When We Were Orphans
(Kazuo Ishiguro)
When We Were Orphans/Kazuo Ishiguro
Beautifully written, extremely elegant in voice and in its depiction of manners and nuances, When We Were Orphans covers several decades in the life of protagonist Christopher Banks. Born to English parents at the beginning of the 20th century, Banks lives his first nine years at the international settlement in Shanghai, China. He is then orphaned , when first his father and about a month later his mother are kidnapped. Shipped back to his aunt in England he goes through the education system of upper-class England: public school and then Cambridge both providing a network of connections for a life time (or more).
The early disappearance of both parents instilled in Banks from boyhood the ambition and dream to become a detective, to fight evil doers and chaos, and after graduation he goes on in pursuit of said vocation. Gradually he becomes, very much to his content and to a larger social acclaim, a renowned detective in the Sherlock Holmes? tradition (an educated gatherer of facts, a logician and a scientist of sorts). When he grows sufficiently established and after years of research he constructs a.theory , meshing together bits and pieces of information and childhood memories and interpretations. He then goes back to the Shanghai of 1937 to try and solve the mystery and conduct the pivotal investigation of his life. He aims to find his parents whom he believes may still be among the living.
The novel is rich with suspense ? not in the American cliffs hanger tradition ? always in the endearing British understatement. The narrative is always interesting, the ?diet? enriched with intelligent and insightful observations of human nature with its mixture of hubris and wisdom, heroism stupidity and cowardice. A special link between Banks and various other orphans throughout the plot seems to suggest the driven and outcast nature of orphans however well nurtured and or well connected ? what ever their particular circumstances they seem to be doomed to the position of the almost assimilated foreigner.
Tremendously enjoyable read When We Were Orphans deserves a vast readership no less than Ishiguro?s acclaimed The Remains of the Day.
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