By Jean Sanders, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main
I find myself continually drawn to fiction by Asian writers such as Julie Otsuka and Anchee Min. Their books give me the opportunity to experience life through the eyes of someone from another culture and at the same time savor the details I learn about life in Japan or China. It is for these reasons that I recommend The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa.
The book, which was first published in Japan in 2003, won a prestigious award in 2004, and was adapted to film in 2006, centers around the housekeeper, the math professor she cares for and her son “Root” who is so nicknamed by the professor because the shape of his head and hair remind the professor of the square-root sign. She is a single mother who has never been married, has always been a housekeeper and finds herself assigned to a new client who has already fired nine housekeepers. She soon learns that the professor has an unusual disability that was the result of a long ago car accident—his short-term memory only last 80 minutes.
Through the book the reader sees a friendship and relationship grow among the woman who must re-introduce herself each day (sometimes several times a day), a man who must pin notes to his suit to remind himself of the things he would otherwise forget, and the boy who shares a common love of baseball with the professor.
Nothing very dramatic happens in this story—there is little conflict. Instead we learn and come to care about these characters by observing their lives. While the housekeeper prepares meals the professor works on math puzzles in his study or shares his wonder and enthusiasm for numbers with the housekeeper. After school Root comes to the cottage and does his homework and talks about baseball with the professor. Together they work to find unique ways to adapt to the professor’s disability.
Everything about this novel is so deceptively simple but the end result is a story that is deeply touching. This is one of those books that quietly seeps into your being and leaves you with a feeling of peace and serenity.
