When We Were Orphans

Written in fluent style, with little breathing space, the storyline keeps the reader engrossed. Yet many an issue remains as regards logic and rationality of behaviour on the part of the actors in the story, chiefly, the protagonist! The author uses chance rendezvous to get the characters meet at unexpected spots, which, in my view weakens the reliability of the ‘facts’ of the story in that it starts appearing untrue, unrealistic. In progressive writing, emphasis ought to be on reality of the world ‘as it is’ or ‘as it ought to be’; that is the purpose of any ‘literature’!Yet the spotlight on opium wars and the horrific condition of human beings in China and Japan during that time span speaks volumes of the civilisation and its ongoing journey.

This is my third Ishiguro book...and in significant way the book is similar to the other two I had read. Told in the first person Orphans is about how we remember our past. As Christhoper Banks now an aged detective staying in London is recolleting his life many minor details seem to be confounding him, taking the style of recollecting closer to how we actually remember things located in our distant past, bits & pieces coming together to form a whole without having to be in a chronological order. This is signature Ishiguro.When We Were Orphans is a book about a detective but not 'detective' book in that it is not concerned with how Christopher Banks solved his cases but the things he unearthed in the course of his investigations. It is genre bending and makes a book bigger than the sum of it's parts. I had been told in a writing workshop that a detective book starts with problem and ends with a solution and along the way you can use it to explore social and other issues. An accomplished detective, when Banks sets out to investigate why is parents suddenly dissapaired in 19th century Shanghai smarting under opium addiction, he discovers things far removed from what he had grown up believing. Like other Ishiguro books this one is also minimalistic, only detailing the back story of the main character and providing only so much of the background of the other characters as much is required to help the main narrative.

Well researched , delicately nuanced and told without boring prevarications. It seems impertinent to comment on work of a Nobel laureate

This is a miraculously good novel. The hold of memory could not have been better evoked.https://www.amazon.in/dp/0571283888/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_3

The whole story resonates from the start, you start believing more and more in the process that the writer tags you along once you set on the journey , that culminates finally to the end product , which is mounted upon war torn lives , missed opportunities and lingering relationships .This is a story of puffin , Christopher banks , now a famous detective in Europe , but one of his chapters in the life still remains unfinished in his childhood Shanghai where he has to return to search for his missing parents . We can actually feel the insinuating turmoil and the sordid hopes through the masterful writing of Kazuo Ishiguro , who pens his best in this sort of story .The war may not itself detoriorates the complementary lives led by many , if not for the associated by products of it . All through the book you will find the inner thoughts racing towards the inevitable war that's unfolding in Shanghai and engulfing the whole world in no time whatsoever .The book is not a recent one , actually released in 2005 , but I got my hands on it now itself , proving the surmise of better late than never . So , my recommendation is to go through it if you love serious lessons of a story .Rating - 8.3/10

When We were Orphans by Kazhua Ishiguro didn't offer anything close to the excitement I had before I started reading it.The book is about an Englishman named Christopher Banks. His early childhood was spent in the Shanghai International Settlement in China in the early 1900s, until his father, an employee of an opium business, and his mother, who campaigns against the opium business in China, disappear within a few weeks of each other, when the boy is about ten years old. Christopher is sent to live with his aunt in England. He becomes a successful detective; now he turns his skills to solve the case of his parents' disappearance. His fame as a private investigator soon spreads, and in 1937 he returns to China to solve the most important case of his life. The impression is given that if he solves this case, a world catastrophe will be averted, but it is not apparent how. As Christopher pursues his investigation, the boundaries between life and imagination begin to evaporate.The book seemed loosely plotted and written in parts or on a whim. When the protagonist who is praised for his case solving skills, searches for his parents in a house where they were supposedly kept hostage some 20 years back, you start doubting the intentions and logic of the writer. The other way I could see it was may be the protagonist was so obsessed with finding his parents that he had ignorantly hoped to see his parents at the place which was now under rubbles due to the Sino-Japenese War. At some point, you find the detective to be immature and illusive. There's a moment when he decides to elope with a woman he had come in contact in London without seeking his parents for which he had come to Shanghai. But, I must admit, the story does has its nail biting pace wherein you also seem to be curious to find where his parents would be after so many years. His search may look immature for a professional detective but you would play along with it till the end to find out the truth about his parents. The childhood times, the protagonist retrospects, spent with his friend Akira was the highlight for me. The kind of imaginary stories kids cook up, the kind of adventures kids have, you will relate to it completely.You will finish reading the book for sure that too with a tinge of pain in your heart but as I said you will have moments of irritation and confusion at the illogicality and idiocies of the protagonist.

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