When We Were Orphans: A Novel
by Kazuo Ishiguro
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Book Reviews of When We Were Orphans: A Novel
Book Review: A strange & puzzling novel, and not in a good way
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a rather odd novel, set in an off-kilter world and filled with decidedly strange people. Christopher Banks, born (apparently) around 1905 in Shanghai, grows up in the insular International Settlement, his best friend being a likewise isolated Japanese boy named Akira. Christopher -- "Puffin" to his parents -- lives almost entirely in the fantasy play world he and Akira invent -- especially the detection scenarios they act out after his parents disappear. Indeed, he never really stops playing those games. He reaches maturity back in England and in the `30s he becomes a noted consulting detective himself -- or so he says, because all we ever get are incomplete, sidelong references to his cases. But this seems to be a world in which detectives are famous people, carrying the weight of the preservation of civilization on their shoulders. And as the Japanese invasion of China gets under way, Banks feels the need to return to Shanghai to "solve" the crisis -- as well as to rescue his parents, whom he assumes are still alive. What's more, everyone else also seems to think these are both splendid projects, too. One begins to see Banks as a thoroughly unreliable narrator and as the story progressed I kept waiting for subtle indications that he was more than a little nuts, that he was actually tucked away in a rubber room somewhere, but it never happened. Then, as he stumbles about in the war zone, we see that he is indeed living in reality -- some reality, anyway. The denouement, which is the only part of the book that *seems* to take place in the real world, is ultimately unsatisfactory. The author seems to be tweaking the reader's nose: "Aha, gotcha! It's not a fantasy or alternate reality novel after all!" I've enjoyed most of Ishiguro's novels, and I certainly appreciate his talents, but this is far from his best effort.Book Review: 'When We Were Orphans' --disappointing eloquence
Summary: 2 Stars
Ishiguro's `When We Were Orphans' simply doesn't live up to the praise with which it has been regarded. The author's protagonist has an exceptional command of the English language-there's no doubt about that. The real disappointment is that nothing substantially rewarding ever comes of it. Instead, the reader is left with numerous questions regarding the behavior and motives of the narrator and further, is letdown as the story meanders throughout in no real direction.
Plainly, this novel lacks a decisive plot. The character development is sketchy at best and the author is guilty of ignoring a paramount rule of literature: `Show-don't tell.' Throughout the book the reader is constantly reminded that the protagonist, Christopher Banks, is a famously celebrated detective. Like the legendary Sherlock Holmes, he carries with him at all times-the trademark magnifying glass. Unfortunately, this is as close as the similarity gets. While Christopher is well recognized for his talents at home and abroad, at no time in the book does he ever remotely come close to giving us an example of his powers of deduction. Indeed, the majority of the critical information he collects is by a series of chance encounters and dumb-luck inquiries.
There's plenty of mystery and intrigue in this novel. The problem is the narrator does little to assemble any of it into a tangible form. A psychological detective thriller this is not. In the end, Christopher Banks amounts to a modestly interesting character whose eloquence for the English language supercedes any real story he has to tell. His story, while on the one hand compelling, is buried within a political quagmire so full of holes and question marks that I find it hard that readers could ever sympathize with him, much less believe him.
Book Review: Flawed, but this still worth reading
Summary: 3 Stars
It pains me to give anything written by Ishiguro, the author of the superb The Remains of the Day, a paltry three stars. But this book does not deserve better. It has redeeming qualities, admittedly, but not enough to make up for the flaws.The book tells the story of Christopher Banks, who was effectively "orphaned" as a young boy when his parents disappeared while they lived in Shanghai. He is then sent to England, becomes a well-known detective there and eventually returns to a war-torn Shanghai to try and solve the case of his parents' disappearance. The book is well enough written, the characterisation is good (as is to be expected of the author), it reads easily enough and the end (in terms of the fate of Banks' parents) unexpected. But Ishiguro made a few crucial mistakes in this book, the worst one probably being devoting a fairly lengthy passage to Banks' progress through the ruins of war-torn Shanghai to get to the house where he believes his parents are being kept by kidnappers. This sort of action sequence simply does not suit Ishiguro's style of writing- he should stick to what he does extremely well, which is writing about people, and particularly emotionally scarred ones. Another "mistake" is the (to put it mildly) unlikely scene where Banks chances upon his childood friend in Shanghai. And lastly, I found it extremely odd that some people seem to expect Banks to in some way ensure world peace and stability by solving the case of his parents' disappearance. This is never adequately explained, and it is as if Ishiguro had something else in mind with the book initially and failed to re-write the earlier chapters when things panned out differently.
But the book is still worth reading- an unsatisfactory book by a great author is still better than most.
Book Review: Absurd...
Summary: 2 Stars
It left me annoyed with so many unanswered questions:Why would any sane person think for a minute his parents were still alive, after having disappeared over 30 years earlier? Even to the point that they were planning a reception when his parents were freed? And why would they think it even remotely possible that they were still being held captive in the SAME house all these years?
Why would he suddenly and totally out of character decide to run off with Sarah? and then not do it?
Why did everyone in London seem to think he (a detective) was capable of solving the sino/japaneese crises, to the point that they laid some sort of guilt complex on him for not doing anything?
How could he possibly be so intent on getting to this house in the middle of a war, literally on the front, and insult the chinese for NOT jumping to his aid? and why was everyone so aware and interested in his quest, to the point that they were willing to walk through the war torn warren to help him find the house, that his parents were supposedly STILL being held captive in.. oh did I mention 30 YEARS LATER??? Like this is normal everyday behaviour. Like a previous reviewer, I had just seen "it's a beautiful mind" and my only explanation as I went along was that he was completely delusional, and that what we were seeing was NOT reality, but such was not the case. I could go on and on...
And the ending had nothing to do with any of the above questions. None of the above was in any way explained.
This book made little sense to me, but I read it to the end hoping somehow it would all fall into place, but it never did. I wish I had read all these reviewS before I spent good money on the book.
Book Review: Not too sure who was deluded
Summary: 3 Stars
A good read but ultimately disappointing. This book doesn't seem to live up to the writer's very readable narrative style, even if one forgives the writer for personal plagiarism as he uses a technique which is basic to the story that he has employed in other novels. His method is to reveal the deluded characteristics of the protagonist through the eyes of others; a technique he admittedly does very well. Apart from this, either the protagonist is out of touch with reality or is indeed one very admirably fellow who has made it big as a detective in England and English society. Kazuo Ishiguro wants it both ways which doesn't work. He also seems to have slipped up by having another minor character called Grayson equally not part of this world. The protagonist's mental stability is so way out at times that it affects some scenes that take place in prewar Shanghai. These scenes are otherwise compulsive reading but sadly degenerate into sheer farce and loose it.
I found it very difficult to go along with the mother's story which was claimed to be unavoidable by the uncle... I don't want to give anything away, but really? The uncle's actions didn't ring true either. Also, was it that difficult for a high swinger of English society in those days to find the cash for a trip back to the UK from Shanghai?
The premise, if I understood correctly, that orphans suffer and have to make the transition into adult life to live happily ever after; well, all that seems to be stuck on as an extra though at the end of the tale. But never-the-less this novel had me turning pages into the early hours which shows that the author must have got something right.