Community Book Connection Proposal Form
Proposed by: Dr. Karen Wallace, Clinical Counselor
Part I—Basic Book Information
1. Title of Book: The Housekeeper and the Professor
2. Author: Yoko Ogawa
Translator (from Japanese): Stephen Snyder
3. Year Published: 2009
4. Publisher: Picador USA
5. Is there a paperback edition? Yes. Cost: $14
6. Book Description:
He is a brilliant math professor, with a peculiar problem – since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory. She is an astute young housekeeper who is hired to care for him. Between them, a strange, beautiful relationship blossoms. Though the professor can hold new memories for only eighty minutes, his mind is still alive with elegant math equations from the past; and through him, the numbers, in all of their articulate order, reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the housekeeper and her ten-year-old son.
The book conveys the pleasure of numbers, which provide a series of metaphors for the friendships that develop. The most touching involves the professor and the housekeeper's son, whom she begins bringing along to work. The professor adores her little boy – anew, everyday – and nicknames him Root because his flat-top head reminds him of a square root sign. "He treated Root exactly as he treated prime numbers," the housekeeper tells us. "For him, primes were the base on which all other natural numbers relied; and children were the foundation of everything worthwhile in the adult world."
Yes, there are formulas throughout these pages, strings of numbers – real and imaginary – and explanations of primes and logarithms, Fermat's Last Theorem and Euler's formula, but no matter how much you hated math in high school, you can't help but be seduced by the housekeeper's enthusiasm for what she discovers. Solving a little problem the professor sets out for her and Root, she says, "At that moment I experienced a kind of revelation for the first time in my life, a sort of miracle. In the midst of a vast field of numbers, a straight path opened before my eyes. A light was shining at the end, leading me on, and I knew then that it was the path to enlightenment."
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 “family.”
7. Blurbs and Endorsements:
“Highly original. Infinitely charming. And ever so touching."--Paul Auster
"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
“…Yoko Ogawa’s The Housekeeper and the Professor has sold more than 2.5 million copies in the small island nation [of Japan]. 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
Yoko Ogawa's fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, A Public Space, and Zoetrope. Since 1988 she has published more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, and has won every major Japanese literary award.
Part II—What Makes This Book a Good CBC Selection
1. Describe how it contains multiple themes that lend themselves to use by various departments and functions throughout the college.
The central theme of this book is the value and joy of learning – how even challenging life events can provide an opportunity for growth if we are willing to reframe our thinking and biases.
Related themes include: appreciating mathematics as a universal language – logical, beautiful, poetic, even spiritual; social aspects of traumatic brain injury; psychology of relationships; meaning of family and friendship; relating to those who are different or have disabilities; understanding giftedness; interpersonal communication; contemporary Japanese culture and society; and building connections through a shared interest – like professional baseball.
These themes relate to disciplines across the college: Arts & Humanities, Biological & Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Social & Behavioral Sciences, Information Technology, and Wellness & Health.
2. Is it at an accessible level for our students? Yes. Grade level: General/trade.
3. Detail the way in which it is conducive to event planning.
· The President might speak on the joy and value of reading – for both enrichment and pleasure.
· The VP of Instruction might host a learning fair with faculty representatives from the six schools to demonstrate the value of learning in each of the disciplines.
· The VP of Enrollment and Student Services might host a college resources fair with representatives from student development to showcase services available to support student learning and success.
· Arts & Humanities faculty might speak on Japanese art, dance, literature, music, theater, and language – and host trips to Japanese cultural events in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
· A neuroscientist might speak about the human brain as it relates to memory, memory loss, and traumatic brain injury.
· A panel of Math faculty might instruct students on how to apply the principles of mathematical modeling to sports, gambling, and baseball – and illustrate the value of statistics in predicting outcomes.
· STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) might host a family night of math and memory games.
· Social & Behavioral Sciences faculty might speak on Japanese society, the role of women, effects of globalization on business and the economy, and views on family, aging, and raising children.
· Health and PE faculty might speak on the history of Japanese baseball and how it differs from the American game – perhaps concluding with a trip to an Orioles game.
· Stephen Snyder, who teaches Japanese Literature at Middlebury College (VT), might be invited to present on his experience translating the book from Japanese.
4. Does it have a related theatre or film piece?
Yes. Book was made into a movie in Japan (2006) – winning awards for Best Film Score and Best Director and nominated for Best Actor award. Theme is similar to one in the popular American movie, “Fifty First Dates” (2004) – a romantic comedy featuring a man afraid of commitment who thinks he’s met the woman of his dreams until discovering she has short-term memory loss and forgets him the very next day. For more information on both films, as well as ones like “Proof” (2005), “Memento” (2000), and “A Beautiful Mind” (2001) – movies about the challenges of memory loss or mental illness within the context of mathematics, refer to www.imdb.com.
5. Explain the ways that the book is related to current social issues.
Book underscores the value of learning and getting an education – a theme that can be applied across all disciplines and is so essential in today’s interdependent and changing world.
Book also reflects the challenges of diversity – relating to people who are different from us – a problem we confront everyday in our global world.
The Professor – with post-it notes covering his suit – highlights the feelings of information overload so prevalent in society today.
The Housekeeper – whose selfless service to family is greater than the sum of its parts – provides guidance for everyday living.
Root, the housekeeper’s son – represents the joy of youth and promise of the future and reinforces the importance of tending the roots of humanity. Good parents give children both roots and wings. Roots are built on a sense of belonging to a family. The tending of Root reminds us to nurture the youthful generations as they provide the roots of humanity and nourishment for the future.
6. Describe how it is tied into existing CCBC events.
Book reinforces the concept of resilience – a theme central to last year’s CBC selection – “A Long Way Gone.” Resilience can be applied to any challenging life event and is not limited to one discipline.
Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress – such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. It means “bouncing back” from difficult experiences and can be an opportunity for positive growth – e.g., sense of greater inner strength, better relationships with others, more willingness to explore new possibilities, spiritual development, and a heightened appreciation for the value of life.
Existing college initiatives – speakers, lectures, and self-development activities – might focus on strategies for building resilience.
7. Is it relatively short? Yes. Pages: 180
8. Has this text been used successfully in the classroom? Book has been community book selection in public libraries, as well as in reading groups.
K W Wallace
February 26, 2010