“The Housekeeper and the Professor” by Yoko Ogawa

Not to long ago, my friend Beth handed me this book. I take Beth’s recommendations quite seriously because seven years ago she introduced me to my husband, Jeff. So clearly she knows what I like. When she handed me “The Housekeeper and the Professor” by Yoko Ogawa she said, “I would like the book back when you are done.” In this day and age of kindles, ipads and cyber/audio books, when someone asks for an actual book back, that is saying a lot. That means Beth intends to keep it in her personal home library. So I took the book with me to Ixtapa, Mexico, when I went in November with my husband. It was the perfect size for travel because it is about as slender as an as old TV Guide. Once on the plane I opened the book and on the first page I saw that not only Beth’s name was written in the obligatory owner’s spot but also her mother’s name, Sari, was written there, too. So this meant not only that Beth enjoyed the book but also that Sari (a voracious reader) also liked it and passed it around. “The Housekeeper and the Professor” is a delightful story about a single mother who comes to clean the house of a brilliant mathematician and baseball fan who is losing his memory, literally over and over again. A best-seller and movie in Japan, this book chronicles the tragedy of a man who was in a car accident and, as a result, has only 80 minutes worth of short-term memory. His long-term memory is holding him prisoner in the year 1975, prior to the accident. The housekeeper, and mother of a 10-year-old son, is hired by the gentleman’s sister-in-law to cook and clean for him. However, the housekeeper cannot help but grow closer to the professor who wears notes on his suit such as “my memory is only 80 minutes long.” The plot demonstrates how the three of them learn to become a family, despite the professor’s disability. The author has written 20 other books, and if this charming writing style is any indication of her other work, I am excited to read more. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.