Yoko Ogawa’s Beautiful talent - The Housekeeper and the Professor

Yoko Ogawa’s famous novel The Housekeeper and the Professor has been stuck in my mind since I finished it a couple of weeks ago. This is the second novel that I’ve read from Ogawa, and I can only say good things about the book, style and fabulous use of language I have encountered in the novel. Stephen Snyder, the translator of the novel, has outdone himself with this fabulous translation of the story, it does not lose all the magnificence that the original has. The new housekeeper has to take care of the genius mathematician whose memory only lasts up to 80 minutes, making him extremely hard to deal with as his memories are still ‘stuck’ back in 1970. The Professor has to remind himself of the painful reality that his life has become even if he doesn’t realise we, later on, find out how he loses himself every day when he wakes up, finding himself in the heartbreaking reality he lives through.

This heartwarming story made me smile and cry, seen through the eyes of the Housekeeper makes us see all the touching parts of this terrible reality. The characters are well developed, and I can surely say that I felt complete empathetic and understanding to all of the characters, including the widow. My favourite thing in books is when the narrator doesn’t give a name to the characters. In this book, none of the characters has a proper name, but they are given a name characterising them. Giving a name to characters will always give a level of unconscious biases in my mind. Ogawa effectively removes that biased immediately and gives our three main characters names what describes them as differentiating them from each other. It also makes complete sense as the story suggests it would be too difficult to give the characters names as it follows the story of a person who does not remember anything.

This book is also compelling thanks to the useful use of mathematics. Ogawa has made a book about mathematics and a mathematics Professor interesting even to those who do not enjoy or understand maths. She uses interesting concepts and does not overuse them, which make the story more real. We can really get into the Housekeeper’s mind and see the Professor’s reactions to everyday normal life. I also appreciated the Housekeeper mentions the small details like his hate for carrots or his fear of the barber. I believe that this book will be going down in history for its exquisiteness and elegance.

The Housekeeper starts a new job with the Professor thinking it would be a normal job just like the others she had been fired off. However, the single mother forms a powerful bond with the Professor when his son (later named by the Professor Root), joins the party. The theme of family is strongly connected to the Housekeeper’s background; however, it does not develop into the word's fundamental meaning but rather the idea of forming a bond with people you do not share blood with. This part of the tale is strongly developed; I could feel every emotion clearly. The professor has a strong bond with children that can be seen in his sweet friendship with Root, we never get the reason behind it, but it really made me appreciate the Professor. Thanks to this, I see him more like a human being and less like a broken man. I love the power this connection between the Housekeeper and Root and the professor is the same even if the Professor forgets about them every day. He is a man of his word and does not forget to be so even if he has forgotten what he promised in the first place.

This idea of family is present when they have to create a sense of tenderness with their new way of living, and we would not feel otherwise if he were not to forget them every day. I mean that both the housekeeper and Root have to adapt to their new ways of living. They have created a new system that will make their experience with the Professor more comfortable even if they have to go out of their way. There is a strong relationship between the Professor and Root that we don’t really see with him and the Housekeeper. They share these amazing tastes in sports and trading cards that the Housekeeper seems even to want to understand. As root never really has a father figure in his life and the Professor never has kids, this is where both characters take their places. This bond is carried out throughout the book, and it makes it one of my favourite things about the story. Children in books are usually irrelevant or annoying, and in this case, Root is an important character that greatly changes the professor. The 11-year-old kid will show the importance of accepting everyone, even if the circumstances are not ideal.

I have a strong hatred for mathematics, always had. But this book had me reaching out for my phone constantly trying to understand the different math problems the professor asked. The use of mathematics in the novel is used to the perfect amount. There is not too much making it seem like the whole purpose of the novel is a math class, but rather it makes us see the connection the professor has with maths. It is the only real thing he remembers and comforts him in his strangely uncomfortable situations. Ogawa doesn’t use overly easy mathematical concepts or problems, and she makes them difficult enough and interesting enough to make it more real, which makes me appreciate this story more. The Professor seeks comfort in all the numbers he studied on a day-to-day basis. As the Housekeeper realises this, she is quick enough to make a similar connection in her life. There is this moment where she goes into the town’s library to seek for an answer to a Professor’s problem. Even I was invested in answer to that problem! I feel like mathematics in this book have a strong meaning to all the characters. The Housekeeper sees mathematics as her escape from normal life and as something she can learn from. Her education had never been too carefully developed, and the Professor’s teaching makes her feel like education is for everyone and not only for those who are fortunate. The Professor sees warmth and safety in numbers and problems. Without them, the Professor would possibly not be the same person, and surely he would not have a purpose in life. For Root, math connects him with his dear friend the Professor, even so, the book ends with us finding out that Root becomes a mathematics professor, a great end to the story.

This glorious story will be forever stuck in my mind. The use of language, the themes explored, and the compelling characters will be forever in my mind. It has touched me many different ways and I can’t say enough of how well Ogawa’s and Snyder’s final result has ended up being. I will continue to seek comfort in the wonderful and elegant words of Ogawa’s work and continue to praise her art.

The Hypnotic Prophesy by Murakami - Kafka on the Shore

Days after finishing this book, my mind is still filled with questions. Kafka on the shore had me on the edge of my seat for most of my reading time. It has been an interesting read that has been stuck in my head for a few days now. I had so many questions that went unanswered that I had to get up and pace around my room, looking for the answers in my head and writing it down on a piece of paper. This enigmatic novel is for sure one of the best books I have ever read, and sharing it could be my greatest delight.

Kafka, the 15-year-old, runs away from his father’s prophesy: he will have to kill his father and sleep with both his mother and sister. This prophecy takes him through a journey of self-discovery and understanding of himself and consequently his soul, something he does not realise once he sets off. For me, Kafka is filled with guilt and fear, even if he wants to see himself as the “toughest 15-year-old”. We learn so much about this boy throughout the whole story that we don’t realise that we start to think about him without having to read the book. I started realising his thought and I started seeing what he saw. We get to know his insecurities and strengths, which usually takes me more time to grasp when reading other books. Kafka ends up in Takamatsu’s library, where his adventure starts. This book is filled with self-discovery and understanding of what it means to be alone. Kafka tried to see himself as independent but ends up boring close bonds with Oshima, Miss Saeki and Sakura.

At the same time, another story of a man that had been affected by an accident during the Second World War in the same town where Kafka is originally from unfolds, parallel to Kafka. He loses his ability to read and write and is considered now ‘dumb’. Nakata now has the ability to talk to cats as a reward for losing the other abilities. He is a cat catcher in the town and lives in a sub-city. His luck changes the moment he meets Jonnie Walker who forces him to murder him. He then feels guided by a strange force that takes him in the direction of a so-called entrance stone. The narration of this part of the story is different to kafka’s as this is seen through third-person omniscient narration. Nakata lacks the strong human emotions that the other characters possess, although he is not entirely humanless. This makes the scenes greatly appreciated, as his eyes lack a sense of fear and hatred or love and esteem. One of the best examples on this is the scene of Jonnie Walker and the terrible murder of the three cats, which were a repulsive and horrible moment in the story that had me stopping and rereading those illustrative awful crimes.

While we join both characters through their journeys, we meet other names, such as Sakura, a young girl that Kafka meets on the bus. We also meet Oshima, who is a transgender gay man that works at the library. This man is where I felt the reality was centred. I mean by this, even though Oshima focused his life on metaphors, he is the only one I would not connect with magic. He understands all that Kafka explains, but his life is more based on what he reads and believes; this stroked me, as the rest of the story is found more in magical and extraordinary things. We also meet Miss Saeki, the broken librarian who only wears blue. On the other side of the spectrum, Nakata also meets Hoshino, an enjoyable and compelling truck driver that brings words to Nakata’s thoughts.

This story takes many twists and turns that cannot be described unless you read the unsettling words Murakami writes. It is considered magical realism as a realistic narrative and neutralist techniques combined with magical and surreal dream-like elements. This technique can also be seen in other famous novels like A Hundred Years of Solitude and Midnight’s Children. This makes the story more compelling, as there is the right amount of magical description used. There is not too much on soul passing or time travelling and does not give too much importance to the surreal events such as fish or leeches rain. This is one of my favourite use of narrative, as it brings mesmerising elements to a mundane world.

We can see the real Haruki Murakami in the words that he writes. As in many of his novels, cats take an essential role in the plot of this book. We also can see the love he had for art, literature and especially music, and Western culture. This love for the arts is blended with magical descriptions of the emotions that the characters feel when meeting different art forms. One of my favourite parts is Hoshino’s first contact with classical music, which does not take much into the plot but shows how Hoshino is developing and evolving into a new person. This is, of course, the retelling of the Oedipus myth of the self-fulfilling prophecy but with the words and views of the literary Japanese genius Murakami. Like Murakami, in much of Kafka’s works, he blends unsettling and terrifying magical elements with realism to portray isolated characters dealing with modern life's absurdity.

There are three themes explored in this novel. The mind and the body in the story is also described as metaphysical due to the change in tenses and perspectives. There is only a thin gap between the unconsciousness and the actions our physical body takes part in. There is also a great deal of talk about the soul, something that brings us closer to Japanese culture and believes it is more concerned with Japan's Buddhist ideas.

Kafka's explicit use of fate and prophecy shows us how chance and beliefs can affect our lives. He is driven by his obsession with unproven prophesies his father has put upon him. However, he does not realise how this is affecting his own life and his relationships with other people as he makes his life mission to improve the prophecy. This shows the relationship between the concuss self and the unconscious that follows what life takes you or whether your beliefs take you.

There are three themes explored in this novel. The mind and the body in the story is also described as metaphysical due to the change in tenses and perspectives. There is only a thin gap between the unconsciousness and the actions our physical body takes part in. There is also a great deal of talk about the soul, something that brings us closer to Japanese culture and believes it is more concerned with Japan's Buddhist ideas.

Kafka's explicit use of fate and prophecy shows us how chance and beliefs can affect our lives. He is driven by his obsession with unproven prophesies his father has put upon him. However, he does not realise how this is affecting his own life and his relationships with other people as he makes his life mission to improve the prophecy. This shows the relationship between the concuss self and the unconscious that follows what life takes you or whether your beliefs take you.