When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
🕵️♂️ When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
Five-Word Review: Great premise, meandering execution overall
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½ (3.5 out of 5)
✨ First Impressions
After absolutely loving Never Let Me Go, I was excited to dive into another novel by the literary legend Kazuo Ishiguro—a man who's won the Booker Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature, no less. This time I picked up When We Were Orphans, which starts with a pretty compelling setup: a successful private detective, a long-lost childhood mystery, and a return to war-torn Shanghai.
But while the concept totally hooked me, the follow-through didn’t hit quite as hard. The tone feels off-kilter, the pacing wanders, and honestly, some of the war passages were just plain boring. Still, the emotional depth and signature Ishiguro introspection are there—just a little harder to access.
🧩 The Story Setup
Meet Christopher Banks, a young man raised in Shanghai until age nine, when both of his parents mysteriously disappeared—one after the other. He’s then shipped off to England by a man he calls Uncle Philip, who was his mother’s business partner (and definitely not an actual uncle). From there, he attends an elite boarding school and eventually studies at Cambridge, all funded by a mysterious benefactor.
As he grows up, Christopher becomes a private detective, a job he always dreamed of having since childhood—though it's made a lot easier by his seemingly bottomless wallet. But he’s never let go of the mystery surrounding his parents' disappearance, and it remains the defining puzzle of his life.
🎭 Love, Status & Sarah Hemmings
Christopher meets Sarah Hemmings, another orphan, at a swanky party at the Waldorf. She’s beautiful, charismatic, and aiming high—so she ends up marrying a power-hungry older man, Sir Cecil Medhurst. But Cecil turns out to be a drunk and a gambler, and eventually, Sarah leaves him.
They cross paths again years later at another party—this time in Shanghai, where Christopher has returned to chase down the cold trail of his missing parents. Sarah invites him to run away to Macau together, and he agrees… until he bails last-minute due to a hot new lead on his mother. (Ouch.)
🔍 The Family Secrets Unravel
In Shanghai, Christopher starts uncovering the layers of deception behind his parents’ fates:
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His father ran away with a mistress, then died of typhoid in Singapore.
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His mother was abducted and forced to become the concubine of a Chinese warlord, Wang Ku, due to Uncle Philip’s betrayal.
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Uncle Philip, who was in love with Christopher’s mother (a love that wasn’t mutual), later confesses everything and asks Christopher to kill him. (Christopher refuses.)
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The twist? Wang Ku is also the one who funded Christopher’s entire education—a deal made in exchange for Diana (Christopher's mother) agreeing to be his concubine.
Eventually, Christopher finds his mother in an institution in Hong Kong, nearly 20 years later. She has dementia and doesn't remember him, although she perks up when he uses his old childhood nickname, “Puffin.” He decides to leave her in the care of the institution, realizing he can’t undo the past.
💌 A Life of Reflection
Christopher never marries. Instead, he adopts a young orphan girl named Jennifer and raises her as his own. In 1947, he receives a letter from Sarah, who forgives him for abandoning her years ago and says she’s happy. He doesn’t quite believe her—he thinks no one who’s been an orphan ever truly finds happiness.
The book closes with that wistful Ishiguro melancholy: we may search endlessly for answers or redemption, but some voids—like the loss of a parent or a lost love—can never truly be filled.
📝 Final Thoughts
This was a slow burn. Some of the war scenes (which I honestly skimmed) dragged down the plot, and the pacing wasn’t always satisfying. But the emotional depth, the sense of displacement, and the layered unraveling of memory vs. truth? That’s pure Ishiguro.
Would I recommend it? Yes, if you’re in the mood for a quiet, introspective read and don’t mind a little ambiguity.
📚 If You Liked This, Try These Thoughtful Literary Mysteries:
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🧬 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro — A haunting blend of sci-fi, mystery, and loss. Ishiguro at his absolute best.
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🔎 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro — For a more character-driven, subtle story about duty, love, and regret.
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🏡 The Little Friend by Donna Tartt — A literary mystery that focuses more on character and mood than fast-paced action.
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👤 The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes — A reflective, memory-driven novel about how the past distorts our understanding of truth.
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🧠 The Sea by John Banville — Quiet, reflective, beautifully written, and tinged with the grief of lost family.
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