Book Club Discussion Questions
For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of The Housekeeper and the Professor.
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
About This Book
In
The Housekeeper and the Professor, Yoko Ogawa tells an intimate story
about family, the nature of memory, and the poetry of mathematics. It is also,
in a sense, a story about the simple experience of getting to know someone, but
with a twist: the person forgets everything in eighty minutes. How do you form a
relationship with a person who cannot remember? In this uplifting and often
poignant novel, Ogawa seems to ask whether our immediate experiences are more
important than our memories, since memories inevitably fade, and the eponymous
Professor's condition of limited short-term memory allows the author to explore
this question with great creativity. At the same time, Ogawa invites the reader
into the world of mathematics, using complex equations as a metaphor for the
themes running throughout her book.
The Housekeeper and the Professor is
a rich, multilayered novel that offers much to discuss.
Discussion Questions
- The characters in The Housekeeper and the Professor are nameless
("Root" is only a nickname). What does it mean when an author chooses not to
name the people in her book? How does that change your relationship to them
as a reader? Are names that important?
- Imagine you are writer, developing a character with only eighty minutes
of short-term memory. How would you manage the very specific terms of that
character (e.g. his job, his friendships, how he takes care of himself)?
Discuss some of the creative ways in which Yoko Ogawa imagines her
memory-impaired Professor, from the notes pinned to his suit to the sadness
he feels every morning.
- As Root and the Housekeeper grow and move forward in their lives, the
Professor stays in one place (in fact he is deteriorating, moving
backwards). And yet, the bond among the three of them grows strong. How is
it possible for this seemingly one-sided relationship to thrive? What does
Ogawa seem to be saying about memory and the very foundations of our
profoundest relationships?
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- How does the author develop themes of identity and belonging throughout the narrative?
- What role does the setting play in shaping the characters' decisions and relationships?
- Discuss how the ending reframes the events of the story. Were you surprised?
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Picador.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.