The Housekeeper and the Professor

By: Yoko Ogawa

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

He is a brilliant math professor with a peculiar problem - ever 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. 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 80 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.

©2003 Yoko Ogawa. Translation Copyright 2009 by Stephen Snyder. (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Ogawa weaves a poignant tale of beauty, heart, and sorrow in her exquisite new novel." ( Publishers Weekly)

Sweet enduring inserting story

This is a gem. A feel good story and the book makes you look at math philosophically.
This would be one of my top books and it is the type of book that reminds me of Bel Canto in the way you fall in love with the interesting characters

The Most Beautiful Novel...

I have read in a long time! Sheer poetry from start to finish! Please more from this author!

Beautiful merging of generations

This touching,sweet tale is a balm to the soul. Although it's fiction, the truth of the importance of every human life is portrayed in an interesting way. I love the incorporation of math and baseball. Usually not two of my favorite subjects!

Math is beautiful

The Housekeeper and the Professor made me believe in the power and beauty of mathematics. The premise of a math professor whose memory damage keeps returning him to the 1970/s may seem far-fetched, but this tale of his interactions with his young Housekeeper and her 10-year-old son is strikingly beautiful. The spare novel had me rooting for the trio. Decency, love and empathy shine through.

And the audio reading is top notch. I listen to 100+ books per year and am very particular about narrators who let the story shine rather than make distract you with overly dramatic readings or odd accents or cadences.

Lovely, gentle, beautiful

A Japanese story translated into English but well worth experiencing. It is a gentle yet deeply engaging story about a love of math, human connections, family. An odd mix but brought together in harmony. Highly recommend even for those not interested in math.

Charming Story

A lovely and lyrical quick listen. And well narrated, too, bringing the story to life.

Quietly beautiful

I am still thinking about this book nearly two weeks later, and likely will continue to do so for a long time to come. It snuck up on my and grabbed me by the heart. I've read a lot of great books in the last few years. This is one of the best.

What an outstanding story!

This book was unlike any other, I have read, and I throughly enjoyed it! I felt like I got to know each of the characters well.
The narrator was excellent!

This is a Gem! Well worth a Listen.

An unexpected delight! A thoughtful story about a young housekeeper who goes to work for a medically retired mathematics professor whose short-term memory only lasts 80 minutes. Everyday she comes to work is the first time her employer has met her. Intelligent and sensitive, but not highly educated, the housekeeper comes to learn about his quirks and shortcomings, and develops a great appreciation for his intelligence and love of prime numbers. Her esteem for him only increases when he lovingly showers attention on her 10 year old son.

Along the way, the listener learns about number theory, baseball in Japan, the struggles of a single mother, and how one man's remarkable intelligence and sensitivity have survived a terrible accident. Told from the first person perspective of the housekeeper, this book is warm, honest, and interesting, with no sentimentality. The narration is perfect and Campbell does a great job of giving voice to the young housekeeper.

Charming exploration of math, memory and love

This is a lovely little story. It made number theory seem appealing with discussions of amicable, perfect and prime numbers. It surprised me by revealing a baseball culture in Japan that is so similar to US culture. It made me muse on how much my memories impact my daily living and what it would be like to remember only the last 80 minutes. I was most impressed by the exploration of love between an aged professor, a young mother and her son.

It was definitely worth the credit.