Book Review: When We Were Orphans, by Kazuo Ishiguro

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I picked up this book because a) I really liked The Remains of the Day, by the same author, and b) it was recommended to me by Dr. Joe McLaughlin, my professor of 20th Century Brit Lit. While I didn't think it was quite on par with Remains, it was still a very good read.

Ishiguro once again plays with an unreliable narrator, Christopher Banks, who grew up in a British settlement in Shanghai not long after the first world war. His parents' eventual disappearances, along with his childhood playacting of detective work with his Japanese-born friend Akira, serve as catalysts for his eventual and very successful career as a detective. In time, he puts his skills to the test and endeavors to find his parents.

Although Banks is a detective, this does not read like a detective novel. Rather, we read about cases he has solved but are given no details about them, and he makes large strides toward discovering his parents' location without bothering to offer the details. But that's not what the book is about. Rather, it is about Banks' obsession with finding them that drives the novel, and the reality of the world he ignores and the people he sacrifices in order to do it.

What I love about Ishiguro's novels is the smooth and elegant writing, the subtle but sharp humor, and the highly original plots. I know when I'm reading an Ishiguro, and I look forward to the next. Highly recommended.