In this seemingly simple story of a Japanese woman ruminating on her past in Japan before she came to England, readers must follow closely to note concerns and themes. Ishiguro seems to be talking about the difficulty of cultural change, for the suicide of Keiko, the eldest daughter of Etsuko, the narrator, hovers over the narrative.

Etsuko describes her as "pure Japanese," and while their coming to England is not made directly responsible for her death, Etsuko's youngest daughter Niki, part English, comes to her mother at the beginning of the novel to assure her she is not responsible for Keiko's death. The novel is, in fact, filled with examples of cultural change, both in England and in Etsuko's memories of Nagasaki after the Second World War. The pre- and postwar generations in Japan and England have particularly different beliefs and different ways of life, and...