When we were orphans

Kazuo Ishiguro's expressive manipulation of the English language captivates once again with this crime fiction novel. Unlike other famous Japanese authors (i.e. Haruki Murakami and the like) whose books are translated by Jay Rubin/Alfred Birnbaum, Ishiguro spent the bulk of his life in England, shading his language with its own enigmatic twist. His expressions are not exotic per se, rather, concise, with comfortable fluency and laidback diction.

This book is about Christopher Banks, a famed detective who delves into the nebula that was his childhood in order to resurrect the shadows of his vanished parents. There is a fine balance of relations between the Chinese, the Japanese, and the British, as events such as the Opium trade and the Sino-Japanese war are explored in the midst of the mystery. Ishiguro weaves the upper echelon of society together with its depraved, lurid past in a delightful rally of flashbacks and narratives.

There are certain subplots which seem to be thoughtlessly thrown together to add to the mystique of the storyline as a whole, and this is easily perceived by leaps in hastily constructed logic, and over-convenient factoids that artificially slide into place. Military skirmishes are handled amateurishly and Christopher's language is pompous at times (as is characteristic of most of Ishiguro's narrators) but this is used to enhance his distorted view of the Japanese invasion.

Nevertheless, this book handles the themes of powerlessness and self-righteousness admirably and remains a haunting read.

Anon.