When We Were Orphans: A Novel
by Kazuo Ishiguro
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.00 You Save: $11.00 (73%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of When We Were Orphans: A Novel
Book Review: Excellent prose - "so-so" story...
Summary: 3 Stars
"When we were orphans" was the first Kazuo Ishiguro book I read. I had heard quite a lot about his past work, so I was looking forward to reading the book. As always when you read a novel by a "new" author, it takes a few pages before you understand the author's style. I quite liked his way of writing from page one.We enter the story in London in the 1930'ies. We are introduced to Christopher Banks, a rather (according to himself) famous detective. As we get to know him, we learn of his tragic background. Christopher was born in Shanghai. His Dad, a British businessman, was involved in the opium trade, and his mother on the other hand, was lobbying against the opium trade... As a 9-year old, both his parents got kidnapped under mysterious circumstances. First his dad, and then later his mom as well. When neither of them returned, Christopher got sent back to England. Here he tried to fit in the best he could, both in the British school-system and in life in general.
This novel is written entirely in first person tale. Very early in this book we pick up that the narrator, Christopher Banks, is a rather unreliable source for information. He has a somewhat "selective" memory. Where his old classmate remembered him a an "oddball" - Christopher denied that, saying "You must mistake me for someone else.." (Remembering himself to have been "one of the boys"... and getting along well with everyone).
As an adult he is still troubled by his parents disappearing. He decides to return to Shanghai to try to find his parents.
Up until this point I have enjoyed the story. But from here..
The story starts to derail, and it falls completely apart as we hear Christopher describing how he is walking around in the war-zone (bullets whining past him here and there) accompanied by his long lost Japanese friend, Akira, searching for the house where his parents are believed to be held hostages. And the novel looses every little tad of hope I had, when his "uncle" is revealing to us what really happened when his parents disappeared. It just got too unbelievably. Rather unfortunate, in this novel, Ishiguro's ability as a storyteller doesn't quite match his ability as a writer.
So even if I am not too excited about this novel, I have also bought "The Unconsoled". (And I did that *after* I had read "When we were orphans").
Book Review: An Intriguing Beginning, but Unsatisfying in the End
Summary: 2 Stars
This was the first book of Ishiguro's that I've read and unfortunately it was disappointing.
The story begins with the premise of Christopher's remembered early life in Shanghai. Eventually we learn the story of his parents' disappearance as it is interwoven with his life as a London-based detective. Christopher's character starts out with promise-the flashbacks to his childhood are interesting and evocative. Unfortunately, the character becomes increasingly less dimensional and I, as one reader, began to care less about him.
The story itself starts to fall apart mid-way through when Christopher adopts an orphan girl. Other than her being another "orphan," I'm not sure of the character's purpose in the story. Her contribution consists of a few remembered words and a vague obligation in Christopher's mind. (She is not even a full sketch of a character). Then, things really start to fall apart when Christopher finally goes back to Shanghai to solve his parents' case. It's apparent that this vague disjointedness is allegory here to Christopher's mental state, but it would have worked better and been more interesting with more detail and clarity. Christopher's character becomes a shadow of itself, likely intentional by the author, but as a reader this is just water and vagueness. [Slight SPOILER following.] In Shanghai, one of the least successful aspects of the story is Christopher's sudden decision to run away with Sarah, a chilly socialite he met in London. When he runs out for a minute to chase down a clue, and misses the departure with her, it's such an obvious plot tool that you can see it coming pages before. Not to mention, there never seems to be any real basis for his decision to run off with her in the first place. By the time the reader learns the truth about his parents' apparent kidnapping, all the energy has run out of the book.
The historical perspective of Shanghai is interesting; something I would like to know more about in this story. I think that the author should have illustrated the international settlement more fully, for both clarity and depth. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this book -- in the end it was too muddled and unsatisfying. I also think that the editorial review is somewhat misleading and tries to make up for the confusion of the book itself.
Book Review: Excellent prose - "so-so" story...
Summary: 3 Stars
"When we were orphans" was the first Kazuo Ishiguro book I read. I had heard quite a lot about his past work, so I was looking forward to reading the book. As always when you read a novel by a "new" author, it takes a few pages before you understand the author's style. I quite liked his way of writing from page one.We enter the story in London in the 1930'ies. We are introduced to Christopher Banks, a rather (according to himself) famous detective. As we get to know him, we learn of his tragic background. Christopher was born in Shanghai. His Dad, a British businessman, was involved in the opium trade, and his mother on the other hand, was lobbying against the opium trade... As a 9-year old, both his parents got kidnapped under mysterious circumstances. First his dad, and then later his mom as well. When neither of them returned, Christopher got sent back to England. Here he tried to fit in the best he could, both in the British school-system and in life in general.
This novel is written entirely in first person tale. Very early in this book we pick up that the narrator, Christopher Banks, is a rather unreliable source for information. He has a somewhat "selective" memory. Where his old classmate remembered him a an "oddball" - Christopher denied that, saying "You must mistake me for someone else.." (Remembering himself to have been "one of the boys"... and getting along well with everyone).
As an adult he is still troubled by his parents disappearing. He decides to return to Shanghai to try to find his parents.
Up until this point I have enjoyed the story. But from here..
The story starts to derail, and it falls completely apart as we hear Christopher describing how he is walking around in the war-zone (bullets whining past him here and there) accompanied by his long lost Japanese friend, Akira, searching for the house where his parents are believed to be held hostages. And the novel looses every little tad of hope I had, when his "uncle" is revealing to us what really happened when his parents disappeared. It just got too unbelievably. Rather unfortunate, in this novel, Ishiguro's ability as a storyteller doesn't quite match his ability as a writer.
So even if I am not too excited about this novel, I have also bought "The Unconsoled". (And I did that *after* I had read "When we were orphans").
Book Review: From the author who gave us "Remains of the Day"
Summary: 5 Stars
I was simply amazed at how well written this book is/was. The protagonist suffers painful events as a child. There is no reasonable way they could not cause terrible damage, and then leave their scars. Mr. Ishiguro explores this gently, just as the victim may not overtly manifest outrageous behavior. His careful treatment of Christopher is not vague or deficient, it reads as being appropriate, and exposes the results of his traumas with the time and care they need. "Threads" are often used to describe the storyline of a work. In many books I would suggest they are more like mooring ropes. In this book threads is being generous, for the first person narrative is not written deceptively, but can be construed differently by a group of readers. I think this is great. It's quite rare to read a contemporary work that does not hammer away at a tired theme, disclose the end when the prologue has barely been passed, or just insult the reader by presuming we are encephalitic illiterates. (Not trying to showboat, just loved the sound of those two words) It took what was probably the most jarring event to finally convince me I wasn't lost. And the event was much closer to the end than the start. What is real, and what is not will be decided by how carefully you read, and how cautious you are with the limitations of first person narrative. It is not a method that allows for much independent verification. However, I never felt frustrated, as the writer is so good and the read so enjoyable. Like an opium dream (and opium is the scourge of relations between Europe and China), the boundaries between fantasy and reality become hopelessly blurred as Christopher plunges into the maelstrom of the Shanghai underworld, political factions and history. Between blunders, rages and mysterious meetings, Christopher recalls the world of his youth. Even as a boy he understood that his comfortable, idyllic life was a thing apart from the reality of Shanghai. Warned against leaving the foreign compound, he catches glimpses of the misery of homeless, opium-addicted Chinese. In his own home, long periods of cold silence between his parents ripple the placid surface of his existence. Though his father earns a comfortable living with a company that supports the opium trade, his mother is an avid crusader against it.
Book Review: A heartbreaking detective story told succinctly and masterfully
Summary: 5 Stars
The back cover promises a detective story spanning continents and epochs and what Ishiguro delivers is not only suspenseful, but a fully developed novel about family, identity, and the haziness of memory.
People have said that Ishiguro writes in the same voice in all of his books. But unlike the composed butler of "The Remains of the Day," Christopher Banks has a back story similar to Ishiguro's own, lending the reader a complex intimacy with the writer and his narrative voice. For a long time I pictured the protagonist as Chinese, despite his English surname. I had this peculiar sense that I was taking a journey with Ishiguro, that this narrator's story was his. (It isn't, as Ishiguro is Japanese, but he personally experienced moving to England as a child and received a wholly English upbringing.)
The narrator is flawed in ways we can relate to -- he employs a false modesty though it's clear he thinks highly of himself. Yet he draws the reader in because we know that the unsolved mystery of his past is the reason for his unstable sense of self. He is strongly distrustful and fiercely private, though he swells with pride at telling the reader about his accomplishments and recalling the romanticized memories of Shanghai that act as a sort of comfort blanket. He is likable but lost, and the reader is willing to accompany him on his inevitably world-inverting search for the truth.
The depictions of Christopher's prep school experience and attendance at elegant social functions collide messily with the scenes in which he's dodging grenades and plowing senselessly through a war zone in search of ghosts. We're frustrated by yet understanding of Christopher's myopic, idealistic impulses and desire for closure. And tragically he finds what he came for, solving the mystery of his parents' disappearance and shattering the rose-colored glasses of his childhood in one fell swoop, left wondering if in the end he'd rather not have known at all.
Ishiguro tells an intriguing story set against the backdrop of a lost time, a forgotten war, and a city that can surprise, delight and turn against you all at once. I highly recommend this book to fans of his previous work and to those who enjoy the literature of memory.