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The Housekeeper and the Professor
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BOTM — JUNE The housekeeper and the professor by Yōko Ogawa, Stephen Snyder
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Haven't been too active here for a while as I decided to focus on reading things I know I'm interested it, but!!! Found an audiobook of this title online, and am listening to it while working.Professor's condition holds a very interesting concept. Though his mathematical rambles are lost on me every time.
Mod
Pro..."
Hahaha….Story wise the book is interesting but I too keep getting lost I with all that mathematical stuff. However, I m enjoying this one.
I have ordered my copy ,hope to get it soon .No spoilers please or mark them .
A very interesting conversation with beautiful lines takes place between root and the Professor .-I had some very close friends .In fact,playing with them didn't involve moving at all.
But since they lived in my head ,I could only play with them there .So I ended up growing a
strong brain instead of a strong body . -Professor
"I see,"said Root ."Your friends were numbers ."
(Yes indeed , Professor was talking about numbers )
I will be getting my copy from the library tomorrow.
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I had some very close friends .In fact,playing with them didn't involve moving at all.
But since..."
Yes the book has some beautiful lines and the story is very interesting as well
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Great! Waiting for your take on the book👍
Yes @Caroline . I am reading it slowly taking it in gradually .It's good for someone who likes mathematics.I love the chemistry which is developing between root and Professor .
I've started reading and at 5% The book is giving a warm and lovely vibe so far.
I like Mathematics. Yaay
Professor seems has no other interest than Maths ,but some of his lines feel like poetic dialogues ,see for example-"A (mathematical) problem has a rhythm of its own ,just like a piece of music ,Once you get the sense of the problem as a whole ,and you can see where the traps might be waiting."
I'm at 30% today.Such beautiful exchanges between Root and the Professor, it's heart-warming!
Makrand wrote: "I'm at 30% today.Such beautiful exchanges between Root and the Professor, it's heart-warming!"
Yes indeed .Root is very mature for his age and seems so close and empathetic to the Professor .He understands how to deal with the Professor reg.the memory problem
As an Indian ,first I thought (before starting it) that the book is a mixture of the famous Indian movie Ghajini and a film Jaane Jaan (which is also based on the very popular Japanese novel - The Devotion of suspect X)
Ghajni was based on a man having short term memory syndrome of 15 minutes (lower than the Professor) .And the book Devotion ...is also a Japanese book having a brilliant mathematician like the Professor .
Are Japanese authors inclined to use mathematicians in their books ?
I have no idea, Mansi. I have never read a book by a Japanese author yet. Yōko Ogawa will be my first. I did read Memoirs of a Geisha, but the author is Arthur Golden. Not a Japanese.
When will u start this Austin ,we are ahead of you .
I am planning to start this book on Friday, Mansi. Currently I am reading Fahrenheit 451 with others.
I really enjoyed this read and will shard my copy with my friends and family.This novel that has a distinct beginning, middle and satisfying end . 😌
It is written considerately and only has words that advance the plot or develop character. ' No waffle'.
I have read the Memory Police by Ogawa which was about Memory too and I can recommend that even if you are not one for SciFi.
Mansi wrote: "Makrand wrote: "I'm at 30% today.Such beautiful exchanges between Root and the Professor, it's heart-warming!"
Yes indeed .Root is very mature for his age and seems so close and empathetic to t..."
Yes very true and very mature for a 10 y.o boy!
Also, the fact that the Professor has also made peace with his forgetting syndrome is quite appreciative.
I loved the tags that he had added although I think keeping a notebook could have proved very reliable, no?
Probably the author must have thought, eh notebook is so mediocre let me do something else
Mansi wrote: "Ghajni was based on a man having short term memory syndrome of 15 minutes (lower than the Professor) .And the book Devotion ...is also a Japanese book having a brilliant mathematician like the Pro..."
Have you seen a movie called Fifty First Dates? Kinda similar plot only difference it's a RomCom. Drew Barrymore wakes up on One specific day, every day and unfortunately she doesn't know that the day has passed.
I kept relating this book to the movie
no Makarand ,I have not seen that movie .Yes I thought the idea of notes was clumsy and impractical .He could have just attached one or 2 notes saying - refer to the diary .
Due to the notes ,he doesn't go out as ppl stare him.
I will be starting on Saturday. Sorry, something came up and I couldn't read much. But don't worry, I can finish Ogawa's book in 6 days.
The baseball game in chapter 5 is beyond my limits .Which is this game and how are they playing .
I always felt like baseball ⚾ is a simpler version of cricket 🏏.
So I finally started the book. I finished chapter 1. I can't help but feel pity for the professor whose memory lasts only for 80 minutes. The Mathematical parts of the chapter were good. The amicable numbers, 220 and 284, seemed to suggest that there's going to be good bond and understanding between the housekeeper and the professor in the future.
I agree Makran that the professor had made peace with his memory condition. This may have allowed him to try new things rather than be consumed by his memory loss.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/...I saw this article about improving your wellbeing through reading fiction. I am pretty sure this book would be on everyone’s list who was showing signs of memory loss.
I have completed 66 percent of the book.
Hey Caroline ,have you finished it or not reading it ?
I am at 91 percent - 2 chapters remaining...not at all bored until now .
want to finish now but it's already 1a.m.in night .Later .
I am exactly at the halfway point. I
Mansi, I don't understand the baseball ⚾ game either. I played a few baseball ⚾ video games when I was young. That helps me to visualize the game to some extent. But largely I don't understand the rules.
In last chapters baseball game is used metaphorically comparing it to the professor,but we won't be able to enjoy that comparison fully as we don't know baseball.Today I saw the inside of the dust jacket are prints of baseball .
I have finished reading the book.What a beautiful and wholesome experience this has been!
Posted a Review here
The last chapter is tough and any reader would see it coming but in that too the author made such a heartwarming end.(view spoiler)
I also finished the book today .Don't want to reveal too much as others are reading .But the whole book is so comforting.It's like a warm soup ,or a cold juice on a hot day.A simple book which ended at the right time and Thank God ,the author didn't stretch it.
My first Japanese book.When others will finish it ,I am open to discussion.
Baseball is used as a metaphor in the book ,esp in the last chapter .As the match progresses , Professor's condition is also worsening .I am not aware of this game ,but one who knows must have truly enjoyed it.
The last two chapters are the best in the book ,and emotional too.
Do you guys remember Fermat's theorem is mentioned before in the book too?
I have one doubt ,can anyone throw light on how the Professor is welcoming and at good terms with Root and his mother in the care centre ,when his memory has totally vanished .He probably remembers them and doesn't get angry although they are complete strangers to him .
No i don't think it's about the memories.His condition is far less than improved when he is at the hospital anyway. I think they must be making use of notes, which he gets rid of later.
Since the widow is with him always, i think she would help him recollect every time how Root and the Housekeeper took him under his care during the old days
Readers who have read the book already can also discuss the book but keep away from spoilers or use the spoiler tab.
A little about the Book
He is a brilliant math Professor with a peculiar problem--ever since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory.
She is an astute young Housekeeper, with a ten-year-old son, who is hired to care for him.
And every morning, as the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to each other anew, a strange and beautiful relationship blossoms between them. Though he cannot hold memories for long (his brain is like a tape that begins to erase itself every eighty minutes), the Professor’s mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past. And the numbers, in all of their articulate order, reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the Housekeeper and her young son. The Professor is capable of discovering connections between the simplest of quantities--like the Housekeeper’s shoe size--and the universe at large, drawing their lives ever closer and more profoundly together, even as his memory slips away.
The Housekeeper and the Professor is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family.
Pages: 180(depending on the edition)
Looking forward to everyone’s active participation and fun discussion.
HAPPY READING!📚📚