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A review by thatdecembergirl
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
The original title for this book is 「博士の愛した数式」 (Hakase no ai shita suushiki—The Professor's Beloved Formula) and only god knows why such a warm, innocent title was changed drastically into something so... generic, yet at the same time has a rather sultry implication, by Stephen Snyder.
Taking place in 1992's Japan, the book was full of nostalgic pieces like house telephone and the absence of smartphone when read in 2024. The nameless protagonist, a single mother working as a housekeeper, is employed to take care of an equally nameless math professor whose memory only lasted eighty minutes. Story development takes us to the place where the housekeeper's son (back then only an elementary grader) ends up frequently visit her workplace just so she doesn't have to leave him during the day almost every day. This book tells how the housekeeper, her son, and the professor spend their time together and the bond they share.
Worry not my friend, there will be no further explanation or in-depth flashback regarding the professor's condition, because this piece of information is nothing more than a groundwork for our housekeeper heroine to grow. The underlined theme of this story is found family, and how the housekeeper found pieces of extraordinariness in her hardworking, struggling daily life.
Taking place in 1992's Japan, the book was full of nostalgic pieces like house telephone and the absence of smartphone when read in 2024. The nameless protagonist, a single mother working as a housekeeper, is employed to take care of an equally nameless math professor whose memory only lasted eighty minutes. Story development takes us to the place where the housekeeper's son (back then only an elementary grader) ends up frequently visit her workplace just so she doesn't have to leave him during the day almost every day. This book tells how the housekeeper, her son, and the professor spend their time together and the bond they share.
Worry not my friend, there will be no further explanation or in-depth flashback regarding the professor's condition, because this piece of information is nothing more than a groundwork for our housekeeper heroine to grow. The underlined theme of this story is found family, and how the housekeeper found pieces of extraordinariness in her hardworking, struggling daily life.