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The Housekeeper and the Professor : A Novel by Yoko Ogawa (2009, Trade Paperback)
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Yoko Ogawa's 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. 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 the Professor. 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.Product Identifiers
PublisherPicador
ISBN-100312427808
ISBN-139780312427801
eBay Product ID (ePID)65766216
Product Key Features
Number of Pages192 Pages
Publication NameHousekeeper and the Professor : a Novel
LanguageEnglish
SubjectPsychological, Literary
Publication Year2009
AuthorYoko Ogawa
Subject AreaFiction
FormatTrade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Height0.5 in
Item Weight6.2 Oz
Item Length8.2 in
Item Width5.7 in
Additional Product Features
Reviews*A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Selection* "Highly original. Infinitely charming. And ever so touching."--Paul Auster "Gorgeous, cinematic . . . The Housekeeper and the Professor is a perfectly sustained novel . . . like a note prolonged, a fermata, a pause enabling us to peer intently into the lives of its characters. . . . This novel has all the charm and restraint of any by Ishiguro or Kenzaburo Oe and the whimsy of Murakami. The three lives connect like the vertices of a triangle."--Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times "Deceptively elegant . . . This is one of those books written in such lucid, unpretentious language that reading it is like looking into a deep pool of clear water. But even in the clearest waters can lurk currents you don't see until you are in them. Dive into Yoko Ogawa's world . . . and you find yourself tugged by forces more felt than seen."--Dennis Overbye, The New York Times Book Review "Alive with mysteries both mathematical and personal, The Housekeeper and the Professor has the pared-down elegance of an equation."-- O, The Oprah Magazine "This sweetly melancholy novel adheres to the Japanese aesthetic that finds beauty in what is off-center, imperfect. . . . In treating one another with such warm concern and respect, the characters implicitly tell us something about the unforgiving society on the other side of the professor''s cottage door. The Housekeeper and the Professor is a wisp of a book, but an affecting one."--Amanda Heller, The Boston Globe "We don''t pay much attention to literary news from Japan unless it's bizarre: businessmen on crowded subways reading pornographic manga, teenage girls buying cell-phone romance novels by the millions. But here's an example of Japanese reading habits that's just as odd, if less sexy: Yoko Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor has sold more than 2.5 million copies in the small island nation. Oprah would have to recommend a book about Harry Potter's dying Labrador to move that many copies in the United States. . . . The Housekeeper and the Professor is strangely charming, flecked with enough wit and mystery to keep us engaged throughout. This is Ogawa's first novel to be translated into English, and Stephen Snyder has done an exceptionally elegant job."--Ron Charles, The Washington Post "Lovely . . . Ogawa''s plot twists, her narrative pacing, her use of numbers to give meaning and mystery to life are as elegant in their way as the math principles the professor cites. . . . Ogawa''s short novel is itself an equation concerning the intricate and intimate way we connect with others--and the lace of memory they sometimes leave us."--Anthony Bukoski, Minneapolis Star Tribune "[A] mysterious, suspenseful, and radiant fable . . . The smart and resourceful housekeeper, the single mother of a baseball-crazy 10-year-old boy the Professor adores, falls under the spell of the beautiful mathematical phenomena the Professor elucidates, as will the reader, and the three create an indivisible formula for love."--Donna Seaman, Booklist "Ogawa''s charming fable presents a stark contrast to the creepy novellas collected last year in The Diving Pool , but her strength as an engaging writer remains."--Vikas Turahkia, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) "Ogawa weaves a poignant tale of beauty, heart and sorrow in her exquisite new novel. . . . In this gorgeous tale, Ogawa lifts the window shade to allow readers to observe the characters for a short while, then closes the shade. [Translator Stephen] Snyder . . . brings a delicate and precise hand to the translation."-- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Ogawa''s disarming exploration of an eccentric relationship reads like a fable, one that deftly balances whimsy with heartache."-- Kirkus Reviews, Praise for Yoko Ogawa's The Diving Pool "Yoko Ogawa is able to give expression to the most subtle workings of human psychology in prose that is gentle yet penetrating."-Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Prize-winning author of A Personal Matter "Exquisite... With quietly lovely moments juxtaposed against deep disquiet, Ogawa explores the dark side of motherhood, love, and dependence."- Elle , Deceptively elegant . . . This is one of those books written in such lucid, unpretentious language that reading it is like looking into a deep pool of clear water. But even in the clearest waters can lurk currents you don't see until you are in them. Dive into Yoko Ogawa's world . . . and you find yourself tugged by forces more felt than seen., This sweetly melancholy novel adheres to the Japanese aesthetic that finds beauty in what is off-center, imperfect. . . . In treating one another with such warm concern and respect, the characters implicitly tell us something about the unforgiving society on the other side of the professor's cottage door. The Housekeeper and the Professor is a wisp of a book, but an affecting one., We don't pay much attention to literary news from Japan unless it's bizarre: businessmen on crowded subways reading pornographic manga, teenage girls buying cell-phone romance novels by the millions. But here's an example of Japanese reading habits that's just as odd, if less sexy: Yoko Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor has sold more than 2.5 million copies in the small island nation. Oprah would have to recommend a book about Harry Potter's dying Labrador to move that many copies in the United States. . . . The Housekeeper and the Professor is strangely charming, flecked with enough wit and mystery to keep us engaged throughout. This is Ogawa's first novel to be translated into English, and Stephen Snyder has done an exceptionally elegant job., "Yoko Ogawa is able to give expression to the most subtle workings of human psychology in prose that is gentle yet penetrating."--Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Prize-winning author ofA Personal Matter, *A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Selection* "Highly original. Infinitely charming. And ever so touching."-Paul Auster "Gorgeous, cinematic . . . The Housekeeper and the Professor is a perfectly sustained novel . . . like a note prolonged, a fermata, a pause enabling us to peer intently into the lives of its characters. . . . This novel has all the charm and restraint of any by Ishiguro or Kenzaburo Oe and the whimsy of Murakami. The three lives connect like the vertices of a triangle."-Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times "Deceptively elegant . . . This is one of those books written in such lucid, unpretentious language that reading it is like looking into a deep pool of clear water. But even in the clearest waters can lurk currents you don't see until you are in them. Dive into Yoko Ogawa's world . . . and you find yourself tugged by forces more felt than seen."-Dennis Overbye, The New York Times Book Review "Alive with mysteries both mathematical and personal, The Housekeeper and the Professor has the pared-down elegance of an equation."- O, The Oprah Magazine "This sweetly melancholy novel adheres to the Japanese aesthetic that finds beauty in what is off-center, imperfect. . . . In treating one another with such warm concern and respect, the characters implicitly tell us something about the unforgiving society on the other side of the professor''s cottage door. The Housekeeper and the Professor is a wisp of a book, but an affecting one."-Amanda Heller, The Boston Globe "We don''t pay much attention to literary news from Japan unless it's bizarre: businessmen on crowded subways reading pornographic manga, teenage girls buying cell-phone romance novels by the millions. But here's an example of Japanese reading habits that's just as odd, if less sexy: Yoko Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor has sold more than 2.5 million copies in the small island nation. Oprah would have to recommend a book about Harry Potter's dying Labrador to move that many copies in the United States. . . . The Housekeeper and the Professor is strangely charming, flecked with enough wit and mystery to keep us engaged throughout. This is Ogawa's first novel to be translated into English, and Stephen Snyder has done an exceptionally elegant job."-Ron Charles, The Washington Post "Lovely . . . Ogawa''s plot twists, her narrative pacing, her use of numbers to give meaning and mystery to life are as elegant in their way as the math principles the professor cites. . . . Ogawa''s short novel is itself an equation concerning the intricate and intimate way we connect with others-and the lace of memory they sometimes leave us."-Anthony Bukoski, Minneapolis Star Tribune "Exquisite… An extraordinary situation that allows the author to mine the ordinary. It's a wedge driven deep into life, and we look with astonishment at what it is able to expose." -Stefan Kiesby, Los Angeles Review of Books "[A] mysterious, suspenseful, and radiant fable . . . The smart and resourceful housekeeper, the single mother of a baseball-crazy 10-year-old boy the Professor adores, falls under the spell of the beautiful mathematical phenomena the Professor elucidates, as will the reader, and the three create an indivisible formula for love."-Donna Seaman, Booklist "Ogawa''s charming fable presents a stark contrast to the creepy novellas collected last year in The Diving Pool , but her strength as an engaging writer remains."-Vikas Turahkia, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) "Ogawa weaves a poignant tale of beauty, heart and sorrow in her exquisite new novel. . . . In this gorgeous tale, Ogawa lifts the window shade to allow readers to observe the characters for a short while, then closes the shade. [Translator Stephen] Snyder . . . brings a delicate and precise hand to the translation."- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Ogawa''s disarming exploration of an eccentric relationship reads like a fable, one that deftly balances whimsy with heartache."- Kirkus Reviews, [A] mysterious, suspenseful, and radiant fable . . . The smart and resourceful housekeeper, the single mother of a baseball-crazy 10-year-old boy the Professor adores, falls under the spell of the beautiful mathematical phenomena the Professor elucidates, as will the reader, and the three create an indivisible formula for love., Ogawa weaves a poignant tale of beauty, heart and sorrow in her exquisite new novel. . . . In this gorgeous tale, Ogawa lifts the window shade to allow readers to observe the characters for a short while, then closes the shade. [Translator Stephen] Snyder . . . brings a delicate and precise hand to the translation., "Highly original. Infinitely charming. And ever so touching." -- Paul Auster "Gorgeous, cinematic . . . The Housekeeper and the Professor is a perfectly sustained novel . . . like a note prolonged, a fermata, a pause enabling us to peer intently into the lives of its characters. . . . This novel has all the charm and restraint of any by Ishiguro or Kenzaburo Oe and the whimsy of Murakami. The three lives connect like the vertices of a triangle." -- Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times "Deceptively elegant . . . This is one of those books written in such lucid, unpretentious language that reading it is like looking into a deep pool of clear water. But even in the clearest waters can lurk currents you don''t see until you are in them. Dive into Yoko Ogawa''s world . . . and you find yourself tugged by forces more felt than seen." -- Dennis Overbye, The New York Times Book Review "Alive with mysteries both mathematical and personal, The Housekeeper and the Professor has the pared-down elegance of an equation." -- O, The Oprah Magazine "This sweetly melancholy novel adheres to the Japanese aesthetic that finds beauty in what is off-center, imperfect. . . . In treating one another with such warm concern and respect, the characters implicitly tell us something about the unforgiving society on the other side of the professor''s cottage door. The Housekeeper and the Professor is a wisp of a book, but an affecting one." -- Amanda Heller, The Boston Globe "We don''t pay much attention to literary news from Japan unless it''s bizarre: businessmen on crowded subways reading pornographic manga, teenage girls buying cell-phone romance novels by the millions. But here''s an example of Japanese reading habits that''s just as odd, if less sexy: Yoko Ogawa''s The Housekeeper and the Professor has sold more than 2.5 million copies in the small island nation. Oprah would have to recommend a book about Harry Potter''s dying Labrador to move that many copies in the United States. . . . The Housekeeper and the Professor is strangely charming, flecked with enough wit and mystery to keep us engaged throughout. This is Ogawa''s first novel to be translated into English, and Stephen Snyder has done an exceptionally elegant job." -- Ron Charles, The Washington Post "Lovely . . . Ogawa''s plot twists, her narrative pacing, her use of numbers to give meaning and mystery to life are as elegant in their way as the math principles the professor cites. . . . Ogawa''s short novel is itself an equation concerning the intricate and intimate way we connect with others--and the lace of memory they sometimes leave us." -- Anthony Bukoski, Minneapolis Star Tribune "Exquisite... An extraordinary situation that allows the author to mine the ordinary. It''s a wedge driven deep into life, and we look with astonishment at what it is able to expose." -- Stefan Kiesby, Los Angeles Review of Books "[A] mysterious, suspenseful, and radiant fable . . . The smart and resourceful housekeeper, the single mother of a baseball-crazy 10-year-old boy the Professor adores, falls under the spell of the beautiful mathematical phenomena the Professor elucidates, as will the reader, and the three create an indivisible formula for love." -- Donna Seaman, Booklist "Ogawa''s charming fable presents a stark contrast to the creepy novellas collected last year in The Diving Pool , but her strength as an engaging writer remains." -- Vikas Turahkia, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) "Ogawa weaves a poignant tale of beauty, heart and sorrow in her exquisite new novel. . . . In this gorgeous tale, Ogawa lifts the window shade to allow readers to observe the characters for a short while, then closes the shade. [Translator Stephen] Snyder . . . brings a delicate and precise hand to the translation." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Ogawa''s disarming exploration of an eccentric relationship reads like a fable, one that deftly balances whimsy with heartache." -- Kirkus Reviews, Lovely . . . Ogawa's plot twists, her narrative pacing, her use of numbers to give meaning and mystery to life are as elegant in their way as the math principles the professor cites. . . . Ogawa's short novel is itself an equation concerning the intricate and intimate way we connect with others--and the lace of memory they sometimes leave us., Exquisite... An extraordinary situation that allows the author to mine the ordinary. It's a wedge driven deep into life, and we look with astonishment at what it is able to expose., Praise for Yoko Ogawa's The Diving Pool "Yoko Ogawa is able to give expression to the most subtle workings of human psychology in prose that is gentle yet penetrating."-Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Prize-winning author of A Personal Matter "Exquisite_ With quietly lovely moments juxtaposed against deep disquiet, Ogawa explores the dark side of motherhood, love, and dependence."- Elle , Alive with mysteries both mathematical and personal, The Housekeeper and the Professor has the pared-down elegance of an equation., 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., "Highly original. Infinitely charming. And ever so touching." - Paul Auster "Gorgeous, cinematic . . . The Housekeeper and the Professor is a perfectly sustained novel . . . like a note prolonged, a fermata, a pause enabling us to peer intently into the lives of its characters. . . . This novel has all the charm and restraint of any by Ishiguro or Kenzaburo Oe and the whimsy of Murakami. The three lives connect like the vertices of a triangle." - Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times "Deceptively elegant . . . This is one of those books written in such lucid, unpretentious language that reading it is like looking into a deep pool of clear water. But even in the clearest waters can lurk currents you don''t see until you are in them. Dive into Yoko Ogawa''s world . . . and you find yourself tugged by forces more felt than seen." - Dennis Overbye, The New York Times Book Review "Alive with mysteries both mathematical and personal, The Housekeeper and the Professor has the pared-down elegance of an equation." - O, The Oprah Magazine "This sweetly melancholy novel adheres to the Japanese aesthetic that finds beauty in what is off-center, imperfect. . . . In treating one another with such warm concern and respect, the characters implicitly tell us something about the unforgiving society on the other side of the professor''s cottage door. The Housekeeper and the Professor is a wisp of a book, but an affecting one." - Amanda Heller, The Boston Globe "We don''t pay much attention to literary news from Japan unless it''s bizarre: businessmen on crowded subways reading pornographic manga, teenage girls buying cell-phone romance novels by the millions. But here''s an example of Japanese reading habits that''s just as odd, if less sexy: Yoko Ogawa''s The Housekeeper and the Professor has sold more than 2.5 million copies in the small island nation. Oprah would have to recommend a book about Harry Potter''s dying Labrador to move that many copies in the United States. . . . The Housekeeper and the Professor is strangely charming, flecked with enough wit and mystery to keep us engaged throughout. This is Ogawa''s first novel to be translated into English, and Stephen Snyder has done an exceptionally elegant job." - Ron Charles, The Washington Post "Lovely . . . Ogawa''s plot twists, her narrative pacing, her use of numbers to give meaning and mystery to life are as elegant in their way as the math principles the professor cites. . . . Ogawa''s short novel is itself an equation concerning the intricate and intimate way we connect with others--and the lace of memory they sometimes leave us." - Anthony Bukoski, Minneapolis Star Tribune "Exquisite… An extraordinary situation that allows the author to mine the ordinary. It''s a wedge driven deep into life, and we look with astonishment at what it is able to expose." - Stefan Kiesby, Los Angeles Review of Books "[A] mysterious, suspenseful, and radiant fable . . . The smart and resourceful housekeeper, the single mother of a baseball-crazy 10-year-old boy the Professor adores, falls under the spell of the beautiful mathematical phenomena the Professor elucidates, as will the reader, and the three create an indivisible formula for love." - Donna Seaman, Booklist "Ogawa''s charming fable presents a stark contrast to the creepy novellas collected last year in The Diving Pool , but her strength as an engaging writer remains." - Vikas Turahkia, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) "Ogawa weaves a poignant tale of beauty, heart and sorrow in her exquisite new novel. . . . In this gorgeous tale, Ogawa lifts the window shade to allow readers to observe the characters for a short while, then closes the shade. [Translator Stephen] Snyder . . . brings a delicate and precise hand to the translation." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Ogawa''s disarming exploration of an eccentric relationship reads like a fable, one that deftly balances whimsy with heartache." - Kirkus Reviews, Gorgeous, cinematic . . . The Housekeeper and the Professor is a perfectly sustained novel . . . like a note prolonged, a fermata, a pause enabling us to peer intently into the lives of its characters. . . . This novel has all the charm and restraint of any by Ishiguro or Kenzaburo Oe and the whimsy of Murakami. The three lives connect like the vertices of a triangle., Ogawa's charming fable presents a stark contrast to the creepy novellas collected last year in The Diving Pool , but her strength as an engaging writer remains., "Highly original. Infinitely charming. And ever so touching." --Paul Auster "Gorgeous, cinematic . . . The Housekeeper and the Professor is a perfectly sustained novel . . . like a note prolonged, a fermata, a pause enabling us to peer intently into the lives of its characters. . . . This novel has all the charm and restraint of any by Ishiguro or Kenzaburo Oe and the whimsy of Murakami. The three lives connect like the vertices of a triangle." --Susan Salter Reynolds , Los Angeles Times "Deceptively elegant . . . This is one of those books written in such lucid, unpretentious language that reading it is like looking into a deep pool of clear water. But even in the clearest waters can lurk currents you don't see until you are in them. Dive into Yoko Ogawa's world . . . and you find yourself tugged by forces more felt than seen." --Dennis Overbye , The New York Times Book Review "Alive with mysteries both mathematical and personal, The Housekeeper and the Professor has the pared-down elegance of an equation." -- O, The Oprah Magazine "This sweetly melancholy novel adheres to the Japanese aesthetic that finds beauty in what is off-center, imperfect. . . . In treating one another with such warm concern and respect, the characters implicitly tell us something about the unforgiving society on the other side of the professor's cottage door. The Housekeeper and the Professor is a wisp of a book, but an affecting one." --Amanda Heller, The Boston Globe " The Housekeeper and the Professor is strangely charming, flecked with enough wit and mystery to keep us engaged throughout. This is Ogawa's first novel to be translated into English, and Stephen Snyder has done an exceptionally elegant job." --Ron Charles, The Washington Post "Lovely . . . Ogawa's plot twists, her narrative pacing, her use of numbers to give meaning and mystery to life are as elegant in their way as the math principles the professor cites. . . . Ogawa's short novel is itself an equation concerning the intricate and intimate way we connect with others--and the lace of memory they sometimes leave us." --Anthony Bukoski, Minneapolis Star Tribune "Exquisite... An extraordinary situation that allows the author to mine the ordinary. It's a wedge driven deep into life, and we look with astonishment at what it is able to expose." --Stefan Kiesby , Los Angeles Review of Books "[A] mysterious, suspenseful, and radiant fable . . . The smart and resourceful housekeeper, the single mother of a baseball-crazy 10-year-old boy the Professor adores, falls under the spell of the beautiful mathematical phenomena the Professor elucidates, as will the reader, and the three create an indivisible formula for love." --Donna Seaman, Booklist "Ogawa's charming fable presents a stark contrast to the creepy novellas collected last year in The Diving Pool , but her strength as an engaging writer remains." --Vikas Turahkia , The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) "Ogawa weaves a poignant tale of beauty, heart and sorrow in her exquisite new novel. . . . In this gorgeous tale, Ogawa lifts the window shade to allow readers to observe the characters for a short while, then closes the shade. [Translator Stephen] Snyder . . . brings a delicate and precise hand to the translation." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Ogawa's disarming exploration of an eccentric relationship reads like a fable, one that deftly balances whimsy with heartache." -- Kirkus Reviews, Ogawa's disarming exploration of an eccentric relationship reads like a fable, one that deftly balances whimsy with heartache.
Dewey Edition22
Target AudienceTrade
Dewey Decimal895.634
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- 16 May, 2024
Enjoyable "trip" to another country
Such a good story so far ..I always love reading books that give me a taste of other cultures and show how people live their lives in other parts of the worldVerified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 16 Dec, 2020
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perfect
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- 20 Jul, 2021
compelling content
compelling contentVerified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
