The Read Around The World Book Club discussion

How do we feel about their relationship?

I kept thinking the Professor was older than he was - not sure why, just the way he came across on the page, he seemed frail sometimes. Initially, I thought the Housekeeper was too famliar with him but their friendship was surely not one to be slowed into given the short term memory issue. I thought it very sweet how he was so taken by her son and the three of them shared something very special, a bond. It gave them a common denominator :)

Tanya wrote: "I kept thinking the Professor was older than he was - not sure why, just the way he came across on the page, he seemed frail sometimes. Initially, I thought the Housekeeper was too famliar with him..."

I also thought that he was older than he was, but he did become almost like a father figure for both her and her son. When she temporarily loses the job, I was so sad for her. And for Root.
Loved all the maths analogies and loved in particular how she wrote about the beauty and simplicity of numbers and equations.

Look at you Tanya with the math puns!

I absolutely love that three of them had each other in their lives. Definitely having that father figure and son that Root and the Professor never had before was just perfection. And how the Housekeeper was so intrigued by the math formulas sort of gave her a new way of living her life.

I'm so relieved that the Professor spoke up when his sister-in-law confronted the Housekeeper.

I also admit I like the baseball connection too. Still some of the math glazes before me when I'm reading it!

Also I do think that the sister-in-law is jealous of the Housekeeper. She can't understand why anyone would like to be around him just for spending time with The Professor. I feel very sad for her.

I really like that math creates the bond between the characters and I think the authour chose math because it's such an unlikely 'unifier': most people dont like it, so if you do, you're almost certainly an outsider, and all three characters in the book seem like outsiders to me. I am probably not explaining this thought very well...

My favourite description of the relationship between Root and the Professor is on page 130: 'He treated Root exactly as he treated prime numbers. For him, primes were the base on which all other natural numbers relied; and children were the foundation of everything worthwhile in the adult world.

I think the sense of connection, of truly nourishing each other and bringing out the best in each other, despite all the odds, is truly wonderful and very special to read.

Although the lack of detail of the Professor's past life with his sister in law was frustrating, I also kind of liked the mystery. In that way the reader is very much in the same daily shoes as the Professor- we are living with what we know now. I would have loved to know the back story for his love of children though. I get the feeling there is more tragedy there in his past.

I have to admit that the continued baseball description prevented me from giving this book 5 stars. I see why it is there but I personally didn't engage with it.

Melanie wrote: "Tanya wrote: "I kept thinking the Professor was older than he was - not sure why, just the way he came across on the page, he seemed frail sometimes. Initially, I thought the Housekeeper was too fa..."

I never thought math could be described like this author brought it to light.