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When We Were Orphans

By Kazuo Ishiguro

(101)

| Paperback | 9780571225408

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Book Description

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. Now, as the world lurches towards total war,Continue

Critics

It's the way he tells it...

When We Were Orphans Kazuo Ishiguro Faber £16.99, pp313 Buy it at BOL All in all, Kazuo Ishiguro is a pretty odd novelist. His voice is studiedly anonymous, unfailingly formal and polite, even under the most dramatic circumstances. He resists and, I ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

In search of lost crimes

When We Were Orphans Kazuo Ishiguro Faber, £16.99, 313pp Buy it at BOL After the exquisitely restrained and limpid prose of his first three novels, Kazuo Ishiguro made an impressive - though to some, baffling - leap from realism into a recondite, dre ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

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6 Reviews

4 people find this helpful

I don't like it

I think it's wrong to start reading Kazuo Ishiguro with this title. The characters were poorly connected, and the plot was weak. The main character, a supposedly talented detective, was delusional - I don't know if it is what Ishiguro was trying to portray - and I found what he was doing simply poi ... (continue)

I think it's wrong to start reading Kazuo Ishiguro with this title. The characters were poorly connected, and the plot was weak. The main character, a supposedly talented detective, was delusional - I don't know if it is what Ishiguro was trying to portray - and I found what he was doing simply pointless and stupid. This really annoyed me. =(

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larukucafe said on Jan 20, 2007 | Add your feedback

2 people find this helpful

God I hate block outs

I had a 500 wor reviw typed up and was pretty satisified with it, when due to unfortunate coincidence, our family electricity supply had to be shut down temporarily and I lost the 500-word reveiw. So it's with regret and sadness that I would just say this really quick and short: When we were Orphans ... (continue)

I had a 500 wor reviw typed up and was pretty satisified with it, when due to unfortunate coincidence, our family electricity supply had to be shut down temporarily and I lost the 500-word reveiw. So it's with regret and sadness that I would just say this really quick and short: When we were Orphans is a pretty good read; especially if you are always whining about how big and delicious McDonald's hambugers always seemed when you were young, how McDonald's seems to be getting stingier by the year; It's true, they are and the burgers are smaller. Ishiguro's story linked with hamburgers, God I must be hungry. Nostalgia is always the king when it comes to Ishiguro.

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razor's edge said on Feb 2, 2011 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

我覺得這本小說在探討記憶的真實及虛構。記憶就像書中的上海故事，隱隱約約的有些情節，私心的加油添醋，塑造出一個自己覺得理所當然的藍圖。但是當我們回到事發場所（上海）回溯既往，才發現不僅人事已非，甚至記憶和事實之間存有鴻溝。劇作家會根據個人喜好改編真人真事/小說，而我們面對記憶時，似乎也會這麼做。就另一方面來說，將回憶中的點點滴滴拼湊成一個完整的故事，也像是一個偵探的工作。
書名叫做是When We Were Orphans，很有趣，因為一個人成為孤兒後，就一直是孤兒了，He became an orphan. He is an orphan. If you were an orphan, wh ... (continue)

我覺得這本小說在探討記憶的真實及虛構。記憶就像書中的上海故事，隱隱約約的有些情節，私心的加油添醋，塑造出一個自己覺得理所當然的藍圖。但是當我們回到事發場所（上海）回溯既往，才發現不僅人事已非，甚至記憶和事實之間存有鴻溝。劇作家會根據個人喜好改編真人真事/小說，而我們面對記憶時，似乎也會這麼做。就另一方面來說，將回憶中的點點滴滴拼湊成一個完整的故事，也像是一個偵探的工作。
書名叫做是When We Were Orphans，很有趣，因為一個人成為孤兒後，就一直是孤兒了，He became an orphan. He is an orphan. If you were an orphan, what are you now? 書中有3個孤兒，主人翁、Sarah、主人翁收養的女孩。在故事的最後，技術上來說，主人翁已非孤兒，那對於其他兩個人來說呢？
本書敘事步調緩慢，且前半部鋪陳稍長，但後半部頗精彩，令人驚嚇的同時，也令人心碎。我自己非常喜歡主人翁和他誤認為當年好友的日本兵，在槍林彈雨中行走於斷瓦殘壁那段描寫。但是也很疑惑，主人翁怎麼會認為，經過那麼多年以後，他的父母還關在當年那棟房子裡？是心理上欺騙自己嗎？

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meng chi said on Feb 22, 2011 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

Having enjoyed other novels by Kazu Ishiguro’s when I was offered the chance to borrow a copy of When We Were Orphans written in 2000 I decided to accept. An agreeable read which although I found slow to start with it made me think about childhood loss and how memory can play tricks.
The protagon ... (continue)

Having enjoyed other novels by Kazu Ishiguro’s when I was offered the chance to borrow a copy of When We Were Orphans written in 2000 I decided to accept. An agreeable read which although I found slow to start with it made me think about childhood loss and how memory can play tricks.
The protagonist is Christopher Banks born in Shanghai to a British couple early in the twentieth century. There he led the happy sheltered life of an expat of the time until the mysterious disappearance of his parents. The story is narrated by Christopher as now some twenty years later he is living in London, having been sent to England after becoming an orphan.
He comes over as a bumbling tragic character and it is difficult to imagine him as the well respected detective he has become.
Since the age of nine when he was orphaned Christopher has always been haunted by the unresolved case of his parents disappearance, which he has always believed was a kidnapping. Having become a detective he is now more than ever determined to return to Shanghai and solve the case, despite the fact that the city is now under attack by the Japanese Army.
His memories of the city and the difficulties he encounters especially in trusting the people around him make this latter part of the novel much more atmospheric reading than the earlier parts.
By the end I was thoroughly drawn in to the story that had slowly built and which the author manages to bring to a convincing conclusion.

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Lindyloumac said on Feb 3, 2010 | Add your feedback