About this title: He is a brilliant math professor, with a peculiar problem--since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only 80 minutes of short-term memory. She is an astute young housekeeper with a 10-year-old son who is hired to care for the professor. Between them, a strange, beautiful relationship blossoms.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2009-02-03
ISBN-13:9780312427801ISBN:0312427808
Description: New. Paperback ARC with same cover & publisher stickers. New, unread, unused & in perfect condition with no damaged or missing pages. Great Copy. Ships Lightning Fast. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780312427801ISBN:0312427808
Description: New, Publisher overstock, may have small remainder mark. Excellent condition, never read, purchased from publisher as excess inventory. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780312427801ISBN:0312427808
Description: New, Publisher overstock, may have small remainder mark. Excellent condition, never read, purchased from publisher as excess inventory. read more
Description: Good. GOOD with average wear to cover and pages. We offer a no-hassle guarantee on all our items. Orders generally ship by the next business day. Default Text. read more
Edition: First edition. Advanced Reading Copy. Advanced Uncorrected Proof
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Picador USA, New York
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780312427801ISBN:0312427808
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. This copy is as new. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 180 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: St Martins Pr
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780312427801ISBN:0312427808
Description: New. He is a brilliant math professor, with a peculiar problem--since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only 80 minutes of short-term memory. She is an astute young housekeeper with a 10-year-old son who is hired to care for the professor. Betwee... read more
"It helps in reading this book to like mathematics and baseball. But in the end, if one is simply human and not yet so jaded as to dismiss anything plainly written and life affirming as "naive," then this is a must read. There are three major characters in this short novel: a professor of mathematics, who was in a serious accident years ago and has a short-term memory since then of precisely eighty minutes; his housekeeper, who must introduce herself anew to the professor each morning and who develops, under his tutelage, a love for numbers; and her ten-year-old, baseball-obsessed son whom the professor names "Root" because the top of his head is flat like the square root sign. Ogawa tells an ingenuous story that says much about memory, pays tribute to "God's beautiful world" of numbers, and, above all, shows how people with little in common besides empathy can create powerful bonds even when they seem, at first glance, to have little in common. The main characters here are all kind, all reaching out to one another. Yet, this novel never becomes overly sentimental, at least I did not think so, but retains throughout a calm but warm tone. As I read, I kept thinking back to another work on this list, Philippe Claudel's "La petite fille de Monsieur Linh." The latter is more dramatic and somewhat more complex, but both are, dare I say such a word in a literary context, "inspiring.""
"Meh. Not really sure what all those high goodreads ratings were about. Basically, this read like a Disney after-school special: down-on-her-luck housekeeper and single mother ends up working for an elderly brilliant but crusty math professor; magically, love blossoms between the housekeeper's son and the professor, softening the professor so that the three of them become a family of sorts. Add to that a lot of digressions on math and Japanese baseball, and you've basically read the book. The professor's brain injury-induced memory disorder added a twist (like Dorrie in "Finding Nemo," the professor has limited short-term memory and relies on notes pinned to his suit to remind him, among other things, who his housekeeper and her son are), but it wasn't enough to make this a compelling read. At least the book was mercifully short and easy to read -- that's the one positive thing I have to say about it."
"I really liked this book on first reading because the premise intrigued me and reminded me of the movie "Memento" where a man has tattooed himself with things he must not forget because he has no memory. In this case, a math professor can only remember 80 minutes at a time so clips notes to his suit to remind him of this fact and other things he must not forget.
I'm still thinking about the book and processing, but for me, liking a book about math says a lot. Granted, I'm sure for others, the math may be simple, but it wasn't to me. It is written in a sparse style characteristic of many Japanese authors, and leaves a lot unsaid that needs to be inferred, which is again characteristic of Japanese authors. The relationships in the book are poignant and sweet, and there is no malice in the characters, which makes it a lovely read."
"Yoko Ogawa's "The Housekeeper and the Professor" is a book for people who love to read and and who love the beauty of words.
In this novel translated from Japanese, all of the characters are devoid of names; we just know them as the "housekeeper" and the "professor."
The professor, a brilliant mathematician, had a head injury that allows him to remember only the last eighty minutes. After that, he won't remember anything.
There is so much to love in this book. First, I am not a math person, but Ogawa shows us the beauty and even the poetry of math as the professor teaches the housekeeper and her son about his love of the subject.
Second, the story is cerebral and doesn't rely on an exciting plot like typical American novels. Rather, the reader is enveloped in the characters and how relationships can form when one of the participants won't remember you from hour to hour.
The book gives us more questions than answers and you are actually sad when the story ends because you don't want to leave this world. It's a book you'll be thinking about long after it's finished."
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