The Housekeeper and the Professor

“A problem isn’t finished just because you’ve found the right answer.”

3/5 ⭐

A book based on math and baseball–two things I don’t care about. But regardless, I ended up enjoying the read, even if I will likely forget it within a week.

It’s a light story; an easy, quick read that has a steady flow of sweet moments and just enough half-baked conflict to keep it moving.

The concept is that an aging math professor, who suffered a brain injury years ago that keeps his short term memory locked at 80 minutes, is taken care of by a sweet housekeeper and her young son.

Each day the professor forgets who the housekeeper is, but regardless they share a bond. The housekeeper treats the professor kindly and listens to him talk about baseball cards, math equations, and prime numbers when no one else has the patience to.

But the book never tackles the deeper questions about how much a relationship is simply made up of memory or how possible real connection is without it. It doesn’t confront fully the impossibility of growth, the one-sidedness, or the inevitable end.

Instead, it keeps the themes broad and the focus on heartwarming anecdotes.

There really isn’t much else to say about it except that if you are looking for a simple story with a decent amount of heart, this one won’t disappoint. It just won’t wow you either.

Underline-worthy quotes

“Eternal truths are ultimately invisible.”

“I needed the sense that this invisible world was somehow propping up the visible one.”