“Read Ishiguro for the first time and was fascinated by the writer's command over the narrative and the plot.Set in Shanghai of early part of the 20th century,it continues to the end of the Sino Japanese war.The sinister manipulations of the opium trading British companies who wanted to subjugate an entire nation by making them addicts,their complicity with the Chinese war lords and caught in between all of this, the saga of Christopher Banks and his parents makes for compulsive reading.The details of the young Christopher's memories of growing up in Shanghai are presented with such eloquence that it blends into one's own memories of childhood and how one perceives the adult world at that stage.The book meanders a bit in between when Banks goes back to Shanghai to solve the mystery of his parents disappearance.The history of Kuomintang fighters and the reality of Chiang kai shek's real motives are brought out in stark colours.Though it is almost fashionable nowadays to go communist bashing one can not but admire a system which has brought back China from what it was in the thirties to it's present stature.All of this is conveyed in just a few very telling sentences; that is the beauty of the narrative.The dramatic last part of the book is thrilling and profound at the same time; a rare combination.As the full horror of what happens to his mother becomes clear in the last pages,it is difficult to hold back emotions which assail you with a force that is quite unparalleled in modern literature.The fate of a woman who just wanted a fairer world for others!The reality of that arena of the big war comes clear in these last few pages but the suspense built over the entire book is absolutely masterful.This book has turned me into an Ishiguro fan.Have to read all his novels. ”