When We Were Orphans – Kazuo Ishiguro

Similar in its Kafka like tone to The Unconsoled, the narrator moves through 20 years of his search for his parents who disappeared in Shanghai when he was a young boy.   As the story progresses, we move from realism to a Sam Spade vision of Shanghai in the 20’s and 30’s. The plot is tenuous and full of coincidences, yet Ishiguro’s storytelling skills hold our interest and the story is a compelling one.     Not as unsettling and intense as The Unconsoled, Ishiguro continues to be an author whose every book is intriguing and highly readable.