Title: Ishiguro rests on his laurels
Review: "When We Were Orphans" has a plot like a third-rate TV mini-series, full of implausible developments, improbable coincidences and loose ends. Ishiguro seems to be trying to make some point about the nature of evil - but quite what it is just doesn't come across. Much that would help us to understand the story is simply glossed over and hence the reader is simply left with too many unanswered questions - though do we care enough about the characters to want them answered?. Christopher Banks is the kind of emotionally constipated, self-deceiving character that Ishiguro seems to specialise in. The growing relationship between himself and Sarah Hemmings simply does not convince. Having read and very much enjoyed Ishiguro's earlier novels, I am extremely disappointed with this novel.
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