"The Housekeeper and the Professor" Yoko Ogawa

“The Professor never really seemed to care whether we figured out the right answer to a problem. He preferred our wild, desperate guesses to silence, and he was even more delighted when those guesses led to new problems that took us beyond the original one. He had a special feeling for what he called the "correct miscalculation," for he believed that mistakes were often as revealing as the right answers.” 

― Yōko Ogawa, The Housekeeper and the Professor

Ogawa knows something about mathematics and how is it studied, as evidenced by the quote above.  To really solve problems, one must be willing to experiment and expect to fail, and through failing much can be learned.  One of the most important skills to develop in mathematics is the ability to create counterexamples - or what I often call non-examples - those examples that demonstrate how a definition or a theorem does not apply.  Experimentation and the willingness to be wrong are not what our culture associates with the study of mathematics, which explains why we don't love mathematics as a nation.

This is a beautiful book.  Of course, I initially ordered it because of the reference to math, but the phenomenon of short-term memory loss was a draw as well.  The Housekeeper has been hired by the Professor's sister-in-law to clean his apartment and fix him certain meals.  It has been explained to her that the Professor's short-term memory only lasts for 80 minutes at a time, but it takes a while for her to figure out how to effectively interact with him.  Over time, she develops a tenderness for him and he enjoys the company of her son, whom he nicknames Root because the shape of his hair reminds him of the radical symbol for square roots.

The Professor is a mathematician, but because of his disability he cannot work in academia.  He makes a little money by winning prizes for solving problems, that he calls puzzles, from mathematics journals.  He doesn't remember having solved the problems, and so cares little for the money, but it gives him a way to stay busy.

These 4 people, the Professor, the Housekeeper, the Sister-in-Law and Root, forge a relationship that seems to work as a family.  The Housekeeper is the daughter of a woman whose lover left her to raise her baby alone, and Root has the same legacy.  The Sister-in-Law is still in love with the Professor, who keeps a box of love letters from her.  The Professor serves as a father figure for Root, teaching him about baseball statistics and how to learn mathematics.  In a way, he is the perfect father figure in that he never expects anything of Root or his mother, but he is always there.  The Housekeeper appreciates having a safe place for Root to come after school instead of being a latchkey child, and she cares for the Professor even though he doesn't provide her with the father figure relationship she would hope for.  The Sister-in-Law comes to rely on the Housekeeper to shelter the Professor from the world and to save her the heartbreak of his not knowing she loves him.

Although beautiful, this book is short.  I wanted much more - more math and more stories about the characters.  This was the first book I read on my iPad Air 2, and I read it easily in one day over fall break.  I'm wondering if other Ogawa books, which are critically well-received, would be as enjoyable.  There was something about the tone of this book that was comforting and welcoming.  I immediately fell in love with the Housekeeper and Root, and the Professor, who seems like a one-dimensional character in the beginning, became more complex and tragic as the book continued.  On the one hand, I appreciate a write with breadth who doesn't recreate the same story each time, but on the other hand, I really would like more of this story.

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This is my 300th post on the blog.  It has been an interesting journey.  There are times when I feel compelled to write and nothing will get in my way.  These are times when I will write notes on whatever paper is handy, and I admit, sometimes writing while I am driving.  Other times this it feels like a job, like now when I have a backlog of 11 readings waiting for a post.

Here is a picture of the images from my most recent 160-some-odd posts.  When I think about the volume of writing, it staggers me.  When I think about how few books I get to read each year, it makes me want to quit my job so I can work on reading and writing (and some art in between) all the time.