Play Book Tag discussion

A single mother becomes a housekeeper to an aged professor, a brilliant mathematician, suffering from unusual brain damage: his contemporary memory lasts only 80 minutes. While working for him, circumstances lead to her 10 year old son joining her after school while she works. What follows is nothing short of a gentle yet quirky story about relationships, love, and a found family, built on compassion, baseball, and mathematics. Neither the housekeeper nor her son ever had a father figure in their lives - until the professor, unusual as the relationship is, it serves that purpose for both. I did gloss over the mathematics discussions - which are about prime numbers and specific real theories - it was more attention than I wanted to pay - but watching how engaged all the characters became in these discussions, how it created connections and even for the son a future was magical.

Beautifully written, poignant, I will be looking for more by this author. The translation is gorgeous.

Steeplechase - Asian Literature 210x Summer Olympics - Japan - 1,042x
5 Stars - 43x

I was wondering why it was 4 stars for you, but since you glossed over the number things I'm guessing that was one of the reasons. I loved this novel both times that I read it.

@Karin - I never give 5 stars to reads that have a lot of science -0r math - or environmental - or technical stuff in them. Now law .... books -- those I might. I also never give 5 stars to any read that for me is too philosophical, too much christian or religious. Exceptions are if it makes me interested despite my lack of interest - like The Hunt for Red October did about all that sonar and submarine stuff. Here part of the problem might have been that much of this was familiar and aside for how the characters interacted and reacted to it, I didn't want to read those parts.

In case you are wondering - that's my reasoning and how I rate.

I really gave this 4.5 stars, just rounded down instead and didn't belabor the point in my review.

I loved this book. When we had the Japan tag, this book was mentioned most frequently. I read one of the author’s other popular books, which had a much darker dsytopic tone. The Memory Police. I somehow gave them both four stars last year. I have more affection for this one (and a nostalgic love for it) but the memory police had a big impact. I know a lot of people don’t like dystopia so it’s harder to recommend.

I liked that the math portions in this book were very playful and easy to understand, but I always liked math. I was totally enchanted by this when I first read it (at least 10 years ago).