When We Were Orphans

Rating:
Summary: Another Psychological Masterpiece
Review: I've been trying to figure out why some reviewers thought "When We Were Orphans" wasn't as good as Kazuo Ishiguro's much-loved "The Remains of the Day." After "Remains," we clearly have high expectations of Mr. Ishiguro. But perhaps the difference between the two works is one of immediate accessibility.

Both books look at the way certain mental processes affect people. "Remains" concerns a moral sense of rightness and self-denial in a setting we can visualize and understand. "Orphans," I think, demands more from readers. Its overriding theme is the foggy, shifting filter of memory, and this filter takes us into murkier, more complex territory, where we're required to deduce how events have shaped the protagonist's thoughts and motives.

When he was still a kid, Christopher Banks, the protagonist, suffered a huge trauma. His parents were kidnapped, and he was then unwillingly plucked from his home in the International Settlement in Shanghai and sent to live with an aunt in England. Being sent away from everything familiar and comforting would have been hard enough, but being sent away must also have silently conveyed that his parents were forever and irretrievably lost.

Christopher copes with this by deft acts of self-deception, and we are constantly left to inquire how much of Christopher's memories and perceptions are real. His memories (like all memories) are of what he told himself had happened, rather than uniformly what actually happened. He believes what he seems to need to believe. Here, Mr. Ishiguro brilliantly, and subtly, portrays Christopher as an unreliable narrator, wrapped in a reassuring cloak of illusion.

He and his boyhood friend, Akira, for instance, create an impossible scenario where Christopher's father is cared for by his kidnappers as if they were his servants. He recalls a happy boat trip to England, and a smooth merger into English life, when in truth he was a miserable loner, endlessly upset by the loss of his parents, and largely made fun of by his English school chums.

When he's in his mid-thirties, Christopher decides to return to Shanghai, find his parents, and liberate them from their kidnappers. Although the plan is futile to the point of being ludicrous, what seems to be going on in Christopher's mind is that he had continually rejected the idea of the permanence of his parents' loss and was trying, on some unconscious level, to put right a world gone completely topsy-turvy that caused him vast pain. Thus, when the effort to find his parents takes a dramatic turn, the events that follow seem natural to Christopher, even as they bring anguish to the reader.

There is much more to this book. Events in the world at large partially mirror Christopher's situation. When Christopher returns to Shanghai, it is 1937. It is the eve of World War II, and the world seems to be teetering on the verge of collapse. The Japanese have attacked China, shells are falling, and soldiers are fighting hand to hand. Yet within the International Settlement, the inhabitants lie to themselves about the seriousness of the situation and their own safety, and the parties and entertainments continue unabated. The British lie to themselves about their role in the Chinese opium trade and about its devastating effects. (Beyond, of course, the Western allies lie to themselves about the policy of appeasement.) In the midst of this, it is highly problematic whether England as a leader, and even democracy itself, can survive. One character, in fact, Sir Cecil, seems to be the personification of good British intentions gone awry and dissipated abroad in temptation. These are issues which Mr. Ishiguro puts out for readers to contemplate for themselves.

The "relationship" stories also command attention. Christopher is both drawn to and wary of an attraction to Sarah Hemmings, a young woman who comes and goes in his life. She's an orphan like him, who desperately wants to attach herself to someone who makes a difference, who improves the world, and so fills out a hollow in her life. And there is also young Jennifer, an orphan whom Christopher serendipitously finds and takes in as his ward. They come to love each other in a father-daughter way that delicately seeps around them.

The writing in this book is as surpassingly controlled, elegant and poignant as we might expect from Mr. Ishiguro. The episodes that relate to Christopher's childhood are particularly true, alive and touching. And the ending is most satisfying. I think Mr. Ishiguro ranks with the best writers I've ever encountered, and I give this book five solid stars.

Rating:
Summary: First time reading Ishiguro
Review: Ishiguro's depiction of Shanghai is quite impressive. Although I am not a Shanghai man, I am quite familiar with the city because I've been there last year. When I read this book and thought of my Shanghai experience,the images of the city became vivid.

However, this story is not interesting until Christopher Bank, the protagonist, found Akira. That scene that they meets on the battlefield intrigues me; before that is totally a mess.

I think Ishiguro spends too much time describing something not very important, like the scenes Christopher meets Sarah. I think these scenes, although Ishiguro develops them, still do not meet with the enigmas Christopher finally solves. Those "scenes" or "lines", from my point of view, are not valuable and in some way they tire readers.

Rating:
Summary: Full of plot holes
Review: I'm guessing that Ishiguro must be on some kind of medication when he wrote this novel. The prose and narration, while top notch, could not compensate for the numerous glaring plot holes.
Reading this novel requires one to suspend his disbelief at the events unfolding. The most glaring one is how the protaganist, the renowned detective Christopher Banks, returned to Shanghai after 20 years, to find his missing parents, and for some reason, believes that they are still holed up in a slum house. He also stumbled upon his childhood friend after 20 years, Akira, in a war zone. These, and the way many other things come together for Banks strains credulity.
The bright spots in the novel is the little girl Jennifer who is adopted by Banks. Unfortunately, even this lone bright spot was only expanded on until the end of the novel.

Rating:
Summary: Only the memory remains
Review: I have picked this book in a library looking for something to read, and blurb kinda assured me (and which blurb doesn't) that this book is going to be a masterpiece. Trough the early stages of the book indeed it seemed as one, but as I have progressed with reading I suddenly beacme aware of poor writing skills of this particular author. After reading this book only thing that remained inside my memory is a vague memory of early 20th century shangai, that, and a indistinguishable feeling that i have lost something, somwhere. Troubled by the disapperance of his parents, young detective Christopher Banks, tries to discovers their fate, assuring himself that the finding will change the world. It is quite obvious that Banks is loosing his touch with the reality, and this absence is presented in relatively harsh stile of writing by Ishiguro. I mean it is to obvious. There are no diferent levels of reading in this book, as some try to assure you, it's a straight story from page one to page trhee hundred and fifty two. I give this book for stars only becouse story is indeed good, and captures some feeling inside you that you have thought long gone, for that, and for the love that will rise toward Shangai, and hatred which you'll feel towards the corupted politicians and opium sellers. But if you don't fall to such things skip this book. This book, is in fact a school example to average writing.

Rating:
Summary: Great Novel
Review: There are many good reviews about this great novel here, so mine will be brief. This is a great novel for many reasons: the writing is wonderful, and the story is fascinating. Christopher Banks, London detective, returns to Shanghai to solve the case of his life: the unsolved mystery surrounding the disappearance of his parents when he was a young boy growing up in Shanghai. The most powerful scene comes when he searches through a maze of destroyed apartment buldings as the Japanese and Chinese carry on horrific battles. The reader becomes clearly aware that Detective Bank's sanity is very questionable; what is fact, and what is fancy? Ishiguro's great novel is as memorable as Malraux's classic "Man's Fate." Christopher Banks is an unforgettable character.

Rating:
Summary: From the sublime to the ridiculous
Review: I had really looked forward to reading this book - many people had recommended it to me, and the premise of the story was an interesting one.

This story is a first-person narrative about a detective who returns to Shanghai to find his missing parents. He becomes caught up in the Japanese occupation, to the point that he is involved in actual battles, travelling through destroyed streets with a man he believes to be his childhood friend. The impression i get is that Ishiguro is trying to portray a man losing his grip on reality - the story becomes bizarre about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way through. However, part of me thinks that maybe it is just bizarre. Full stop.

I enjoyed the beginning of this book, and i quite like Ishiguro's style. However, i just feel that he literally loses the plot. Which is a shame, as this could have been quite a good book, as opposed to a potentially good book.

Rating:
Summary: A less that remarkable book from a much admired writer
Review: When I recently finished reading this newest book from Kazuo Ishiguro, I must admit, I was disappointed. Having read all of his other novels, I found this somewhat alarming.

The first problem with this book is that the plot doesn't flow like Ishiguro's other works. There are too many points that seem inserted for suspense which seem to cheapen the reading. Second, it fails to achieve the expected high in psychological awareness of Ishiguro's other works.

Perhaps Ishiguro is simply trying to expand his style to include more physical, less emotion-driven, plots, but he fails to convince that his heart and talent are fully at work.

While this book is certainly readable, and perhaps enjoyable, its interest and literary value are below what a devoted reader of Ishiguro would expect.

Rating:
Summary: It's all about psychology and memory
Review: Christopher Banks is an unusual detective in Kazuo Ishiguro¡¦s latest novel, When We Were Orphans. The story is not about Banks¡¦s investigation of a shrewdly planned murder or a cunning theft; he is attempting to solve the greatest mystery in his life: the disappearance of his parents when he was a boy in early twentieth century Shanghai. Certainly not a conventional adventure story, it nonetheless has the feature of a mystery tale ¡V one can never know the truth, or at least, a portion of the truth, until the last pages.

When the novel opens in 1930, Christopher Banks has become a renowned private detective in London. His first person narration begins innocently enough, with a classically correct, ¡¥realistic¡¦ fashion:

It was the summer of 1923, the summer I came down from Cambridge, when despite my aunt¡¦s wishes that I return to Shropshire, I decided my future lay in the capital and took up a small flat at Number 14b Bedford Gardens in Kensington.

This opening echoes that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle¡¦s A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes story: ¡§In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London ¡K¡¨, and both narratives similarly give an impression of rational, orderly narrative to the readers, fitting for a detective novel. Indeed, our principal character Banks has mentioned reading about the ¡§foggy streets of the Conan Doyle mysteries¡¨. Banks¡¦s account is not unlike that of Dr. Watson, with a matter-of-fact style, and complete with the most ¡¥correct¡¦ English attitude.

¡§I¡¦d like to oblige you, Miss Hemmings. But unfortunately I¡¦ve already replied to the organisers some days ago. I fear it¡¦ll be rather late to inform them of my wish to bring a guest ¡K¡¨

Such a storytelling manner makes prominent Christopher Banks¡¦s ¡¥Englishness¡¦ ¡V a theme which is inevitably linked with the questions of identity and sense of belonging. In this quotation Banks is rejecting an unreasonable request put forward by Sarah Hemmings, an ambitious woman who aspires to join the upper class. In the course of the events they will become familiar and even intimate with each other. Sarah is to become a catalyst in prompting Banks to recall his childhood.

Banks¡¦s father, who works for a British company involved in the opium business, disappears when he is nine, and foul play is suspected. The young Banks and his Japanese friend, Akira, stage the missing father adventure time and time again in their role-playing games. However, Banks does not reveal too much about his feelings towards the supposed kidnapping of his father. ¡§I do not remember much about the days immediately following my father¡¦s disappearance¡¨, so he says. This nicely illustrates a continuous deliberate suppression of emotion in Banks¡¦s narrative. His true emotions are more subtly hinted at, or sometimes through the discrepancies between Banks¡¦s words and other characters¡¦ accounts of certain events. This gives rise to doubts about Banks¡¦s reliability as a narrator. After all, human memory is fallible, and this factor, coupled with a narrator who may have a tendency to distort his memories, readers are presented with the sometimes difficult but stimulating task of answering the question, what has really happened?

What happens after the disappearance of the father is certain ¡V his mother, a social activist against opium trade, also unaccountably disappears, apparently having been kidnapped. This shatters the boyish Banks¡¦s hope of living in Shanghai forever and he is sent to England, his ¡¥home¡¦, to stay with an aunt. His eventual return to Shanghai is at least partially prompted by, again, Sarah, who is to accompany her elderly statesman husband to Shanghai, which leads to the question of whether Banks is in love with her or not.

Flipping back to page one at this moment, one will find that such a ¡¥normal¡¦ opening has done nothing to prepare unwary readers for the developments in this later part of the story, beginning with Part Four ¡§Cathay Hotel, Shanghai, 20th September 1937¡¨. Without warning the world of reality, where reason inhabits, collapses. Very often the situation is incredulous or even outright ridiculous. Readers need to confront a different Banks here: his ¡¥logic¡¦ is so peculiar that there are moments when he seems to be on the verge of insanity. Hardly anyone doubts Banks¡¦s ability to rescue his parents, who are still believed to be in captivity somewhere in Shanghai, after almost a quarter of a century. Needless to say, Banks does not question the possibility of a satisfying conclusion. When his investigation brings him outside the International Settlement into the war-torn Shanghai, he rescues ¡¥Akira¡¦, but again, it is dubious whether that Japanese soldier is really Akira. It is near the end of his adventures in Shanghai that reasons seem to resuscitate and an appalling truth is revealed.

This change from ¡¥normal¡¦ to ¡¥abnormal¡¦ is exactly the most brilliant point about this novel. The transition is so smooth that one can¡¦t find the joints, rather like a successful surgery that leaves no scar. This shift should come as a great surprise to readers. Some may at first find this uncomfortable, especially for those who are expecting to see a cool Sherlock Holmes at work, and Ishiguro does raise such expectations in the ¡¥realistic¡¦ first part. Nevertheless the ¡¥absurd¡¦ part opens up possibility for readers to think about the way memory works, and readers are presented the psychological burden of a person with a traumatic childhood ¡V in the poignant closing paragraph Banks realizes that it is the fate of orphans to ¡§chas[e] through long years the shadows of vanished parents¡¨.

Overtly a detective story, When We Were Orphans is above all a psychological journey of a character who courageously confronts his past. With an ingenious plot and memorable characters, this is a novel of memory par excellence.

Rating:
Summary: Uncompelling excersize in frustration
Review: I have read all of Ishiguro's previous novels including the painfully frustrating Unconsoled. The first two-thirds of Orphans raised my hopes that Ishiguro had returned to previous form and had dispensed with exercises in never ending nightmarish dream states. Unfortunately the last third of Orphans sees a return to this tiring style, and more. I ultimately failed to enjoy this novel for the same reasons that I dislike horror movies where foolish characters enter repeatedly into darkened rooms, or reruns of "I Love Lucy" where every plot is based on a series of easily resolvable misunderstandings that somehow require 30 minutes to remedy. It should be noted that most or all of Ishiguro's novels do have elements of frustration. However, in his first three works, provoking a certain level of impatience in the reader seemed appropriate given the characters and story lines. Not so with Orphans, which exceeded the limits of my patience not to mention my interest. It's really too bad because the man has a golden pen and writes some of the most poignant prose I've ever read. If you liked his earlier work but didn't enjoy Unconsoled, stay away from this one and hope, like me, that Ishiguro writes something worth reading again.

Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece of aberrant reality
Review: A brief look at the available reviews shows that middle opinions are rare. You either have the taste for Ishiguro's works after "The Remains of The Day" or you don't. It seems that many reviewers somehow missed Ishiguro's "The Unconsoled" (1997) which marked the departure from his impeccably realistic early works to the thrill of unexpected ground loss when reality suddenly starts melting. I greatly admire the author's craft in creating the sense of hugely aberrant reality from a set of completely innocently looking steps.

The story starts slowly and picks up the tempo but very gradually. The narrative matter is very smooth, and each next episode is logically consistent with the previous one. Bothersome seeds are noticeable however here and there, usually in the overt obsessiveness of the main character with certain minor details. It feels as if the reader is forced to look at the world through his eyes and accept certain bents. Next time the reader notices a couple of hundred pages later, the entire world around the main hero is distorted. Even physical space and time are not the same. Effects worthy of science fiction remain completely unexplainable in "The Unconsoled", where a non-trivial highway drive is needed to get to the next room in the same hotel. In "When We Were Orphans" it also sometimes takes a very long time to get to a nearby point but this is because the path goes through an urban battleground, so the laws of nature are formally preserved, yet the eery feeling of irreality lingers on. By the end of the story the stream of events gets truly hectic and you can only guess whether there will be a resolution, which can never be taken for granted with Ishiguro. In comparison with static and observant earlier works, here the author makes the hero go through a bit of action.

Overall "When We Were Orphans" is more mature and less romantic work than "The Unconsoled" (and very different and not directly comaparable to "The Remains of The Day"). It is very intriguing whether Ishiguro will be able to make another step in the same direction (it does not feel that the theme of a confusued man in confusing world is exhausted) or will come up with something altogether different. I would not attach too much importance to the merits of the plot (or lack thereof) or to the message of moral responsibility in judging the novel. It is first and foremost a beautiful construct, made of everyday words and crisp sentences, yet almost as powerful in its abstraction as classical instrumental music.