Reviews

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro

mordecai's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious slow-paced

4.0

peciaq's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

4.25

sarahhallam's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

4.25/5 

I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. A stunning, introspective work of art on how our memories and perceptions inform our everyday choices that’s disguised as a mystery/historical fiction novel.
The brutal ending was the only thing leaving me shocked and not 100% in love with this book but 11/10 would recommend.

albon's review against another edition

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2.0

2014 review:

I skim read this really fast, so putting it on my 'read' shelf is almost an insult to the people who have actually properly read this. But I spent too much time on it (yes, that hours I spent intently reading the first 40 pages were too much time) to not get something out of it.

This book is boring. The writing is good and it's easy to read, if you can stand plots with no directions and a book where more than the the entire first half consists of a flashback to the main character's childhood.

READING PROGRESS
December 7, 2014 – Started Reading
December 7, 2014 – Shelved
December 9, 2014 –
page 44  13.75% "This will probably take me five years to finish."
December 12, 2014 –
page 105  32.81%
December 13, 2014 –
page 184  57.5%
December 13, 2014 – Shelved as: read-in-2014
December 13, 2014 – Shelved as: read-in-english
December 13, 2014 – Finished Reading
February 4, 2020 – Shelved as: historical-fiction

ahinks's review

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Having loved everything else I have read by this author, this one failed to grip me, it was a slow and sad story but I didn't overly feel anything for the characters 

_kathill's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

elenigori's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

sumlittlebee's review

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challenging reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

chiddless's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No

3.0

wossyboy's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

It makes no damn sense. Compels me though.