Reviews

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro

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motherraisin's review

dark emotional slow-paced

3.5

At points this book really worked. I mean, Ishiguro cannot write poorly! But I often felt like I was being pranked by an irrational liar who sadly is also the narrator of this not quite detective tale. Christopher Banks is not a character I will think about again.

tessyoung's review

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4.0

When We Were Orphans Kazuo Ishiguro (Audible + Paper)

In When We Were Orphans we spend time in the hands of renowned 1930s detective Christopher Banks, who recounts his life from childhood in the International settlement of Shanghai in the 1900s through to the 1950s.

Through a non-linear narrative his biography is built around the impact of a seminal experience during that childhood and his adult attempts find out what actually happened, and why. As Christopher pieces together the things he remembers, half remembers, believed as a child, assumes or deduces, we see an unreliable narrator perhaps a little close and entangled in his material.

I love Ishiguro’s acute observation of manner, of the English and the class system. For much of the time I found Christopher a quite sympathetic character, a product of his world and upbringing. The sections through his childhood, school days, early adulthood were just perfect.

However, in part 6, we see Christopher as an adult of Empire and any sympathy dropped away as he more fully embodied the role of one who knows best despite exhibiting total naivety of the situation. The ‘we’ll jolly well do this thing’ attitude oblivious to the risks to himself and how he thus endangered others, grated considerably. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I have no problem with disliking characters and it didn’t seem out of character so I was interested to see how Ishiguro made this shift.

The final section I also found interesting. The jump of 20 years reveals how Christopher has become much like those he criticised on his return to Shanghai. The change in places over time is viewed as deterioration, but he has lost his youthful expectation that certain people should, or could, have acted to prevent such change. He has also it seems come to terms with the solitariness of his life, roads taken and those not and has found a home in the status quo.

Still uncertain about Audible, I again found myself going back to the book to check out various sections, and to read sections for myself to see if the tone of the delivery skewed my response to certain elements. I don’t think it has in this case.

bywell's review

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3.0

Love Kazuo Ishiguro, did not love this book. As a child, protagonist Christopher Banks has a loving caring relationship with his friend and neighbor, Akira. As an adult Banks becomes a self-centered, egocentric bully when speaking about the impotence of "his case" and in an active war zone no less. Akira reappears later but in an unsatisfying, hard to fully grasp role. In the later chapters the mystery is explained rather than revealed, never a satisfying ending.

amirahalidrus's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

luciamj's review

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mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

moonlitface's review against another edition

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4.0

When We Were Orphans was an interesting book. Bercerita tentang Christopher Banks dan perjalanan mencari keberadaan kedua orang tuanya setelah mereka mendadak hilang di tengah kontroversi perdagangan opium di Cina pada tahun 1910—1920-an, salah satu hal yang menarik dari buku ini adalah pembagian part menjadi lima per linimasa penting. Kalau nggak salah hitung, cerita terentang dari tahun 1923 hingga 1958, a good 35-year span, sejak Banks dititipkan kepada bibinya sepeninggal orang tuanya.

Part 1 dan 2 was good, cukup engaging karena pembaca terus diberikan informasi tentang masa lalunya Christopher ketika tumbuh besar di Shanghai, while simultaneously keeping the current timeline plot going. Di part ini juga, pembaca menyaksikan Banks jadi detektif terkemuka di Inggris, diundang ke acara-acara elit, dan aku suka cara Ishiguro mendeskripsikannya. Di bayanganku, it was lavish, had old money vibes, in big spaces. Quite gagged me because it’s highkey my dream life to go to such events.

Part 3 was okay, seingetku sebagian besar isinya pengenalan karakter baru, yaitu Jennifer, seorang yatim piatu yang kemudian diadopsi Banks—tapi manggil Banks dengan “paman”—sekaligus keep the plot going dengan persiapan kepergian Banks ke Shanghai untuk misi pencarian orang tuanya.

Part 4 dan 5 was a bit boring, aku sempat mikir bakal kena reading slump pas baca kedua part ini, kajskjfs. Isinya tetap krusial, bisa dibilang menceritakan proses pengumpulan informasi untuk tempat yang harus Banks tuju selanjutnya.

Part 6 dan 7 merupakan klimaks dan resolusi dari buku ini, dan bisa aku ikuti dengan seru karena banyak aksi juga di sana-sini. Sangat menarik juga mengikuti kisah Banks kembali ke tempat tinggal masa kecilnya, mengonfrontasi, serta berdamai dengan masa lalunya.

Aku suka storytelling Ishiguro di sini. Sebetulnya nggak beda jauh dengan di Never Let Me Go, but somehow I liked it better here…? Mungkin karena latar tempat dalam cerita yang terus-menerus berubah, jadi kerasa dinamis aja ceritanya. Pengenalan karakter di awal cerita cukup overwhelming buatku pribadi, tapi lama-lama nggak bingungin lagi, sih. Karakter Banks sendiri kadang nyebelin. Tiap ada part dia maksa karakter lain untuk melakukan apa yang dia mau, bikin kesel sendiri. Tapi, kasihan juga sih, mengingat dia sangat bertekad untuk menemukan jejak-jejak orang tuanya (and wishing they’re still alive somewhere).

4/5.