The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ozawa

The Housekeeper and the Professor is a touching and original novel by Yoko Ogawa that embodies the quiet sway of love.

The novel’s premise is unique. A brilliant math professor suffers a traumatic brain injury which has damaged his short-term memory. He can only remember 80 minutes at a time. The Professor’s sister-in-law hires a housekeeper with problems of her own. Luckily, the Professor is fond of the Housekeeper’s ten-year-old son, whom he named Root (as in square Root.) And every 80 minutes, he needs to be reintroduced to them. After school each day, Root walks to the Professor’s house, and the Professor helps Root with his math problems. They also discussed Japanese baseball as long as the players and the games occurred before the accident.

Each day, the Professor works diligently on mathematical formulas despite the limitations of his short-term memory. He puts sticky notes on his clothes to remind himself of mundane tasks or recent progress in solving an equation. The Professor sees the world in patterns and numbers. When he realizes that the sum of his Housekeeper’s birthday (220) factors and those on the back of his prized watch (284) are ‘amicable numbers,’ he ascribes deep meaning and connection. And though the Housekeeper didn’t finish her schooling, her intellectual and emotional curiosity is evident as she cares for the Professor and his unique situation.

Over time, the emotional capacity of each member of this triangle expands exponentially. This beautiful story reveals quiet characters who offer love, acceptance and compassion to one another. 4/5