"The housekeeper and the Professor" by Ogawa Yoko

 "The Housekeeper and the Professor"

by "Ogawa Yoko"

Overall Rating:    5*

Grip Factor:         5*

Writing Style:      5*

Engaging Plot:     5*

Characters:          5* 

Satisfying End:    5*

 

What we learn from this book:  We do not need to be kind and loving towards a person to get something in return from him/her.  We do not even need him/her to remember us or our kindness.  If we take this learning and move forward, the world would be such a better place.  

This book is a Japanese vintage classic book.  I find it to be such a sweet, cute and lovely book. I can read it again and again to get a view on the simplicity of life.  How exactly can a man live on the basis of eighty minutes of memory.  Reading the book, living through the life of the Professor, the housekeeper and her son gives a very calm affect and makes you realize that it is the little things that make or break our life.  

The narrator is the housekeeper of a professor who has a rare condition due to which his memory refreshes after every eighty minutes.  The simple acts of remembering things with the help of post-it notes and little reminders here and there makes up the book.  The housekeeper along with her son tries to bring little joys to the life of the professor.  She and her son get attached to the professor and his way of life and a friendship is formed between the three of them.  

The story is built around the professors love for numbers.  How he is able to see everything from the point of view of numbers and is able to seek comfort in the same.  The author has written this story so beautifully with such a great level of understanding and love.  The characters of the professor, housekeeper and her son each fill their roles to the best.  

I listened this book over audio.  So much so is the aura of this book that I plan to buy the entire collection of Japanese vintage classics.