The Housekeeper and the Professor Audiobook By Yoko Ogawa cover art

The Housekeeper and the Professor

 Preview

$0.00 for first 30 days

Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

The Housekeeper and the Professor

By: Yoko Ogawa
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $13.75

Buy for $13.75

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

He is a brilliant math professor with a peculiar problem - ever since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only 80 minutes of short-term memory.

She is an astute young housekeeper - with a 10-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 80 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.

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.

©2003 Yoko Ogawa. Translation Copyright 2009 by Stephen Snyder. (P)2013 Tantor Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Feel-Good Heartfelt

Critic reviews

"Ogawa weaves a poignant tale of beauty, heart, and sorrow in her exquisite new novel." ( Publishers Weekly)

Featured Article: 10 Famous Japanese Authors You Have to Hear


Thanks to the work of translators and publishers, Japanese literature is now more accessible than ever to English-speaking audiences. If you've ever wanted to learn more about Japanese culture and literature, you cannot go wrong with listening to audiobooks from Japan. We've compiled a list of the most famous Japanese authors who have helped define Japanese literature, and their notable works across genres and time periods.

Featured Article 10 Famous Japanese Authors You Have to Hear
Heartwarming Relationships • Beautiful Writing • Perfect Narration • Unique Premise • Thought-provoking Story
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
This is a gem. A feel good story and the book makes you look at math philosophically.
This would be one of my top books and it is the type of book that reminds me of Bel Canto in the way you fall in love with the interesting characters

Sweet enduring inserting story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have read in a long time! Sheer poetry from start to finish! Please more from this author!

The Most Beautiful Novel...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This touching,sweet tale is a balm to the soul. Although it's fiction, the truth of the importance of every human life is portrayed in an interesting way. I love the incorporation of math and baseball. Usually not two of my favorite subjects!

Beautiful merging of generations

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Housekeeper and the Professor made me believe in the power and beauty of mathematics. The premise of a math professor whose memory damage keeps returning him to the 1970/s may seem far-fetched, but this tale of his interactions with his young Housekeeper and her 10-year-old son is strikingly beautiful. The spare novel had me rooting for the trio. Decency, love and empathy shine through.

And the audio reading is top notch. I listen to 100+ books per year and am very particular about narrators who let the story shine rather than make distract you with overly dramatic readings or odd accents or cadences.

Math is beautiful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An unexpected delight! A thoughtful story about a young housekeeper who goes to work for a medically retired mathematics professor whose short-term memory only lasts 80 minutes. Everyday she comes to work is the first time her employer has met her. Intelligent and sensitive, but not highly educated, the housekeeper comes to learn about his quirks and shortcomings, and develops a great appreciation for his intelligence and love of prime numbers. Her esteem for him only increases when he lovingly showers attention on her 10 year old son.

Along the way, the listener learns about number theory, baseball in Japan, the struggles of a single mother, and how one man's remarkable intelligence and sensitivity have survived a terrible accident. Told from the first person perspective of the housekeeper, this book is warm, honest, and interesting, with no sentimentality. The narration is perfect and Campbell does a great job of giving voice to the young housekeeper.

This is a Gem! Well worth a Listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a lovely little story. It made number theory seem appealing with discussions of amicable, perfect and prime numbers. It surprised me by revealing a baseball culture in Japan that is so similar to US culture. It made me muse on how much my memories impact my daily living and what it would be like to remember only the last 80 minutes. I was most impressed by the exploration of love between an aged professor, a young mother and her son.

It was definitely worth the credit.

Charming exploration of math, memory and love

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

If you love math and nonfiction, but have trouble reading fiction, you might somehow be able to read this.

What did you like best about this story?

The relationship between Root and the Professor! So cute.

Have you listened to any of Cassandra Campbell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no. But I love this.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When the housekeeper was so blue because she could not work for the professor. It made me very sad for her.

Any additional comments?

Beautiful math.

One of the few fiction books I have read lately.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story was engaging and moved along at a slow but steady pace. An enjoyable read.

Very enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In this really short heartwarming novel, a struggling single mother becomes a housekeeper for an elderly mathematician with a unique disability. The professor’s memory lasts only 80 minutes due to a past car accident, similar to the movie 50 first dates but without romance or comedy. Despite the short memory span, the professor retains vivid recollections from before the crash. Their bond grows as the housekeeper reintroduces herself daily, and she learns about the elegance of numbers through his teachings. The story balances eccentricity and heartache, and creates a whimsical relationship that transcends words and tradition.

The repetitive reintroductions between the housekeeper and the professor felt a bit monotonous and the cyclical nature of their interactions were both endearing and frustrating. I felt that the housekeeper’s character development was somewhat shallow. The story delved deeper into her role as a caregiver than her personal aspirations or struggles. The novel introduced intriguing math concepts, and thankfully did not delve into them extensively. 😀 The story was not about math but about themes of found family and human connection.

3.7 stars🌟🌟🌟💫!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
There is a gentle beauty to much of this book, infusing mathematics and Japanese baseball with grandeur. And while I didn’t dislike the book, I’d never recommend it to anyone. My own cultural ignorance may be related to my lukewarm feeling — emotions are not expressed so actions that might push the story forward are not pursued and melancholy blooms.

Because there is so little action, I couldn't help but be nagged by one of my pet peeves: The main female character has no interests of her own and only finds joy in life when living through the pleasures of the males around her. Still, I'll think about the book often as I recall amicable numbers and the strange relationship between 220 and 284.

Bechdel test: Fail — there are two female characters who speak but they don’t speak about anything other than a man.

Overall grade: B

Perfect narration.

Not much happiness but if you like mathematics...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews