Chilling in Shanghai

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro is a beautifully-written and richly detailed novel set in London and Shanghai in the early twentieth century. A secret lies at its heart, and its narrator may be totally unreliable. Or maybe not.

Christopher Banks seems to be a quintessential Englishman -- indeed,the opening paragraphs of this book show that he is at pains to seem that way. But he spent the early years of his life in Shanghai, where his best friend was a Japanese boy, Akira. When Christopher was ten, his father and mother were kidnapped. For months, Christopher and Akira played at detectives, finding Christopher's parents again and again in their imaginations. Then Christopher was sent to England to live with an aunt. He has been obsessed with crime and and mysteries ever since.

In 1937 Christopher, now a renowned amateur detective, returns to a Shanghai threatened by Japanese invasion. He is determined to solve the case of his missing parents and seems confident that, after over twenty years, they will be found alive. At this point several things began to trouble me -- surely Christopher is being a trifle unrealistic? I realized that many of Christopher's statements have been awfully grandiose, even deluded. And really, outside of mystery novels, how many renowned amateur detectives were there in 1930s London?

After finishing this lovely but uncanny novel, I longed for a group of intelligent friends -- a book club, perhaps -- with whom to discuss it. The author's limpid prose hides levels of deception and confusion, so that, in the end, I was unsure what was real, what existed only in the narrator's mind.

If all this sounds intriguing to you, I hope you will pick up When We Were Orphans. And then tell me what you think happens, because I'm not sure.