When We Were Orphans - Kazuo Ishiguro

Having read 'Never Let Her Go' very recently by this author, I really wanted to try to find some of his other works. Kazuo Ishiguro's 'When We Were Orphans' was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2000 and KM, whilst on her usual browse of the charity shops because she's a mean so and so, managed to find this little beauty for a paltry 60p. Yes folks, this was cheap as chips and not as fattening. * The story * Christopher Banks is our storyteller in 1930s London. We learn that he is one of the country's most renowned detectives. He moves in all the right circles among London's society, along the way meeting the mysterious Miss Hemmings, a ...  Read the complete review

If this book was on the shelf of a shop, many people wouldn't look at it because the cover and there is no colour to liven it up. The book is about the main character named Christopher Banks who is a very well known detective throughout the whole country and has solved many cases that other detectives haven't been able to, but one thing has still been on his mind all his life; the disappearance of his parents. The book is set in London and Shanghai, and the first half is set in London explaining about his boyhood and going into the past, and the second half of the book is set in Shanghai. The second half is mainly like the investigation where Christopher Banks ...  Read the complete review

I thought the ending was just silly, although it started well. Disappointing - Advantages: Starts promisingly - Disadvantages: Silly ending

I was truly disappointed and thought it disappeared up it's own backside a bit. It was very choppy. - Advantages: Remains of the Day - Disadvantages: flashbacks

In this book by the author of 'The Remains of the Day' the action centres around the character of Christopher Banks, a private detective who was born in Shanghai, but was shipped back to London following the kidnapping of his parents. Ishiguro moves the action in both time and place, flicking between the past and present, and from Shanghai to London. The evocation of the inter-war atmosphere is remarkable, giving you a real sense of what it was like to live through those turbulent and naive times. The characters realise their impending doom as the prospect of war looms on the horizon, but at the same time deny culpability or even a real belief in what ...  Read the complete review