When We Were Orphans Book Review

     Ishiguro, Kazuo.  When We Were Orphans.  (London, Great Britain: Vintage International, 2000), 335pp.

     Reviewed by Collin Gilchrist, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA.

     When We Were Orphans, by Kazuo Ishiguro, tells the story of Christopher Banks, an English detective who was born in an international district of Shanghai, China.  When he was a young boy, his parents went missing and have not been found.

     The first section of the novel is about Christopher's early adult life.  He is currently living in London and the year is 1930.  This section describes Christopher searching to find his way in life.  He is kind of reserved and bashful.  Very quickly I found Christopher to be one of the most relatable characters I have read about.  In the opening scene he is attending a party where he meets many successful people who are a good deal older than him.  This scene made me think of several of the fancy events I have attended recently because I am going to college soon, such as the dinner I attended to receive a scholarship from my Dad's company.  I met many well-connected people but went in knowing no one.  At the party he is introduced to and becomes infatuated with Sarah Hemmings.  She retains some amount of significance in Christopher's life later in the novel.  Ishiguro's language usage is immediately apparent as very intellectual and proper.  The novel feels very British from the first page.  Unfortunately, this section feels like it has little plot direction, and started to become boring to me.

     The second section of the novel consists of flashbacks to Christopher's childhood in Shanghai.  He lives in luxury with his parents.  Christopher recounts playing with and getting into trouble with his Japanese friend Akira, who also lives in Shanghai's International district.  I found Akira interesting because his personality is very similar to that of one of my friends from my elementary school days.  The beginning of this section also felt like it had little direction, but looking back, I realize that this part of the novel is all about detail.  Ishiguro takes a great deal of time to make sure that the character's of Akira and Uncle Philip, because they are important later in the novel.  The plot suddenly takes off when first Christopher's father, and then his mother, are kidnapped.  Because there wasn't a lot of reference to this event, it took me by surprise, and all of a sudden all that background information made sense.  One point that I found very amusing is that when Christopher's father is kidnapped, he and Akira pretend to try and rescue his father.  I think the disappearance of Christopher's parents played a role in his career choice.

    The third and largest chunk of the novel resumes Christopher's adulthood, but now closer towards the middle of his life.  He has found his own way, and after gathering more clues, he thinks he has an idea as to where his parents are.  Does he find them?  I'll leave that to you to read the book and find out for yourself.

     Although When We Were Orphans was quite bland in the beginning, it proved to be quite an enjoyable novel.  I found the setting and plot to be original and unique when compared to anything I had read before.  In terms of plausibility I would say that the story is quite plausible.  It is a work of fiction in a completely non-fictitious setting.  Although some events feel like small coincidences, they are in no way implausible.  By the last page, Kazuo Ishiguro's When We Were Orphans was a great, refreshing read.



-C. Gilchrist

Because I Could Not Stop For Death Analysis

In class last week we had to write an analysis on the philospohical and sociological merit in this poem and analyze Dickensons opinion on life. As I sat in class leausurly glossing over the poem I thought to my self, "Ehh another assessment, another poem" but then as I kept glossing over it a couple of things connected for me in the poem. First off Dickenson looks at life as a thing to be lived to its fullest, with of course the possiblility of death at any time. She talks about death so comfortably that it almost seems like she has come to terms that eventuially "Death will stop for her" but until that day she will do nothing less with her life, she wont stop loving the life she lives just because the thought of death may slow her down. And another thing I found quite interesting was the fact that Dickenson talks about death in such a calm, nice manner, something, or in this case someone that is taking her on an new adventure. She talks about going into "eternity", like after death there is another life to be lived in "immortality." If you think about it, this is a pretty cool poem, she gives you a feeling that nobody should stop for the inevitable death to get you and when it finally does come, embrace it.
-Kyle Fischer

What I Read That Mattered

What I Read That Mattered

                Hopefully when I’m looking back on this letter in the following years I remember all the “reading” I did in high school. I want to remember looking back at spark notes for all the reading that I didn’t do, and all the books that I should have read an I managed not to read at all but make it by in the class and still get a good grade. I’m sure the teacher reading this is snarling at this letter trying to think of all the way that they could eliminate spark notes from the internet and make their classes harder. But in fact through all the spark notes, I did read some books. I enjoyed the transition of books that I read from a freshman to a senior, the books not only got deeper, but they applied more to your life as you grew older and you life’s decisions began to transition. Freshmen year my favorite book was The Alchemist, now yes this book was the first book we read going into high school but it was a nice easy read that portrayed your future to you, at that point you were young in life and waiting for your future. Sophomore year the books weren’t all that interesting, but they did get deeper and made you think more. Junior year, the book that I liked the most was Walden, this book was a very refreshing book it let you look at the simpler things in life and help you look at the more important things. And finally senior year, this year Mrs. Elliott defiantly knew how to pick readings that directly applied to seniors, they all consisted of a journey that opened up your perspectives to the future and made you realize that right now you really are at a crossroads in your life and things are going to be changing a lot. The one for the year would have to be The Poisonwood Bible that book defiantly symbolized a crossroads in life and a change in those people’s lives that was defiantly significant, much like our lives right now. I really enjoyed this transition from year to year and the transition through them. I guess I will remember my memories with my English teachers more than the books that I read over the years. Anyone have any thoughts or opinions on this subject as well?

-Kyle Fischer

Every journey is a reward

As senior year comes to a close we are all looking back on the memories of our entire high school experience. In class we are discussing how "the journey is the reward" and I can't think of a better example of this theme than what has happened in school. The classes we've taken, friends we've met, gained, and lost, relationships built and destroyed all contribute to the kind of person you are today. One of the questions that I know I have been asked by my teachers and friends quite frequently is "what would you go back and change?". Looking back on all of my decisions I can say with confidence that I am proud of my choices and my mistakes. Every time I have decided to do, or not to do something has taught me a lesson. These lessons learned are a reward in themselves because they will be able to give insight into the future, and they make sure that the same mistakes are not made twice. What we will take away from our high school experience will stay with us through college and the rest of our lives. Although most of us say that we hate Los Osos, we owe so much to this school. Without it who knows how we all would have turned out. As we enter college we must treat it with the mindset that each experience will be an important life lesson we will carry with us forever.

Animal Farm

As sort of a last book to read this semester, I chose Animal Farm by George Orwell mostly because I never had the chance to study it when I was a sophomore. A fairly quick read, I was overall completely surprised with the relevancy that the story holds to human history. The most obvious tie is the rise of Communism. But Orwell explores deeper into the beginnings than just the rise- it takes a group of uneducated people (or animals in the case of this novel) and a very persuasive leader who is able to instill trust upon the followers. Once the leader has talked his way into a more authoritative position, he then adds a military regime in order to protect his "equal preachings" or just outright absurd laws from the public's potential backlash. As soon as the military (or rather threatening dogs in the book) is in place, the preacher of equality for everyone becomes a feared dictator and benefits from the reductions forced upon the public. So it seems as if history prevails in every equal-rights movement and that eventually the system becomes corrupt.

Reading this book made me realize that if a country (the average people inhabiting the region) is not educated enough to realize the rise of a dictator when it is occurring, it is almost easy for it to be engulfed in some type of scheme to benefit the few in power. At the end of the book, it was almost depressing to read that the pigs learned to walk on two legs to better fit in with the human race when the animals worked so hard to separate and better themselves from man. It seems that eventually things will return to their natural state before the up rise and revolt because although history repeats itself, it is nearly impossible to change.


-A. Pruett

TOSTADA analysis of Kubla Khan

Kubla Khan, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is my favorite poem.  From the title one can discern that Coleridge's poem is about Kublai Khan, the Mongol ruler of China when it was conquered by the Mongols' great land empire.  This is one of the reasons the poem first caught my interest, as Kublai Khan has been one of my favorite historical figures ever since I did a report on him in fourth grade.  There seems to be no occasion for this poem.  Coleridge just had a creative idea and turned it into a poem.  The poem shifts attitudes drastically from the first stanza to the second.  In the first stanza the tone is dreary and trance-like.  The second stanza is suddenly much more serious and dramatic.  The final stanza returns to the dream-like tone while maintaining the seriousness of the second stanza.  The arrangement and wording of Kubla Khan give an impression of exotic wisdom.  It reads a little like something Yoda might say, and feels like something the Caterpillar might recite to Alice in Alice in Wonderland.  The most significant device of the poem is its imagery.  The imagery is what makes the first stanza so calm and intelligent, while the second is frantic and revering.  Contrasting imagery is used for dramatic effect: "That sunny dome! Those caves of ice!" (Line 47)  In addition to imagery, Kubla Khan contains a number of similes.  The Aha! moment is found in the final stanza, where the theme becomes apparent.  In the last lines of the poem, Coleridge marvels at Kubla Khan's great acheivements and wishes he could have done them himself.

-C. Gilchrist

My Sestina

One day Mrs. Elliott asked us to write six words on our paper.  Me being myself decided to make these words really random.  One thing led to another, namely my sestina, "A Lesson":

For dinner I catch a fish
Fresh from the lake.
Before traveling home.
I will cook it on the fire
With no fear of an alien,
For it is not the night.

I mustn't fear the night.
They are so odd, the fish,
Frantically darting in patterns very alien.
It's said something strange hides at the lake.
I hope it isn't attracted to my fire,
A bright disruption to its home.

Meanwhile I need to go home.
The day is becoming dusky night.
As I sit by my fire
Something stalks my fish.
My meal is desired by an alien.
He can't catch any at the lake.

Why did I travel to the lake?
It doesn't feel like home.
To me it is as alien
as to the sun the night.
It is only full of fish
To be cooked on my fire.

Is there more than cooking on the fire
to the piscine souls populating the lake?
Is food the only meaning of the fish?
Like us they call Earth home.
What is the meaning of life and death, day and night?
Perhaps this is known by the Alien.

From the shadows appears the Alien,
suddenly entering the light of my fire.
My foolishness has troubled him this night.
The Alien doesn't want to eat the fish of the lake.
He teaches me why the lake should be home.
It is the beauty, not the flavor of the fish.

That late night meeting with the Alien
By the lake and my fire
Showed me the importance of the fish to my home.




-C. Gilchrist