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lalawoman416's review
5.0
So Kim is a white orphan raised as an native Indian who meets a Buddhist monk when he is 13. He becomes the monk's chela in the monk's quest to find the river of enlightenment. Along the way, Kim discovers he is the son of a regimental man and is forced to attend a Western school for a couple years. He bides his time at the school until he can regain his journey with his monk. This is one of the most beautiful books of friendship and mentorship Ive read in a while.
eadaz_'s review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
wyvernfriend's review
4.0
This is a book I read many years ago and enjoyed, and I think being a teenager helped my enjoyment. Re-reading as an adult, and with more knowledge of the world changes my view a bit, though a lot of the issues I had were more to do with the era of the book rather than the actual story itself.
Yes there are very few female characters of note. Yes it's a time when the British Raj were in charge in India and one of their major issues was the possible incursion of Russia or France (or Russia and France) from Afghanistan. But still this story of an Irish orphan being trained to do work for the powers that be as part of the Great Game played by people in order to manage the country. His ability to be different people helps the situation immensely.
I must say that as a kid I enjoyed the adventure but now I enjoyed the details and having just read the Skull Mantra the difference in acceptance of Tibetan monks and the casual way in which the imperial system is accepted as being for the "betterment" of the "natives" is an interesting look into the past.
Yes there are very few female characters of note. Yes it's a time when the British Raj were in charge in India and one of their major issues was the possible incursion of Russia or France (or Russia and France) from Afghanistan. But still this story of an Irish orphan being trained to do work for the powers that be as part of the Great Game played by people in order to manage the country. His ability to be different people helps the situation immensely.
I must say that as a kid I enjoyed the adventure but now I enjoyed the details and having just read the Skull Mantra the difference in acceptance of Tibetan monks and the casual way in which the imperial system is accepted as being for the "betterment" of the "natives" is an interesting look into the past.
alexprzy's review
3.0
Remember: it was really dry when I started reading in HK, hard to get into, then came to life when reading it in India. Powerful to read stories while in their settings.
chachized's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
henrieichler's review
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
christopherc's review
4.0
Published in 1901, Rudyard Kipling's Kim is a tale of adventure set in a vividly-depicted colonial India. Its main character is Kimball O’Hara, a thirteen year-old orphan of Irish descent who has grown up on the streets of Lahore after his mother died in childbirth and his soldier father perished of alcoholism not long after.
In spite of his genes, young “Kim” is entirely Indian, more comfortable in Hindi-Urdu than English, culturally of the Subcontinent, and familiar with the Hindu and Muslim creeds while ignorant of Christianity. As the novel opens, Kim is hired by a Tibetan lama who has come down from the mountains to search for a rumoured river of healing. Going with the lama brings him to a British regiment who, discovering his past, are keen to take him off the streets and put him into a school. However, this is the height of the rivalry between Britain and Russia in Central Asia, the so-called “Great Game”, and Kim's ability to pass as a local is attractive to British intelligence.
Kim was originally viewed as a boy's novel. Certainly everything here is good, clean fun. As he is entrusted with furthering British interests in the Great Game, Kim packs a pistol to impress the young reader, but he never shoots anyone with it. There are a couple of mentions of courtesans to make the point that seduction has often been a spy's undoing, but never any sex scenes or even romance. However, the novel is no longer as accessible to a young audience as it once was. KIM assumes a knowledge of late 19th-century geopolitics that would have been current in the newspapers back then but is now mainly forgotten, and he uses some vocabulary that must have seemed rather archaic even at the time.
But while Kim's appeal as a boy’s novel today can be debated, its attraction to adult readers is great. Kipling draws a magnificent canvas of India's many castes, religions and local traditions, one often just as valid today as a century ago. One can tell that occasionally Kipling's observations are tainted by his colonialist views, but no ordinary racist would show such great ethnographic interest in a colonial territory and present it as such a beautiful country. With fits plot moving from the burning-ghats of Benares to the rice fields of the Punjab and the cold Himalayas, Kim shows how rich India is. Though Kipling is unable to overcome completely his colonial privilege, he manages to depict many faults of British administration.
The use of the lama is an interesting device, though eventually I found the character so tiresome that I've subtracted a star from my rating. I was struck by how many features of Tibetan Buddhism were already well known over a century ago, in spite of Tibet being closed to Western travellers at that time.
In spite of his genes, young “Kim” is entirely Indian, more comfortable in Hindi-Urdu than English, culturally of the Subcontinent, and familiar with the Hindu and Muslim creeds while ignorant of Christianity. As the novel opens, Kim is hired by a Tibetan lama who has come down from the mountains to search for a rumoured river of healing. Going with the lama brings him to a British regiment who, discovering his past, are keen to take him off the streets and put him into a school. However, this is the height of the rivalry between Britain and Russia in Central Asia, the so-called “Great Game”, and Kim's ability to pass as a local is attractive to British intelligence.
Kim was originally viewed as a boy's novel. Certainly everything here is good, clean fun. As he is entrusted with furthering British interests in the Great Game, Kim packs a pistol to impress the young reader, but he never shoots anyone with it. There are a couple of mentions of courtesans to make the point that seduction has often been a spy's undoing, but never any sex scenes or even romance. However, the novel is no longer as accessible to a young audience as it once was. KIM assumes a knowledge of late 19th-century geopolitics that would have been current in the newspapers back then but is now mainly forgotten, and he uses some vocabulary that must have seemed rather archaic even at the time.
But while Kim's appeal as a boy’s novel today can be debated, its attraction to adult readers is great. Kipling draws a magnificent canvas of India's many castes, religions and local traditions, one often just as valid today as a century ago. One can tell that occasionally Kipling's observations are tainted by his colonialist views, but no ordinary racist would show such great ethnographic interest in a colonial territory and present it as such a beautiful country. With fits plot moving from the burning-ghats of Benares to the rice fields of the Punjab and the cold Himalayas, Kim shows how rich India is. Though Kipling is unable to overcome completely his colonial privilege, he manages to depict many faults of British administration.
The use of the lama is an interesting device, though eventually I found the character so tiresome that I've subtracted a star from my rating. I was struck by how many features of Tibetan Buddhism were already well known over a century ago, in spite of Tibet being closed to Western travellers at that time.
j_b0908's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0