The Housekeeper + The Professor : Yoko Ogawa

Image Credit: And The Plot Thickens

I watched a Japanese movie last week - I Wish - which was dreamy, poetic and kind of sleepily relaxing. The Housekeeper + The Professor by Yoko Ogawa was pretty much the same. There was the feeling of a distant world, recreated in memories and lost in the same memory 80 minutes later. I am sure you think that this time I have truly knocked my head against the wall, but that's how it is. It's on an intriguing premise that Ogawa weaves her gentle story on.

The Professor is our protagonist for this novel - who having suffered a horrific brain injury in a car accident in 1975 is left with just memories that last all of 80 minutes. He is never named in the novel, but that just adds to the poignancy. Brilliant in mathematics, the Professor inhabits a world in which the beauty of existence is revealed through numbers. My head gets all muddled up when it comes to numbers, and there were certain equations and formulas that I didn't even try to understand, although I do know now that 28 is a perfect number. :-). But the book is not be read for its math. No. I enjoyed the book because Ogawa handles each of the characters with a subtle touch, and lends them a warmth that reaches out through the book. The housekeeper (none of the characters really have a name, except for the housekeeper's son, Root, who is so called because his head resembles a square too) arrives to find the Professor in his little cottage, smelling of a different era, and wearing a faded old suit that has many notes clipped on, including one that reminds him that his memory lasts only 80 minutes. What kind of a relationship could you hope to form with someone who doesn't remember you 2 hours later? It sounds impossible, but that's the art that Ogawa masters.

The book slowly grows on you as you watch the tender friendship between the Professor and Root, as well the housekeeper. From keeping track of baseball games, where the Professor still believes that his beloved pitcher Enatsu is still playing, to celebrating Root's birthday, they form a bond that is moving and poignant at the same time. There is nothing much that 'happens' in this novel - but then, you could say the same of life too. Yet when you start counting 1, 2, 3....there is so much more to count and it's that infinity that Ogawa explores. I haven't read any of Ogawa's other books (she is the author of more than 20 fiction and non-fiction books), but I would be looking forward to reading her again.

Verdict: A slow, insightful read; the book is almost meditation


Rating: 3.5/5