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Kazuo Ishiguro

When We Were Orphans Paperback – January 1, 2005

by Kazuo Ishiguro (Author)

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England, 1930s. Christopher Banks has become the country's most celebrated detective, his cases the talk of London society. Yet one unsolved crime has always haunted him: the mysterious disappearance of his parents, in old Shanghai, when he was a small boy. Moving between London and Shanghai of the inter-war years, WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS is a remarkable story of memory, intrigue and the need to return.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Faber & Faber
Publication date

January 1, 2005
Dimensions

4.96 x 0.79 x 7.8 inches
ISBN-10

0571225403
ISBN-13

978-0571225408
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But for those like us, our fate is to face the world as orphans, chasing through long years the shadows of vanished parents. There is nothing for it but to try and see through our missions to the end, as best we can, for until we do so, we will be permitted no calm.
Highlighted by 397 Kindle readers
What has quietly shocked me, from the moment of my arrival, is the refusal of everyone here to acknowledge their drastic culpability.
Highlighted by 197 Kindle readers
My intention was to combat evil—in particular, evil of the insidious, furtive kind—and as such had little to do with courting popularity within society circles.
Highlighted by 157 Kindle readers

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Faber & Faber (January 1, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0571225403
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0571225408
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.96 x 0.79 x 7.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #6,292,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #213,321 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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4.0 3,353 ratings

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Kazuo Ishiguro

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KAZUO ISHIGURO was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. His eight previous works of fiction have earned him many honors around the world, including the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Booker Prize. His work has been translated into over fifty languages, and The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, both made into acclaimed films, have each sold more than 2 million copies. He was given a knighthood in 2018 for Services to Literature. He also holds the decorations of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star from Japan.

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3,353 global ratings

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Evan D. Stark

mad Quest for Truth

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 30, 2022

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A boy plays detective trying to figure out his family secrets in pre-war Shanghai, his father disappears and then his mother, he believes linked to political/corporate intrigue. He has returned Shanghai during the Japanese invasion, now an established dedective, though its unclear that his detection skillsgo beyond his Oedipal fantasies..his quest to locate his mother leads his to his old neighborhood and a boyhood friend Akira, now a wounded Japnese soldier…and his old house, now occupied by Chinese refugees…his uncle (a middleman who has survived by making deal with Chek, sets him straight, his mother exchanges his freedom for her own enslavement or drug lord, father ran of…and he was spared…sees his mother before he dies, but turns out she still loves the child she lost…the trick here is the naïve narrator, whose mad quest for the truth about his fantasy moves the world around him.

3 people found this helpful

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Laulau

When We Were Orphans

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 23, 2013

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Kazuo Ishiguro is definitely a talented writer. I enjoyed the backdrop of a growing opium trade in Shanghai and other countries in the Orient, along with the growing political interference of other nations. Ishiguro fashioned an interesting novel, rich with imagery and choice words, truly evoking the romanticism of the 1920s and 1930s. His character development was deep and made for three dimensional characters which evoked emotional reactions from this reader. I also appreciated Ishiguro's sense of the passing of time, accomplished through the maturation of the main characters, establishment of relationships and the aging of cities. Lastly, I enjoyed how each character found themselves in the situation of being an orphan, and how powerfully that essence of loneliness was woven throughout the text.

While enjoying these elements of the author's craft, I was bored by the book and found the plot to be quite predictable. Once Uncle Phillip was introduced and became so enmeshed with the family, I predicted he would have some involvement in the disappearance of Christopher's parents. Also easily predictable was Sarah and her "grand" entrances into the text, as was the development of a "relationship" between Sarah and Christopher. While it was a long shot, I suspected Christopher would find his parents, or at least his mother, which he did. However, I was really saddened by the outcome of her "survival" under the abusive slavery of Wang Ku and the fact that she didn't know Christopher when finally seeing him.

Christopher was such a flat character, that I don't know how others found him so appealing. He was a workaholic who was only part of the "in crowd", due to his prowess as a detective. Otherwise, he came across a socially inept and unaware of how to begin and sustain a relationship with a woman. His obsession with Akira was unnatural, especially since there was some antagonism between the two boys during their childhood. The fact that any Japanese man looked like Akira, was a bit amusing to me.

I completely hated Sarah. She was an absolute nuisance and utterly lacking in any personal depth of character. The only times Sarah was remotely human and spurred my compassion was when she and Christopher rode the bus through London, with Sarah reminiscing about her mother. The other time I felt sorry for Sarah was when Sir Cecil slapped her around in the casino - no woman deserves abuse. However, Sarah's desperation to be connected with someone socially acceptable put her into the situation.

Christopher's mother seemed the only sense of morality throughout the text. She was steadfast in her determination to get her husband to admit his actions against the people of the Orient, as well as his extramarital affair. Her fierce love and protection of Christopher was evident, as she'd give him the eye when she was involved in business, but come outside to sing and play with him, once her work was completed. It almost makes me ill thinking about all she endured to protect the son she loved so much.

Lastly, I found it interesting, but almost understandable that Christopher would adopt Jennifer. Here too, the orphan rears its head and is granted a home. While not playing a significant role, Jennifer's actual presence in Christophe's life, seemed to give him a sense of purpose and meaning.

6 people found this helpful

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Pam Niedermayer

Engrossing and befuddling

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 23, 2000

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It was engrossing watching Christopher's childhood in colonial Hong Kong through his eyes at the distance of 20 years or so. This created a marvelous fog. Meanwhile, he's establishing himself as a detective, becoming famous, and trying to develop a relationship with Sarah. But Sarah is ambitious, wants to spend her time with famous, successful, creative people who are trying to save the world. Funny thing is, every man she takes up with mucks up, loses his creative juices; so she leaves him. Christopher watches, as he watches everything else, and continues to recount his life, including a long distance investigation of his parents' disappearance in Hong Kong when he was 7 or 8 years old.
Then Sarah hones in on Christopher to get him to take her to a fancy dinner, where she plans to meet her next conquest, not that she knows who he'll be at that point. She meets an aging diplomat who marries her and takes her to Hong Kong on a mission to save the world from the impending WWII. Christopher decides at that point, finally, to return to Hong Kong to find his parents, who he seems to think are still alive and being held by the bad guys. Mind you, this is 20+ years after the kidnapping events occurred. What is there to make him think they are still alive and still being held?
In Hong Kong the diplomat takes the by now predictable path; and Sarah turns to Christopher for help. All the other colonial Brits are pretending that the Japanese, who are invading China, won't touch them. And just as Christopher is about to end up with his Sarah, it seems that she's given up a bit of her ambition, he appears to go off the deep end, tells her he'll be right back, then proceeds to go off on a last minute search for Mom and Dad.
Honestly, I haven't been able to determine what's being said in the last third of this book, the part in Hong Kong. That's why I'm writing this review, to talk myself through it. The best I've come up with so far is that Ishiguro is describing the fantasy land in which the colonial Brits lived, their attitude toward being in colony, the denial that they'd ever be kicked out or otherwise harmed by the Japanese, that only they could save the world.

5 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Damo

The power of memory explored to varying degrees of succes

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 6, 2019

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As with many of his other works, KI explores the power, intricacies and fallibilities of memory in When We Were Orphans.
The first two thirds of this novel is up there with some of KI’s best work - his prose is both restrained and elaborate and the reader is always left pondering what is being implied beyond the surface. With KI that which is left unsaid by characters is often more significant than what is actually spoken - he communicates both the power of language and also how language can be used to distort reality.
That said, the final third of the novel loses its way. It becomes almost cliched with the tension being ramped up as the lead character attempts to discover answers to questions he has spent years seeking to discover. Ultimately the answers that are discovered are shrouded in doubt and this seems to be the key message of the novel - memory is unreliable and there are several versions of truth. This central premise is one which is interesting and KI has artfully explored previously; however, here it feels forced, rushed and perhaps a little contrived. I felt like the the book needed another two hundred pages to fully flesh out its ideas but no doubt KI’s published insisted it be around the 300 page mark as most modern novels are.

10 people found this helpful

Marina F.

OK until Shanghai

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 21, 2018

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I liked it up part 4 Shanghai. I did not mind the lack of detail in his detective work, or in his narration. I think that is his style. I have loved all the books I have read by him so far. I was quite happy until he started alluded to his parents being still held captive in the same house after what - 20 years? The guy in the consulate arranging for the welcome just seemed ridiculous, and him not disagreeing. Why did his old school colleague take him to his old house? He was about to elope and went to find the house he seemed certain his parents were held captive, why was he going without finding them if he was sure?. Coming across Akira his childhood friend like that was implausible but I realize this is fiction - but then just to leave him to be arrested and taken away with not a word. I was too much to swallow and lost me.

9 people found this helpful

MarvinPA

Get on with it!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 23, 2021

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I managed to get through An Artist of the Floating World, and struggled through Never Let Me Go, the latter especially hard going - good idea for a plot, but so much just, frankly, page filling about petty squabbles between teenagers.
This one is more of the same, but worse - page after page of absolute zero plot development. I read about a third, then gave up.
So I'm a philistine who needs to be entertained or educated or both, this author is not for me.

Mrs. J. E. Gorman

Cannot believe it!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 24, 2020

Verified Purchase

Being a fan of Kazuo Ishiguro 's novels and authorship skills, I cannot believe this is a mature work. My initial thought that it is a piece of juvenilia, or written for young children. Have seen it reviewed as weak, but it is worse than that. How could his publishers allow it to be released? Fell very disappointed and in need of a refund!

2 people found this helpful

Mrs. K. A. Wheatley

Puzzling

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 20, 2007

Verified Purchase

If all you know of Ishiguro is The Remains of the Day, be prepared to be startled. This is a strange, almost surrealistic novel, dealing in mysteries and confusion. The style, though modern, is forced into the narrative patterns of a traditional mystery novel, with a famous detective searching for clues amongst the rubble of a disintegrating country. It deals with the search of Christopher Banks for traces of his parents who disappeared in Shanghai.
It is a tricky book. The tone is unsettling, the plotting complex, and never wholly resolved. Whether this is a metaphor for Christopher's internal struggle is also never really clear. This is a book of beginnings and middles, but there are not a lot of satisfactory endings.
As ever with Ishiguro, it is well written and has that langurous quality which pervades his writing. I found it a frustrating read, and although not expecting a neat 'chocolate box' ending, would have at least like to have found some kind of resolution out of the wreckage. As it was I just found it vaguely unsatisfactory.

10 people found this helpful

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