The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa

He is a brilliant maths professor with a peculiar problem - ever since a traumatic head injury some seventeen years ago, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory. She is a sensitive but astute young housekeeper with a ten-year-old son, who is entrusted to take care of him. Each morning, as the Professor and the Housekeeper are reintroduced to one another, a strange, beautiful relationship blossoms between them. The Professor may not remember what he had for breakfast, but his mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past. He devises clever maths riddles - based on her shoe size or her birthday - and the numbers, in all of their articulate order, reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the Housekeeper and her little boy. With each new equation, the three lost souls forge an affection more mysterious than imaginary numbers, and a bond that runs deeper than memory. 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 where one before did not exist.

This book reminds me of my mathematical concepts teacher, Niel. However, unlike Niel the professor actually taught me something.

Now I love maths, and I also love reading. So combining those two topics is honestly the best thing imaginable. I loved how, like the main character, it gives you an appreciation for the hidden numbers that govern our lives. Who knew that the numbers 220 and 284 were so universally combined? I especially liked the bit about 0 because to me it truly shows how intelligent 0 is. It both exists and does not exist at the same time and yet is critical to the universe's function.

The characters are loveable and the ending was honestly one of the best endings I've read in a while. There were a few unanswered questions like the whole widow thing and a few translation errors but I'm happy enough that I won't lose sleep over it xD. This is definitely one of my favourite reads and I need to go and find my own copy just so I can own this masterpiece of a creation.

Mathematics was never my strong point. Growing up I barely could solve most problems without having the necessary formulas in front of me, so it comes as no surprise that I can't recall everything the Professor, in a way, tried to teach me. The Housekeeper and Root were undoubtedly much better pupils.

I found the book to be peculiar, but interesting. As much as I don't have a knack for maths, I enjoyed the Professor's explanations. Maybe if he would have been my professor in school, I would have learned more. I liked his passion for mathematics, his tenderness, and his gentle explanations. Even without the memory loss, I think he would have happily explained the same concepts over and over again until they were clear to the Housekeeper and Root. His joy when they understood something was touching.

I wish I would have known the characters' actual names. I don't know why, but Japanese books usually lack names. I did a quick search on the matter, but I came up empty-handed. Maybe the purpose is for the reader to relate better to the characters, to be able to easily imagine real people they know or maybe even themselves as one of the characters. While I see how that would work, it doesn't have that effect on me, and I really wish I could call them in a way. It wouldn't feel right to decide on a name myself.

Besides the name issue (well, not actually issue, more like curiosity), as I already said, I enjoyed the book. At first I felt sorry for the Professor, but I soon got to accept his situation as a fact and go about it more or less the same way the Housekeeper and Root did. I didn't always agree with their solutions, as it's probably to be expected, but for the most part I was glad they were the ones to lead the way.

While reading I was afraid the book might end abruptly or in a cruel manner. I definitely wouldn't have been surprised, but no, the book ended in a very smooth way and I'm glad about it.

I know that I did not understand everything in this book and, probably, barely grasped some of the ideas it plays with but I loved it.

I've always been a fan of Asian translated works and this novel is no exception to that as it holds all the elements that makes me actively search for more translated fiction, especially from Asian authors.

This is a slow, gentle and impactful novel. The relationship between the professor and the child Root was very sweet, kind, and warm. A small marvel.