While mother-daughter relations are at the heart of the novel, they are either paradoxically absent or hopelessly dysfunctional. The story centers on and simultaneously avoids Etsuko and Keiko’s failed relationship. Although their relationship serves as a bookend on either end of the narrative, the reader does not witness any direct interactions between the narrator and her older daughter. Additionally, Etsuko’s relationship with her deceased parents is absent, as is any mention of Sachiko’s mother.

Ishiguro depicts mother-daughter relationships with an entirely negative slant. The mother-daughter relationships depicted in the novel range from infanticide to neglect and estrangement. The most shocking of these relationships is the young mother and the baby she drowns in the river. The child’s gender is not explicitly mentioned, but it is likely a girl, as a baby boy would have been easier to place in a home or give to a relative. Sachiko’s relationship to Mariko is one of utter indifference or even resentment. Etsuko’s relationship with Keiko, although never witnessed, is similarly one of indifference: Etsuko recognizes the negative impact immigrating will have on Keiko, but does so anyway, and then leaves her in detrimental solitude without any intervention.