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So, I wound up flying through this book super quick. It flowed really well and was super interesting, and surprisingly feel-good despite the somewhat sad premise. As the title suggests, this is the story of a housekeeper and her son (nicknamed Root) and their relationship with the professor that she comes to work for, a mathematician to be specific. It discusses topics like the nature of memory, family, and math.
What makes their relationship interesting is that the professor suffered a serious brain injury from a car accident in 1975. As a result, his memory is fine up to around 1975, but after that his long term memory is in bad shape. He can only remember new information for 80 minutes, then it resets and he's back to just his memories up to 1975. The book describes it like using a video tape to record memories, but once its 80 minutes are used up, all that can be done is to record over those 80 minutes. The book takes place in 1992, so things haven't changed *that* much. There are no situations where the professor is going outside, thrust into the hyper digitized world of today. Things were still much more analog back then, so there were no technological shocks to jar him into despair at his situation. The technological advances of Japan in 1992 could still be relatively contained and seem similar-ish to 1975 as opposed to 21st century Japan where that would be impossible.
Over time, the three manage to bond despite the professor's predicament. Even though he'll forget them and be reintroduced constantly, he wears a suit with a slew of notes attached to it that the professor writes to himself to tell him about important things he needs to remember. As such, he has a not in an easy to see place that reminds him who the housekeeper and her son are. It's right next to his most important note: "My memory only lasts for 80 minutes"�.
Mathematics is what the professor uses to break the ice with her as well as when he’s stressed out about something, so it recurs throughout the story. It's presence feels more like some interesting trivia about certain equations. Also, it felt like the book was trying to make the subject a little more approachable to the lay person. For many, math is a deeply intimidating subject to attempt to tackle. However, the housekeeper becomes quite interested in it, and starts to think about numbers with a bit more enthusiasm, occasionally attempting some problems herself. It seemed as though the book was encouraging people who may have avoided math in the past to consider giving it another go now, just as the housekeeper was, even if it's just for fun.
Family was also looked at here because the professor almost seemed like a father to the housekeeper and a grandfather to her son. She's a single mom, so it was just the three of them, as the son would come to the professor's house after school, and they would often all eat dinner together. Even though they weren't related, they clearly cared about one another. The professor really liked Root. This relationship would grow over the course of years. They would continue to meet from time to time even after the professor was placed in a long term care home. They would celebrate birthdays, do homework together, talk a lot about math, and they'd discuss baseball quite a lot as well, as that was something that both the professor and Root were interested in. Even though they weren't related by blood, they acted as a family until the professor's death many years later.
What makes this interesting is how the story tied in the nature of memory into all of this. Why go through all of this trouble if the professor can only remember things for 80 minutes? He wouldn't remember the birthdays. He wouldn't remember the baseball. He wouldn't remember the housekeeper or Root when he woke up in the morning either.
This got me thinking about the idea of living in the moment. Usually it's something that society frowns upon. It's viewed as hedonistic, for people incapable of delayed gratification, and devoid of foresight. Nevertheless, it's the nature of the professor's life thanks to his memory problem. Even if he's going to forget it, why not try and make things as pleasant as possible in the moment for him. Moreover, in our own lives, maybe we should take more time to live in the moment if we’re to focused on the long term. One day we'll get old too, and our brains may fail us. How do we make the most of right now before our own memories fade away? Is it selfish to do so, or is it more important to enjoy these moments and hopefully have a positive impact on those around us while doing that? I'm usually not the sort to live in the moment very often, and it certainly got me to think a bit more if I should loosen up every now and then.
I also got thinking about the Japanese notion of impermanence, which has been something featured prominently in the country's art and philosophy, imported with the adoption of Buddhism. The professor is a living example of this with his constant memory loss. Was the book also intended as a commentary on this? Trying to find a form of beauty and happiness in this form of impermanence even though there it would seem like a daunting, scary situation to a reader were they afflicted with the professor's condition.
On the whole, though, this was a light, relaxing read. It was surprising how quickly the story was over. At a glance, it's just a sweet, heart-warming story about a kindly old man that, despite his serious problem, a housekeeper and her son became quite close to. However, the underlying themes really built it up into something special.
Pennywhether
pennywhether@posteo.net
May 15, 2021