The Housekeeper and the Professor

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. What struck you most about Ogawa’s portrayal of memory loss in the Professor? How does her approach compare to other explorations of cognitive conditions you might have encountered, whether in literature or in nonfiction works like Oliver Sacks’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat?

2. The novel opens in medias res, jumping into the middle of the narrator’s memories rather than starting chronologically. What expectations did this structure create for you as a reader, and how did the story either fulfill those expectations or surprise you as it unfolded?

3. Which relationship in the novel felt most authentic to you? What specific moments or interactions made that connection feel genuine and believable?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. The narrator must balance her role as a professional housekeeper with becoming genuinely invested in the Professor’s wellbeing. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where professional boundaries blurred with personal care or concern?

2. What parallels do you see between the Professor’s teaching style and an influential educator from your own life? How did their approach to learning and mistakes shape your understanding of what makes someone a good teacher?

3. Root develops a deep bond with someone who can’t remember him from day to day. In your own experience, how are shared memories important for developing and maintaining bonds?

4. After leaving the Professor’s employ, the narrator continues to explore mathematics on her own time, even when it interferes with her other work. When have you found yourself drawn to pursue a new interest despite practical obstacles?

5. The Professor’s fierce protectiveness toward Root drives many of his actions throughout the story. What experiences have shaped your own protective instincts toward others, and how do they influence your relationships?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The novel presents a particular model of elder care through the Professor’s arrangement with his sister-in-law and hired help. How does this setup reflect broader societal approaches to caring for aging family members?

2. Which challenges facing the narrator as a single working mother in 1990s Japan still resonate in contemporary society? How have attitudes toward single parenthood evolved since the novel’s setting?

3. The Professor sees mathematics as revealing eternal truths about the universe, while the narrator initially views it as impractical. What does their relationship suggest about how society values different types of knowledge and learning?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. What role does memory play beyond just the Professor’s condition? How does the narrator’s act of remembering and telling this story function as a literary device throughout the novel?

2. How does Ogawa use the motif of baseball to develop the novel’s themes? In what ways does the sport serve to connect characters while also representing different approaches to experiencing the world?

3. The relationship between the Professor and his sister-in-law remains largely mysterious, revealed only through fragments like the photograph and Euler’s formula incident. What effect does this ambiguity have on your understanding of the characters?

4. The notes pinned to the Professor’s jacket serve as external memory, while the cookie tin preserves memories he’s had to sacrifice. How do these contrasting objects illuminate different aspects of memory and loss?

5. How does the temporal distance between when events occurred and when the narrator tells the story shape her presentation of the Professor and Root? What might we be missing from her account told years later?

6. Numbers and mathematical concepts appear throughout as both literal elements and metaphors. How does Ogawa weave mathematical ideas into the fabric of the storytelling itself?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Picture adapting this novel for the stage. Which scenes would translate most effectively to live performance, and how would you handle the challenge of representing the Professor’s memory limitations for a theater audience?

2. The narrator mentions that Root eventually becomes a mathematics teacher. What kind of educator do you think he would be, drawing from his experiences with the Professor?

3. The Professor finds beauty in the mathematical relationships underlying everyday numbers. What everyday element of your own life could you explore for hidden beauty or meaning the way the Professor does with mathematics?