housekeeper's shoe size--and the universe at large, drawing their lives ever closer and more profoundly together, even as his memory slips away. Yoko Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family.

A Novel

J Kealy

Maureen

“He had a special feeling for what he called the 'correct miscalculation,' for he believed that mistakes were often as revealing as the right answers."

***

Utterly wholesome. I fell in love with the book the moment I laid my eyes on its cover. I'm glad the story didn't disappoint! Also, it's been a while since a book made me cry 🥺 A slow-burn read, but it's what makes the relationships special. The premise is interesting and there weren't any plot holes. Reading through the various math problems was quite difficult since I hate math, but Ogawa did a great job of smoothly incorporating it into her story. 

This is one of those books that will touch your heart ♥️

** spoiler alert **
           Let me start off by saying I know next to nothing about math, and I’ve always hated it. So when I started reading this book and realized just how much of it was mathematical, I was a bit skeptical and thought I would end up disliking it. 

Well… I loved it. I don’t know what it is, but something about it is just so incredibly heartwarming that I really had no choice but to love this book. The relationship between both the Professor and the Housekeeper as well as the Professor and Root is just so special and something that I found Ogawa depicted really well in a very simple writing style. 

Towards the end I obviously expected the worst. From the first time it was mentioned that it would be their last time at the cottage together, I began to worry. When Root left to get the candles, I thought Ogawa would hit us with a plot twist and make something happen to him, and when they returned to the cottage and the Housekeeper sensed something was wrong, I thought it was the end for the Professor. I sense Ogawa wanted to play with our feelings a little bit… which I’m really glad for, because it made me much more happy about the ending she actually offered us. 

I’d definitely recommend this book, it’s a special one.

first of all, i really loved how the maths were written. it makes one view mathematics from a different perspective. the applications of maths (what we are learning today) makes one really despise the subject, not knowing the basics and nature of maths or numbers themselves are fascinating. i swear, the professor is the best professor we'll never have. 

storywise, i love everyone. i adore their relationship dynamics so much. i always melt when the professor talks and teaches root, root's attachment to the professor, and how the professor had such an impact on both root and the housekeeper. It was just so soft and comforting.

my only problem is, i think, the balance between the story and the maths. though, i really love math, and i love reading about them, in this case, i feel like, the maths overlaps the story (or maybe it's just me, OR maybe that's really the author's purpose). i'm also not really a fan of the baseball reference. the mystery about the professor and the sister-in-law was also not  resolved. i'm also not sure if i like the ending. 

overall, it was a very good book. i adore and love it so much

first of all, i really loved how the maths were written. it makes one view mathematics from a different perspective. the applications of maths (what we are learning today) makes one really despise the subject, not knowing the basics and nature of maths or numbers themselves are fascinating. i swear, the professor is the best professor we'll never have. 

storywise, i love everyone. i adore their relationship dynamics so much. i always melt when the professor talks and teaches root, root's attachment to the professor, and how the professor had such an impact on both root and the housekeeper. It was just so soft and comforting.

my only problem is, i think, the balance between the story and the maths. though, i really love math, and i love reading about them, in this case, i feel like, the maths overlaps the story (or maybe it's just me, OR maybe that's really the author's purpose). i'm also not really a fan of the baseball reference. the mystery about the professor and the sister-in-law was also not  resolved. i'm also not sure if i like the ending. 

overall, it was a very good book. i adore and love it so much

lauren

buny

amari

elle

first book of the year and i am already crying 😭 this was such a short and wholesome story 💖 (although there were times where i questioned if i was reading a story or a math textbook hfndj)

Ziggy

VINTAGE JAPANESE CLASSICS - five masterpieces of Japanese fiction in gorgeous new gift editions. Each morning, the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to one another. The Professor may not remember what he had for breakfast, but his mind is still alive with elegant mathematical equations from the past. He devises clever maths riddles - based on her shoe size or her birthday - and the numbers reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the Housekeeper and her ten-year-old son. With each new equation, the three lost souls forge an affection more mysterious than imaginary numbers, and a bond that runs deeper than memory.

Vintage Classics Japanese Series

Cait🪼

absolutely heartwarming - I never thought I would feel so connected to numbers. This book proves why Yoko Ogawa is one of my favourite authors of all time

A gentle and light hearted read. Perfect for a weekend. 

Ali Angco

Athiyya adristi

Love love love it, took me the very first page of the first chapter to get easily hooked

y✦

✦ 1-day read
✦ who knew such pretty words can come out of math?
✦ lacks depth but i didnt mind
✦ gentle, charming daytime read that will warm u up 🌸

erika s

Hannah Lee

3.75/5

if 50 first dates was about math and wholesome platonic familial love

Geetika 

A very sweet and beautiful story.I liked the hole atmosphere and the relationship between characters.the stories such as this shows us the beauty of life and humanity.

Shidehdeishidi

altlovesbooks

This was an adorably sweet story about a housekeeper tending the house for a mathematics professor who has memory issues. Every 90 minutes, he forgets everything and has to start again with remembering who people are and his own mental situation. The one constant he has is his love and knowledge of mathematics, and it is through this that the housekeeper and his son come to make lifelong friends with this unique individual. 

Because the professor uses mathematics to make sense of uncomfortable situations, there's a lot of mathematics discussion about amicable numbers, prime numbers, etc. But even if you don't know much math (or like much math, like me), you don't need to in order to enjoy this book. Baseball also comes up a lot, and while I know nothing about Japanese teams or players, I still felt right there with them when at the baseball game. 

I really enjoyed this sweet book that follows their friendship from meeting (over and over again) all throughout the Professor's life. Rather than end on a sad note, the book remains lighthearted, upbeat, hopeful throughout, which I really appreciated.

A quiet and beautiful read. A housekeeper gets assigned a new  client. Because of a traumatic brain injury, his memory is only 80 minutes long. He does retain his memory from before, so he knows who he is and all the math theory he is so passionate about. But it ends in 1975. Over time, they develop a special bond, even though she has to introduce herself to him each day because the professor does not remember who she is. When he learns that she has a child, he insists that he come to his house after school while she is still working. They form a kind of family. The professor is a wonderful teacher, and he opens up the world of numbers and their intricate patterns and relationships to them. My brain is not math oriented at all, but I could see the poetry in it. The tone is gentle and reflective. I loved it.

Cheryl Hedlund

Faith Ho 

this is quite different from novels ive read recently, perhaps because the beauty is in the deceptive simplicity of it. it's founded on a simple premise: a mathematics professor whose memory resets every eighty minutes, his housekeeper, and her son. it's in the in-between that a heartwarming and bittersweet story develops. i love the writing and the restrained simplicity in it, which at the same time evokes a sense of wonder, especially in the reflections on, well, math (philosophical, in a very elegant way). ("zero [...] makes nonexistent exist.")

the story's strength draws on small moments of interaction: the professor's care for the son, the professor looking at the housekeeper cooking, the housekeeper trying out math problems. the world is small, limited to the three of them, and that contrast between the portrayal of that miniscule slice of the world and the reflection on the abstract universality of the universe through math is quite simply, beautiful. 

"i needed the sense that this invisible world was somehow propping up the visible one, that this one, true pine extended infinitely, without width or area, confidently piercing through the shadows." 

part of me wonders if id appreciate it more if i liked math more - but i think the wonder is in that it can inspire amazement in someone who hasn't seen that wonder before. i don't think the point is for me to love math now (i am still 100% going to cry over my differentiation problems) - but a glimpse into this field, math as taking a peek of "God's notebook". the beauty of something so abstract, and yet fundamental(ly "true"); something so integral, and yet invisible, in our world. 

"the mathematical order is beautiful precisely because it has no effect on the real world. [...] the only goal is to discover the truth."

He is a maths professor with a peculiar problem - ever since a head injury 17 years ago, he has lived with only 80 minutes of short-term memory. She is a housekeeper with a ten-year-old son, who is entrusted to take care of him. Each morning, as they are reintroduced to one another, a strange relationship blossoms between them.

Kamil Pomykała

** spoiler alert **
           I was excited about reading this book. I love the Japanese style of writing and this book is no exception. The story's super simple and very wholesome. The characters are likeable and the novel's light to read.
One of my favourite subjects in school is Mathematics, so I loved all the references to it. And in many ways, my passion for Math even grew with reading.
When reading, I caught myself thinking about all those numbers and what they represent. The most important formula in the book - e^(πi)+1 = 0. It's called Euler's identity. It's often described as an example of deep mathematical beauty. I also liked all the questions that Professor asked the Housekeeper and her son. Questions that would help Professor make a bond with another person using numbers. 
I enjoyed this book. It helped me understood the importance of reading Japanese novels. I'd like to read so more and I certainly will in future for sure.

Rachel Kanyid

I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did. Short, sweet, and a heart warming story.

Ananya

Lia Yuliana

a quiet book. caring and wonderful characters. this book made me hate math less and appreciate its beauty.

would reread again maybe.

The Housekeeper and the Professor

Reviews

Highlights