I remember struggling through Number Theory during Engineering. I managed to get through it by doing repetitive exercises and making the process of learning 
 a rote rather than, well, an experience. Almost a decade later I had to implement the very same part of mathematics that had eluded me in one of the softwares I was working on. A seventy year old German professor helped me to see the elegance and dignity that numbers possessed. 
 The book almost takes a spiritual undertone as Ogawa uses zero as a reference to define non-existence. Making something non-existent existent, you take a leap of faith. The universe expands infinitely with this one small change alone. The words and the numbers linger long after they are spoken, the emotions behind them perpetual. The friendship between an elementary school kid and an aging professor is beautiful. A familial affection grows between the housekeeper and the professor that transcends the contractual obligation the housekeeper has. 
 The book description doesn't do justice to this book. This book is about friendship, about finding something common and nurturing it together. Its impossible not to love these characters; the professor who has scraps of paper pinned all over his suit because that's the only way he will remember things that needs to be remembered past 80 minutes, the housekeeper who comes to see more from life than the routine she has been stuck in, the housekeeper's son who shares love of baseball with the professor and later mathematics. It's impossible to let go of these people who pull you in into their small world with broken furniture and three suits. They invite you in, allow you to hang back and watch as relationships grow with factorials, dislike of carrots and baseball statistics. 
 There is a quietness about this novel in the way Ogawa makes her characters talk and feel. There is a satisfactory sigh by the end of every chapter. There is only warmth and aching smile with the last word of the book. It leaves you content. 
 As if you have solved an unsolvable equation.