The Housekeeper + The Professor

 

If you can imagine Kazuo Ishiguro writing 50 First Dates, then you basically have The Housekeeper and The Professor by Yoko Ogawa. A single mother is employed as the housekeeper for a 50 year old maths professor who has a short term memory cycle of 80 minutes, and a long term memory which stops at age 27. While the story has potential, the writing lacks charm and restraint, coming off capricious and awkward but begging the question – given the original is in Japanese, was Ogawa's style lost in translation?

Ogawa is often compared to Ishiguro and Murakami, has published over 20 novels and has won ‘every major literary award’ – in Japan – but you can be forgiven for never having heard of her. In reciprocity, you can forgive the story its caprice for two redeeming elements: 1. the story is a platonic love story which doesn’t try to fill the gaps with unnecessary romance and 2. Ogawa weaves her love of numbers (she is also a famous mathematician, don't you know?) throughout the story in a accessible and enriching way, bringing humour and moments of enlightenment akin to Plato’s world of Forms. A quick read in English, but probably better in Japanese. [Renée Rowland]