When We Were Orphans

�England, 1930. An unsolved crime has always haunted detective Christopher Banks: the disappearance of his parents in Old Shanghai when he was a small boy. Twenty years later, as the world lurches towards total war, Banks returns to Old Shanghai, and the layers of the story peel back to reveal what the detective himself can�t or won�t see� that his heralded powers of perception may be blinding as well as illuminating; that his memory may have been distorted by his childhood tragedies; that the simplest desires�a child�s for his parents, a man�s for understanding�may give rise to the most complicated truths.�

Well this book is not really my genre and at times I was tempted to put it down and pick up The Sword of Shannara, piled up on the floor by my desk among other novels waiting to be read. It was not really a �pleasure� to read. I did not find it enjoyable the same way I enjoy my fantasy novels. Nevertheless, I found it intriguing and kept on reading. After I finished it, this book lingered long in my head. I often thought back to the themes and messages it tried to convey. The main theme of the book in my opinion can be summed up by this quote on page 162: �Here, in other words, at the heart of the maelstrom threatening to suck in the whole of the civilised world, is a pathetic conspiracy of denial; a denial of responsibility which has turned in on itself and gone sour, manifesting itself in the sort of pompous defensiveness I have encountered so often. And here they now were, the so-called elite of Shanghai, treating with such contempt the suffering of their Chinese neighbours across the canal�. This �conspiracy of denial� plagues all of the main characters in remarkable irony. Ishiguro points out this denial of responsibilty and on both the societal and individual levels. But he ends with a message of hope and a warning of the foolishness of denying these responsibilities.

My feelings towards Christopher, the main character and narrator, are mixed. I neither admire him nor despise him. Although at times he said or did certain things that frustrated me, I could not bring myself to blame him.

I think, overall Ishiguro did a wonderful job with this book. If you enjoyed Snow Falling on Cedar Trees you might want to pick up this book, it has some simularities. And even if you didn't like Snow falling on Cedar Trees, like me, I would still recommend this book because it is also very different in many ways.