Kim (Dover Thrift Editions)

If you love literature, this is a fantastic work. I also read in during a trip to India. The trip gave context to the novel and the novel context to the locations I was visiting. That's honestly the best way to explore a new country.

Review for Public Domain Books edition of Kim: B002RKRVY4:

No italics. Straight quotes. Dashes are Dashes. Paragraphs wrapped OK, with good indenting, and no space between.
Usual typos, e.g. Busts for buts. Pincers for pencase.

There are better editions available. If you're looking for a Kindle edition of Kim, don't just search for "Kim". That only finds a few of the many editions. Search for "Kim Kipling" (without the quotes) to find the 30 or so editions available. And also look for my review "Kindle Edition Choice is critical" for a review of all the available editions as of May 2010.

Probably one of the best novels ever written and is still being read since first published. Combines politics and an excellent story about early British India including the grand game still referred to in modern history.

This rating is for this particular edition , not for the novel itself, which is an excellent one. I'm returning this edition because of multiple obvious spelling errors/typos in the intro section, and because the intro section has a "World of Kipling & Kim" history timeline that bizarrely begins with the American Revolution. I don't have any confidence in this book's annotations / background section

This one's not properly formatted
for the Kindle
Don't bother!
It will drive you nuts

But don't overlook the book
Kipling is a lot more sophisticated than he looks
Some have called this a mystery or thriller
I loved the intricate look at culture
and a little bonus
A lama's enlightenment

This review is for Kim
Published by Start Publishing LLC
ASIN: B00ABDHYXW

This is a review of this particular edition, not of Kim as a book. Kim is a splendid novel by Rudyard Kipling. It's well worth a read.

This edition has text taken from Project Gutenberg, and is missing all italics and accents. It also has the errors in the text that are present in the Project Gutenberg text. It does have curly quotes and em-dashes, but that's the extent of the formatting. The verses at the start of chapters is very poorly formatted, and the in-line verses are even worse.

The are no illustration or annotations for the public domain text. This edition really has nothing to recommend it over the much better free version available at mobileread.

If you're looking for a Kindle edition of Kim, don't just search for "Kim". That only finds a few of the many editions. You'll need to used the advanced book search and search for title kim and author kipling and format Kindle Books. And also look for my review "Kindle Edition Choice is critical" for a review of all the available editions as of January 2012. I can't give a live link to the mass review here, but its web address is: http://www.the store.com/review/RYXM7JHQPNONU/

Rudyard Kipling’s Kim (published in 1901) was rather educational to read, although somewhat trying in deciphering the English/Indian language of the late 1800s British controlled India. Kim O’hara was a orphaned white boy running around India thinking and acting like he was a Hindu Indian when he meets an aged and possibly mad Tibetan lama, who is on a pilgrimage. I didn’t read Miguel de Cervantes’ novel, Don Quixote (1605), but I am familiar with the novel and the story of Kim reminded me of that classic tale. In Kim, a Tibetan lama was on a pilgrimage to find a holy River while Don Quixote was on a knight-errant search for chivalrous adventures...a perfect match. Both seemed ‘mad as a hatter’ (were they really?). Kim became the lama’s chela (disciple), while Sancho became Don Quixote’s squire. Like Sancho, Kim is forced to deceive his master (?) at times. Anyway, both novel’s are not an easy read. I keep reading the classics, because I believe it makes me a better reviewer who can then authoritatively compare modern novels with the distinguished novels of yesteryear. Does that make sense? So what’s Kim all about? I’m glad you asked...or did you?

Kim is a poor orphaned white boy who wears Hindu garb and is loosely watched over by a half caste woman. His father, a British soldier, and mother are both dead. Around Kim’s neck is a amulet that explains who he is. He gets his meals where he can and does odd jobs for the local merchants of Lahore City, including the horse trader, Mahbub Ali. One day Kim meets a lama from Tibet in front of the Wonder House Museum, who says that he is on a pilgrimage to Benares to find a holy river that absolves one of all sins. The lama tells the Curator of the Wonder House of Lahore about his quest on page 13, “Listen to a true thing. When our gracious Lord (Buddha), being as yet a youth, sought a mate, men said, in his father’s Court, that He was too tender for marriage. Thou knowest?” The Curator nodded, wondering what would come next. “So they made the triple trial of strength against all comers. And at the test of the bow, our Lord first breaking that which they gave Him, called for such a bow as none might bend. Thou knowest?” “It is written. I have read.” “And, overshooting all other marks, the arrow passed far and far beyond sight. At the last it fell; and, where it touched earth, there broke out a stream which presently became a River, whose nature, by our Lord’s beneficence, and that merit He acquired ere He freed himself, is that whoso bathes in it washes away all taint and speckle of sin.” “So it is written,” said the Curator sadly. Now you might think that I made a lot of mistakes in the above text in punctuation and capitalization, but sorry...I only put it down exactly the same way Rudyard Kipling wrote it. And who can question his writing ability?

Since the lama was on a holy quest, he only brought his begging bowl with him. It was up to Kim, now the lama’s chela, to find food and shelter each night after their day’s walk. At the end of the first day’s walk, they end up at a large courtyard for overnight caravans. Kim has had previous dealings with the local horse trader, Mahbub Ali. Kim ask for money for food from Mahbub on page 23. And Mahbub says to Kim, “And if thou wilt carry a message for me as far as Umballa, I will give thee money. It concerns a horse-a white stallion which I have sold to an officer upon the last time I returned from the Passes. But then-stand nearer and hold up hands as begging-the pedigree of the white stallion was not fully established, and that officer, who is now at Umballa, bade me make it clear.” The message will prove the pedigree of the white stallion. Kim agrees to take the message, but “He knew he had rendered a service to Mahbub Ali, and not for one little minute did he believe the tale of the stallion’s pedigree.” Who really is Mahbub Ali? After a short sleep, Kim said to the lama, “Come. It is time-time to go to Benares” The lama rose obediently, and they passed out of the serai (caravansary) like shadows. I hope my 23 page recap whet your appetite for the rest of the novel. There is a lot of adventure ahead if you can fist fight your way through the tough vernacular of late 1800s India. This novel is not for everyone. It will test your mettle, but make you feel like you accomplished something noteworthy...and you did.

. Rudyard Kipling was born in 1865 in India, in Bombay; but at five years old he was sent to live in a boarding house for the children of colonials, in Southsea in Portsmouth. The house was apparently both unconvivial and Spartan; as late as 1935 he said “I should like to burn it down and plough the place with salt.” At sixteen, he broke away, returned happily to India and worked as a journalist and began writing. His first stories about India are dutifully more grim and realistic; but in KIM, his last major work set on the subcontinent, he let loose and produced one of the great romantic adventure novels, something to set beside the very best of Doyle and Dumas and Stevenson—a full flowering piece of Victorian storytelling, with all the confidence and sweep of the period. James Joyce, at the end of DUBLINERS, felt that he had not given sufficient credit to the hospitality of his city, and so ended the collection with “The Dead,” which is surely one of the greatest pieces of fictional prose in English. KIM in turn is a luxuriant expression of Kipling’s feelings for India, as though only a novel which is constantly on the move—from Lahore across the Trunk Road to Benares, from the plains all the way into the Himalayan hills—can contain Kipling’s love and fascination. Perhaps only in so great a period of storytelling could a novel combine a foot-free espionage plot with so many lulling and vivid scenes of inspection and introspection.
Having had a long casual interest in India, I had for years avoided Kipling as being a tout for the whole dubious adventure of the Raj, for all the good those folk may genuinely have done. (As one British friend pointed out to me, any group which discouraged suttee deserves at least one round of applause.) And the contradictions in Kipling’s life were very real and very sharp—for all the love of India visible in KIM, Kipling also raised money for Colonel Dyer after the 1857 Mutiny, at a time when even the Blimps had stopped inviting him to dinner. Perhaps it’s a measure of his art that as the critics, from Eliot and Orwell on to Christopher Hitchens and Edward Said, have struck their various stances to Kipling, some part of him seems always to escape. The Norton critical edition of KIM has many essays on Kipling as imperialist or colonial writer, and yet none of them spend much time on Kim’s relation with the Tibetan lama, which is the emotional continuo of the book, and its triumphant end note. Morton N. Cohen, in his introduction to the current Bantam paperback, is one of the few to notice the mystical element in KIM, and to give it its weight. Like all great art, KIM is a strange and permeable thing, little likely to be nailed down.
Probably any old edition of the story will do, but if you want one with illustrations try to find the one with pictures by Kipling’s father, John Lockwood Kipling—they’re splendid. The essay by Edward Said on Kipling as an imperialist writer is an intelligent and even-tempered statement of the case; it’s in the Norton critical edition. Orwell’s piece is in his book A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS. Peter Hopkirk, the historian of the Great Game, wrote an amusing and informative book on his travels in search of KIM’s originals and sources, QUEST FOR KIM (University of Michigan Press, 1996).

Glenn Shea, from Glenn's Book Notes, at www.bookbarnniantic.com

Kim is a beautifully written book about the life in British India. There was nary a place in the world back then as diverse and touched by dozens of different cultures/traditions as Northern India. Mr Kpiling succeeds in putting the readers on the streets of the times and make them vicariously live the sights and sounds of the life then. One meets a bevvy of extremely interesting characters, each uniquely Indian in each's own ways and completely different from all rest. Consciously or not, the biases and discriminations that drove the everyday life are present unvarnished in the book too. The story is rich and full of twists. The language is simply exquisite. All characters, almost bar none, are memorable and lovingly crafted by the author. All of these and more make Kim as exotic as any book ever can be, even for someone from modern India.

I read the Vintage Classics edition on Kindle and found it fine. I missed have good footnotes but found that the built in Kindle tools could catch perhaps half the obscure words or references, and most of the frequent ones.

This book is invaluable in that it captures in a charming and literate style a way of life that has no doubt mostly disappeared. Unlike most books of this type, the focus is almost exclusively on the Indian population. Other than Kim himself, few white or British characters get more than a handful of lines.

We get detailed portraits of Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist characters, with the occasional Jain or Sikh thrown in for good measure. And these are not, as a rule, upper-class people, but common folk. How Kipling came by such detailed knowledge of ordinary Indians I can hardly imagine, but clearly, he must have had a way of gaining not only their trust, but perhaps also their friendship.

The book has wonderful descriptions of several cities, of the foothills of the Himalayas, and Great Trunk Highway. But best of all is the character of Teshoo Lama, the Buddhist monk who befriends Kim.

I should perhaps add, that though I myself am a liberal, I do not think an ideological or political analysis based on today's accepted values can be of any value when reviewing this book. If you want that sort of thing, read the equally excellent EM Forster book "A Passage to India."

This book stands on its own as an excellent novel and stunning portrait of a rich and fascinating world that has all but disappeared. The beauty, energy, and novelty of life is aptly expressed in these pages. Kipling made me feel the wonder of being alive and the miracle of life as it is lived in such great diversity across our planet.

The most interesting, and shocking fact about history is just how young so many of the military commanders and leaders actually were down through time. One of the most famous, Alexander III of Macedon, was barely into his 20's when he began conquering the known world. Wars today are still fought by people the same age as Alexander (some even younger), and there will always be glory in war for a young man wanting to make a name for himself.

Kim begins with a gun, a giant canon representing the strength, struggle, and oppression of India and the people who wanted control of the subcontinent. The book ends with a choice. In between we get the education of young Kim by his elders who see great promise in this talented, smart, cunning, and devious boy. Some wish to use him for the Great Game, that struggle for control over India (and now Pakistan), others wish to see him stay true to his native people (though little do they know he's actually white - a 'Sahib'), and one man, Teshoo Lama, wishes to set him on the path of 'the way', the true path of eternal salvation and freedom from sin.

And this struggle for Kim's soul - both figuratively and literally - makes up the heart of the book, and not so much for the character's sake, bot for our own. Kipling is forcing us to decide which way we would choose to go (war, peace, or indifference) by letting us inhabit a main character who makes us feel smarter than we probably are in real life, more cunning than we are even on our best of days, braver, stronger, and more experienced than we would admit to being and then leaving the final decision open to our own interpretation as a test to see what we would do with Kim's talents and teachers influence.

The novel does seem to aim for an audience of boys aged somewhere between 10 and 16 and Kipling does seem to be square in the camp of hoping young men will grow up to choose the way of peace, like the Lama, yet he doesn't beat you over the head with his morality, either. The life of the Great Game is very exciting, could lead to great renown, money, women, respect: all the things us boys dream of when we're young (and pretty much till the day we die old men, too). And even the simple life of just living your life out with basic comfort, a family, your head down and nose clean (the typical life most of us wind up choosing) is here seen as exotic, profitable, and, at the least, interesting.

In fact considering how much of the novel is focused on the relationship between Kim and the Lama and how relatively little is devoted to a more exciting life, goes to show just how difficult it is to steer people away from war, from vain glory, from 'illusion' as the Lama would say. Just one encounter with a spy, with a Russian with a gun, with a mysterious gem trader can nearly undo years of fellowship with a peaceful Lama whose earthly reward is begging and heavenly reward is uncertain.

And so looking deeper into these decisions it seems much clearer how in that particular part of the world even today it's not so difficult to see why young men chose to join up with groups that offer far more attractive and comfortable rewards here on Earth instead of following the ways of a prophet. Life in Pakistan and the surrounding area is harsh, dangerous, other cultures and foreigners look down on them as dirty and stupid, there are no real opportunities, and so it's not hard to understand why on the one hand even a powerful religion such as Islam can teach peace and on the other young men will kill in the name of it.

So in many ways that I doubt Kipling would have ever imagined, Kim is a very relevant novel today that teaches us quite a bit about ourselves as well as the people of an 'exotic' land in the middle east and subcontinent. Kipling shows us the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil, and though he aims for a younger audience, the book is filled with a wisdom that is well beyond the age of the intended reader.

I am a little uncomfortable with some of the generalizations Kipling paints with concerning nearly all the ethnicity. Mahbub Ali, a Muslim, is dangerously close to the stereotypical dangerous and shady Afghan Muslim, Hurree is a buffoon even when he's tough as nails and brilliant, Creighton is far too fatherly and pretty much stands for all of British colonialism, the two chaplains (a Catholic and a Protestant) are comic relief, and even the Lama seems very one-dimensional and straight out of a bad Hollywood interpretation of the wise, Tibetan monk.

Yet there is also real friendship between Kim and the Lama that transcends the page and in moments of crisis for the two of them genuinely had me worried for the outcome and that strength of the friendship helps sell the idea of the way of peace in the face of so many more tempting options. And it's that friendship on the page, the real art of the novel that made me really love the book despite its flaws.

Kim is many things: a vivid portrait of Victorian era India; a story of the love between a boy and an old man closer than father and son composed of two travel narratives separated by the interlude of Kim's education. Kim has excellent characters including: the holy Tibetan lama, Kim's father figure and dearest friend; Mahbub Ali, the wily Afghan horsetrader; the hilarious Bengali, the Babu and the sharp tongued, warm-hearted Sahiba. These players support the unforgettable character of Kim himself, the Irish-born child of India. Kim is introduced as a wonderful imp, who while growing up, tries to reconcile his identity as a white boy with his thoroughly Indian mind and heart, this is a vivid portrayal of the power of culture to define one's identity. In the course of the story Kim matures into a brave, clever and loving young man. This is a concise book that will be read repeatedly and each with perusal born anew as a soul on the "Wheel of Things".

[...]

When I was twelve, my mother decided to donate our complete edition of Kipling to the library. I pleaded with her not to, on the grounds that I needed it for my master's thesis. She said that a twelve-year-old couldn't possibly know what she needed for her thesis, and the donation was duly made. Twenty years later, I wrote my master's thesis on Kipling, concentrating on Kim. My mother apologized.

Kim is a miracle of realism in fiction, in the American school of realism rather than the English or European style of realism. According to many Indian critics, Kipling's enthralling picture of the Grand Trunk Road is unparalleled in its loving accuracy. The babu who is a Bengali and therefore very easily frightened proves himself to be a miracle of courage. The lama's visit to the Museum which of which Kipling's father was chief curator is described also with loving accuracy. And the character of Kim is based on countless Anglo-Indian children, although Kim himself is pure Irish.

Although Nobel Prizes are given for an author's complete body of work, it was never any secret that it was Kim who tipped the scales for Kipling; the prize for literature for that year was shared between Kipling and Mark Twain, who wrote the Great American Novel, Huckleberry Finn, which shares many of the same traits as Kim. The plots are totally different, though Huck's relationship with Jim is somewhat similar to that of the lama and Kim, but the realistic portrayals of an idiosyncratic society seen from someone living a picaresque lifestyle are equally powerful. Kipling, who had adored Twain since he first began to read him and had paid him an apparently unwelcome visit during his first tour of America, was overjoyed to be in such select company.

I have never regretted my decision, actually made at the age of ten, to write my thesis on Kipling and concentrate on Kim. I am 67 now, and I still love Kim as much as I ever did. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, nor do I know enough words of praise to encompass it. If you are interested in humanity, you want to read Kim.

Orphaned Kim lives the life of a native Indian,haunting the bazaars and alleyways of Lahore.Quick witted and alert,he is a trusted messenger for Muhbab Ali the horse dealer, and offers his streetwise knowledge to a Lama seeking a sacred river. But recognised as a 'sahib' he is drawn into the "Great Game" of imperialism,but his heart is with India and the teachings of the lama....
A thin plot of spies and espionage surrounds a book that is much more the India of Kipling's heart; the bazaars, the bustle of life on the road , villages and towns; the plains and the hills and eastern religions customs and philosophies.
The "thee's" " thou's" and esoteric allusions to Indian customs may lose some readers, but the annotations are superb as is Kipling's imagry of India. Kipling was undoubtably a shameless imperialist, believing in the 'good' the British brought to a 'heathen' class, but anyone reading "Kim" or indeed many of his short stories,would think the opposite is true. That Kim is of Irish parentage, and that the Catholic Father Victor is much more worldly and wise than the buffoon Bennett-the Church of England priest- goes completely against the patriotic jingoism of the day, and the wide, wonderful , vibrant and exciting world of native Indians contrasts vividly to the narrow ettiquette ridden world of the British colonial where "great game" intriques supplant the wonder of existence. Kipling also shows huge sympathy with the Lama's Buddhist philosophies and morals.
So reading between the lines, one wonders if Kipling's over zealous patriotism was so much of a front that he couldn't maintain when writing of his love of a country;India. In his own life, India gave him everything whilst England gave him misery. It's oft said that the most outrageously pro or anti advocates are closet sympathisers with the cause they profess to support or oppose; who knows ? Was Kipling such a person ?
Its this level of surprise in "Kim" as well as the scenery painted and even the waffer thin sub plot of spying that makes this a worthwhile read.

[...]

When I was twelve, my mother decided to donate our complete edition of Kipling to the library. I pleaded with her not to, on the grounds that I needed it for my master's thesis. She said that a twelve-year-old couldn't possibly know what she needed for her thesis, and the donation was duly made. Twenty years later, I wrote my master's thesis on Kipling, concentrating on Kim. My mother apologized.

Kim is a miracle of realism in fiction, in the American school of realism rather than the English or European style of realism. According to many Indian critics, Kipling's enthralling picture of the Grand Trunk Road is unparalleled in its loving accuracy. The babu who is a Bengali and therefore very easily frightened proves himself to be a miracle of courage. The lama's visit to the Museum which of which Kipling's father was chief curator is described also with loving accuracy. And the character of Kim is based on countless Anglo-Indian children, although Kim himself is pure Irish.

Although Nobel Prizes are given for an author's complete body of work, it was never any secret that it was Kim who tipped the scales for Kipling; the prize for literature for that year was shared between Kipling and Mark Twain, who wrote the Great American Novel, Huckleberry Finn, which shares many of the same traits as Kim. The plots are totally different, though Huck's relationship with Jim is somewhat similar to that of the lama and Kim, but the realistic portrayals of an idiosyncratic society seen from someone living a picaresque lifestyle are equally powerful. Kipling, who had adored Twain since he first began to read him and had paid him an apparently unwelcome visit during his first tour of America, was overjoyed to be in such select company.

I have never regretted my decision, actually made at the age of ten, to write my thesis on Kipling and concentrate on Kim. I am 67 now, and I still love Kim as much as I ever did. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, nor do I know enough words of praise to encompass it. If you are interested in humanity, you want to read Kim.

Orphaned Kim lives the life of a native Indian,haunting the bazaars and alleyways of Lahore.Quick witted and alert,he is a trusted messenger for Muhbab Ali the horse dealer, and offers his streetwise knowledge to a Lama seeking a sacred river. But recognised as a 'sahib' he is drawn into the "Great Game" of imperialism,but his heart is with India and the teachings of the lama....
A thin plot of spies and espionage surrounds a book that is much more the India of Kipling's heart; the bazaars, the bustle of life on the road , villages and towns; the plains and the hills and eastern religions customs and philosophies.
The "thee's" " thou's" and esoteric allusions to Indian customs may lose some readers, but the annotations are superb as is Kipling's imagry of India. Kipling was undoubtably a shameless imperialist, believing in the 'good' the British brought to a 'heathen' class, but anyone reading "Kim" or indeed many of his short stories,would think the opposite is true. That Kim is of Irish parentage, and that the Catholic Father Victor is much more worldly and wise than the buffoon Bennett-the Church of England priest- goes completely against the patriotic jingoism of the day, and the wide, wonderful , vibrant and exciting world of native Indians contrasts vividly to the narrow ettiquette ridden world of the British colonial where "great game" intriques supplant the wonder of existence. Kipling also shows huge sympathy with the Lama's Buddhist philosophies and morals.
So reading between the lines, one wonders if Kipling's over zealous patriotism was so much of a front that he couldn't maintain when writing of his love of a country;India. In his own life, India gave him everything whilst England gave him misery. It's oft said that the most outrageously pro or anti advocates are closet sympathisers with the cause they profess to support or oppose; who knows ? Was Kipling such a person ?
Its this level of surprise in "Kim" as well as the scenery painted and even the waffer thin sub plot of spying that makes this a worthwhile read.

Thirteen-year-old Kimball O'Hara Jr., known as Kim, is the son of an Irish sergeant in the British army stationed in India. Kim's mother, also Irish, died after he was born, and his father died about the time Kim was three, presumably from the effects of alcoholism and opium use. O'Hara left the boy in the care of a half-caste Indian woman of questionable reputation, and so Kim grew up in the streets of Lahore, then part of British India, now in Pakistan. The woman told Kim the words of his father, that he was to look for a Red Bull on a green field and everything would be all right. Sometimes Kim runs errands for his friend Mahbub Ali, a Muslim Afghan horse trader, to Col. Creighton, which are in actuality bits of information for British Intelligence.
One day while Kim is playing on Zam-Zammah, a huge cannon outside the Lahore Museum which the natives call the Wonder House, he assists an elderly Buddhist monk who is coming to the museum for information about the location of a special holy river to gain enlightenment. The lama takes Kim as his chela or disciple, and Kim, with his desire for adventure, decides to go with the monk in search of the river. While on their journey, they come across a British army regiment whose flag is a Red Bull on a green field. The two chaplains of the regiment, Mr. Bennett and Father Victor, send Kim to school at St. Xavier's in Lucknow, and to gain merit for good deeds the lama, actually a wealthy abbot, pays for his education. Creighton, a British intelligent agent posing as an ethnician, realizes that Kim, with his ability to blend with the culture, will make an excellent spy, so with the help of Mr. Lurgan, an India-born English trader and the semi-anglicized Hurree Chunder Mookerjee, a Hindu Bengali Babu, Kim learns the "Great Game" of espionage. Now sixteen, following his three years of schooling, he rejoins the lama so that he can help Huree track down a Frenchman and a Russian who are spying in India. In the process Kim is injured and becomes very ill. Will he survive?
While Kim, set in the 1880s and 90s, is a book about a young boy growing up, it is not really a book for children. There are references to opium use, smoking tobacco, and harlots, all quite accurate historically I'm sure, but not for small ears. The language is not too bad, although the "h" and "d" words appear once or twice, Hurree has the frequent bad habit of using an abbreviated form of the "d" word, the name of God is found as an interjection a few times, and the term "ba*t*rd" occurs once. We did this as a family read aloud, and it required a fair amount of editing. The plot is at times somewhat difficult to follow, primarily because of the descriptiveness and the heavy use of India place names and Hindustani words. But when all that is waded through, there is actually an interesting story with a great deal of adventure and action to it. Perhaps a "Junior Classics" version might be useful for younger children. It gives a very down-to-earth picture of life in India during the late 1800s and would make a good fictional complement to accompany a study of that country's history.

As the store lumps together all editions and formats of public domain texts often, this review will highlight the two ways I followed this story. I listened to Ralph Cosham's Blackstone Audio rendering. He handled the accents well of so many Indian and British characters, and the doughty if now politically incorrect Hinglish of clever Babu, the woman of Kulu, and the woman of Shamlegh stand out along with the titular Kimball O'Hara and his lama companion. Among the native speakers, Father Victor, Lurgan Sahib, and Colonel Creighton represent the lively spirit of those who try to remain Kim's betters, no small feat given his enthusiasm for the Great Game. Hearing the unabridged reading in my car each day, I'd follow it, for the terms to look up and another go at what in listening could evade me as to details, foreign terms however translated, and the intricately shifting plot, with re-reading the chapters I'd heard.

I used the Penguin Classic edition by Edward Said. His notes were often too terse to please me, but he handled in his extensive, probing introduction the imperialist themes as deftly as would be expected. Contrary to my expectations, Said shares much admiration for the novel's delightful renditions of life on the Great Trunk Road, and he tempers his criticism of Kipling's unquestioning support for the British Empire's control of the Crown Jewel with a warm understanding of what Kipling conveyed so well as one from India.

However, Kipling and his characters never ask what alternative to the Victorian hold over India might have offered its millions. Nobody challenges the British except to assert a Russian rival. The Indians serve the Crown, the British--and Irish, a point that Said notably does not single out for analysis--enforce it, and the religious quest that intersects movingly and powerfully as the book reaches its close in slightly awkward but thematically mature manner shifts it off at a parallel to the material ambitions which Kim apparently inherits as his legacy, and as approved by the natives themselves.

All this understood, the story entertains and you don't know what will happen next. The machinations of Babu gain particular momentum late in the novel, and they prove worthy of the adventure set in motion by such as Mahbub Ali, Creighton, and the coded secret agents who stretch back before Kim arrives and finds himself soon implicated to advance the interests--never questioned--of the Queen and, post-Mutiny, her willing minions. Kipling's inability to anticipate a few decades on the revolts and the resistance cannot be blamed on him but as Professor Said explains, they complicate more than the author might have comprehended how his own advocacy of imperial strategems implicated him in its telling and its cheerleading.

But I wonder if Kipling despite his control of the plot let on to the ultimate insignificance of at least the symbols of such political obsessions to overpower all rivals and all counter-plotters. This scene stands out as representative: "The wheeling basket vomited its contents as it dropped. The theodolite hit a jutting cliff-ledge and exploded like a shell; the books, inkstands, paint-boxes, compasses, and rulers showed for a few seconds like a swarm of bees. Then they vanished; and, though Kim, hanging half out of the window, strained his young ears, never a sound came up from the gulf." Kim wonders to himself more than once who he is, Irish, English, Indian, and the lingering mood that wraps you up as you follow him hints that Kipling raised in India appears, like his creation, not to be sure either.

Kipling's novel marks the advent of that most twentieth-century--and, some critics might argue, British--of genres: the spy thriller. At the same time, it is a pre-Forster and pre-Narayan peek at an exotic (to Europeans) and magical (if often idealized) colonial India, prophetic in its introduction of Indian lives to Western eyes. But, above all, it is an exemplar of late Victorian bildungsroman, the story of a young man's quest, torn not only between two cultures but also between the callings of the spirit and the demands of the world.

Not incidentally, I was led to my reading of Kipling via scholarly studies of the works of Conrad, and "Kim" straddles the line between Dickensian mirth and Conradian realism, between romance and cynicism. The novel is better, I think, in its former guise: more convincing in the outsized characters it portrays than with the socio-political plot it weaves. Especially memorable are such characters as the oblivious but incorrigibly hallowed Teshoo Lama; the "iron-willed" Sahiba, known for "her failings, her tongue, and her large charity"; the patron-spy Mahbub Ali, who takes Kim under his wing; and the sorceress Huneefa, who accepts fees for "all sorts of exorcisms." At the other end of the likeability spectrum is Father Bennett, a Church of England chaplain who peddles a "creed that lumps nine-tenths of the world under the title of `heathen.'"

Although some readers (especially young readers) have a hard time slogging through Kipling's occasionally elliptical prose and the formal archaisms with which he renders the speech of his native characters, I nevertheless wished I had read this as a teenager. At times, the novel recalls the popular adventures of Robert Louis Stevenson, which I also loved as a kid far more than I do now. Of course, one can't fault Kipling for building a bridge between the literary aims of nineteenth-century romance with those of twentieth-century realism, but his unique yet disorienting hybrid requires a suspension of belief that is a little hard to achieve as an adult. "Kim" is far more compelling for the fantasy it creates than for the reality it depicts.

'Kim' is a work that could receive very different reviews depending on the biases of the reviewer.

Any professor from the English department of my alma mater (Rutgers) would insist that 'Kim' should never under any circumstances receive any praise as it is racist, glorifies imperialism, was writen by a dead white male, and lacks a political philosophy acceptable to a modern progressive liberal. Well, I suppose that it lacks any real political philosophy (except some very general complimentary comments about democracy) and Rudyard Kipling is dead, white and male, but the first two comments are completely wrong and and this sort of review is the voice of ignorance.

A staunch traditionalist, conservative would insist that it is a canonical work that should be read by every school child as a superior example of English literature and the epitomy of the written Enlish language. This is equally ill-informed and ill-considered.

'Kim' is a wonderful story of an orphan in India (the part that is now Pakistan; Abid-please consider it a gesture of respect that I mention the change in geography) in the late 1800s. Kim is the son of an Irish soldier raised by locals, familiar with the customs and languages of the Hindus and Muslims of the area who gets recruited by the British to spy for them. Kim acts as a guide for a Tibetan Buddhist priest who is on a quest in India, broadening his knowledge of the cultures of his world and giving him an excuse to travel even further. He comes upon his father's regiment, and the officers of the regiment arrange for Kim to attend a 'proper' British school. Throughout the story, a British spymaster is helping Kim receive an education (both formal and in the skills needed to serve the British rule in India) and arranging for Kim to carry messages and run small but important tasks for him.

Throughout the book, the only Indian group that is treated with disrespect is Hindus who have sacrificed their own culture's customs in order to get ahead in the British goverment. Frequently, the low opinion of the British held by the Indians (Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist) is mentioned, and is usually pretty funny. The other European powers that are mention in the book are not treated with respect, but that is understandable (at least to me in context; other readers will have to make up their own minds).

Kipling's passion for the land he was raised in and his love for the peoples he was raised with is unmistakable, as is his love/hate relationship with the British government (N.B. he was not knighted in a time when most prominent authors were; he was entirely too candid about the British rule in India and the Crown's treatment of her soldiers). The language of the book is a little hard to follow, between regional loan words and the English of the time, but a patient and persistant reader will find the effort rewarded.

A great spy novel, read it for yourself and don't trust the critics who speak based on assumptions rather than knowledge.

Kipling's tale has been compared to Huckleberry Finn since it is a story about boyish adventures with an older man of a different race. Most of the story's characters have mildly hostile criticisms against other people different from themselves. The characters vacillate between hostility and friendliness. Usually, these criticisms are put in a humorous context. Kipling seems to accept it all with a grin as if to say "Oh well, that's how people are. They do enjoy their prejudices". There is no discomfort or condemnation of what the characters think of others. The judgments can be against someone's religion, caste, race, or sex. But as far as religion goes, the characters seem to think that someone of different religion is a surprisely decent person, even though they are following a religion that will send them straight to hell.

The characters are all distinctive and the closeness between the Lama and Kim is presented in a convincing, moving way. I really got the sense of wonder that Kim felt as a boy on the road for the first time and how he joyfully looked upon the new sights. Kim grows up by having many mentors since he is an orphan. He is also seen as a good candidate to be a spy for the British government since he can move so easily between the world of the British Sahibs and the Indian natives they rule over. The author mentions that most Sahibs would not like to be among the natives so closely, but it all comes so naturally to Kim who considers himself halfway a native. In fact, he struggles with his identity. Is he to take on this new identity as a white sahib or will he remain a white totally assimilated into Indian culture? But this identity crisis also helps him become a spy because he can easily wear different masks, acting a part for any occasion.

The other part of the story is the quest for the river which will give the lama enlightenment and how Kim, as his chela, helps the lama on his quest. This is the Hindu theme of freeing yourself from desire, lust, and anger. Kim does not really become like the Lama in pursuing this religion. But the Lama does warn Kim to act to acquire merit or don't act at all. Whether Kim acquires merit in the great game of spying is questionable since the game itself requires you to be a shady character who serves the interests of the government with its ambiguous reputation. Kim manipulates the lama to move in his direction during their journeys, just as the British government manipulates Kim into working for them. I can't say the relationships are entirely pure.

Rudyard Kipling (never "Sir Rudyard", though the honour was proffered on a couple of occasions) was one of the great writers of the late Victorian/Edwardian period, and the first English-language author awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (indeed, if you look at the list of Laureates, he's probably the only winner in the first twenty or so years of the Prize's existence that most people today would recognize). His literary legacy is somewhat complicated; on the one hand today, you're likely to read "If--" at some point, a poem he himself said had been anthologized near to death, and "The Jungle Book" has, courtesy of Uncle Walt, become a cultural staple. Conversely, "The White Man's Burden" has become shorthand for a whole bunch of now-discredited attitudes, and is guaranteed to be brought up in any history class on the late 19th century. Kipling's imperialism was controversial in literary circles in his own day, but popular with the masses; now it's a bit of a millstone, and the focal point of both defences of his (very much worth defending) literary output and the attacks on the same.

"Kim", Kipling's most notable novel for adults (he produced a vast quantity of poems, short stories, and fictions for children in addition), was published in 1905, two years before his receipt of the Prize (indeed, it's generally thought to have been instrumental in clinching it for him). There are quite a few autobiographical elements present, though many modern readers won't recognize them as such on the face of it, as Kipling's youth in India is not a widely known part of his biography (despite how many of his most famous works center on the subcontinent). But, it is true, the imperial poet was born on the frontier, and truthfully was never fully comfortable living in the mother country. Our protagonist, little Kim, is a street urchin, the orphaned son of an army officer and his wife, who both died - he speaks Hindustani (and some other languages), and little English, and mixes freely with the local population, wanting little to do with the British. However, circumstances lead to his being thrust into white society, and we follow Kim as he tries to find his place in the world.

This is the novel that widely popularized, though it did not coin, the term "the Great Game" to describe the little cloak-and-dagger operations between the British and the Russians on the vast Indian frontier. Kim finds himself drawn into the world of espionage intermittently, while also accompanying a wandering Tibetan Buddhist monk on his search for a legendary mystical river. Really, as the foreword to this edition notes, the novel doesn't have much of a plot - it's episodic, dropping and picking up on various elements as it goes along. The characters are the real focus, as well as the setting, and Kipling paints a vivid picture of the India he knew. For all his imperialism, he's quite good at writing characters of a wide range of ethnicities with a good degree of respect. Kim's dilemma, of a native-raised white boy trying to find his place in the Empire, mirrors Kipling's, but Kipling's writing style doesn't really focus too much on internalized issues. One gets the sense that a different writer might have gotten more out of this premise than Kipling does here.

All the same, well worth reading.

This was Kipling's only full-length novel. For it he was reviled, during his lifetime, both as an imperialist and as an Indian-independence sympathizer. In truth, the novel reflects Kipling's own experience - first as child abandoned by his parents while they went to India, then as a treasured child upon whom all the love and attention of the Indian Ayahs (nannies) was showered, when his parents returned and took him to India to live.

Actually, there are three aspects or themes of the story, reflecting the different phases of Kipling's life in India: first, as an army orphan, abandoned by those who were set to watch over him; second, as a participant inducted into the "Great Game" - the unseen, silent war of espionage between the British and the 19th century Russian Empire; third, as a spiritual journey as the boy, Kim, becoming a man, follows a Tibetan monk in search of a river that cleanses the soul.

The way in which Kipling weaves these three themes together is quite unparalleled in modern literature. There are points where the writing verges on sublime. Also, in the context of the two recent conflicts in Afghanistan, the story contains much pertinent historical context. I know of no other novel quite like it.

This review is for Kim (illustrated edition)
No publisher given.
ASIN: B0066XMENQ

This edition does have illustrations, but it places them at the start of chapters, completely out of order and with no relevance to the text.

No italics. No accents. Straight quotes. Dashes are hyphens. A small line space between paragraphs with first line indent (on all paragraphs). Usual error of pincers for pencase and other typos from common versions of the public domain text.

This edition has nothing to recommend it over other better editions that don't cost more.

If you're looking for a Kindle edition of Kim, don't just search for "Kim". That only finds a few of the many editions. Search for "Kim Kipling" (without the quotes) to find the many editions available. And also look for my review "Kindle Edition Choice is critical" for a review of all the available editions as of January 2012. I can't give a live link to the mass review here, but its web address is: http://www.the store.com/review/RYXM7JHQPNONU/

This review is headed by a quotation from the author who said it of this -his most famous novel .It is the work of an author deeply in thrall to his subject matter and Kim is a very autobiographical work .The eponymous Kim is like his creator torn between two allegiances -just as Kim is unable to decide between his British employers and benefactors and his longing forthe freedom of his roving life ;so too was Kipling torn ,raised as he was by his Portugese Roman Catholic "ayah " but also listening rapt at the knee of his Hindu servant as he regaled the eager young Kipling with stories and nursery rhymes of India .

Kimball O'Hara is an orphan -his late father being a soldier with an Irish regiment serving in India .He lives the life of a street urchin in Lahore and attaches himself to a Tibetan lama as his " chela" -or apprentice -and together they roam northern India as the lama seraches for the mystic "River of the Arrow" .They have many adventures among the beautifully described and meticulously evoked scenery of northern India .Then Kim is adopted by a British regiment and sent away to school where he is unhappy but still escapes in vacation to resume his roamings with his beloved lama .

In the final section of the book Kim is recruited by Colonel Creighton to be an agent of British Intelligence and play a crucial role in " the Great game " of espionage -notably to thwart the ever present Russian scheme of occupying northern India using Afghanistan as the base .( Lest sceptics decry this as absurd I suggest they brush up on their history and would also point out Hitler paid the Afghans to raid India during World War 2 and so tie up British and Indian troops )These scenes are well and vividly written with the Indian agent ,Hurree Babu being a strongly written character

The book is unparalleled in its portrait of life in northern India and the reader can almost picture the open skies , experience the very sights ,sounds and smells of bazaar life and taste the dust of the roads as it swirls in the wake of the characters journeys .This section of the book is the work of a man in love with the countryside and its people .

It is less successful -and accurate-in its passages dealing with Indian religion and as a novel it is patchy .The school section is les gripping and the novel as a consequence rather sags in the middle but its climax cements its place as a key novel in the espionage genre

Kipling's genius was as a storyteller rather than a novelist his best work coming in the shorter form such as short stories but it is still a wonderful book that is unequalled as a descriptive work and an insight into British India

"Who is Kim?" is the rhetorical question posed several times in this novel of India under the Raj (Queen Victoria, latter 19th Century). Born of British parents but raised as an orphan by natives, this unique boy is a Eurasian sprite, a gamin not only of the streets but also the plains and ulitmately, the hills.
Comfortable in various dialects and delighting in disguses and
urban pranks, Kim little realizes that Fate is grooming him for the Great Game (secret service to Great Britian). Indeed Kipling frequently uses the horse metaphor, with the boy as "the colt." Ignorant of his true heritage and birthright, this merry and resouceful hustler attaches himself to an aged holy man--a seeker of the Way. As the tale progresses, there develops a
curious but deep bond between the Tibetan Red Hat and his quick-
witted CHELA (servant.)
This unlikely duo sets out across the Hind, each following his own, private Quest: for Kim it's a red bull on a green field which will make his fortune; for the Lama it's a special river which will grant him ultimate peace.
Mutually dependent for philosopical wisdom and street smarts, for phsyical sustenance and moral enlightenment, the pair encounters many stangers and surprising allies on their journey, discreetly underscored by Her Majesty's desire to learn the disposition of certain Rajahs and devious foreigners. No one can be trusted in this land of passion and self-gratification, but there is a legitimate need for an accurate Survey of the subcontinent.
Rudyard Kipling's background and jounalistic experiences in India--"the Jewel in the Crown"--provide vivid inspiration and exhaustive detail for this tapestry of a multi-cultured nation in political bondage. He endows his young protagonist (aged 12-16) with many endearing qualities, but never permits him to forget that he was a Sahib--with a duty to the Great Game of international and internal espionage. Kim forms several unique friendships as he tramps the Grand Trunk, the dusty plains even into the high Hills. To be sure he acquires a formal, Sahib's education, but it is on the road as a willing wayfarer that he accumulates diverse skills in native arts. For young Mister O'Hara is being trained--not as a soldier--but as a chain man for the prestigious Ethnological Survey. Kipling blends narration with clever dialgoue, action with introspective reflection, as old man and boy seek their individual paths in life. Kim represents the best of both (or multiple) worlds--enthusiastically dedicated to her Majesty's illustrious service. A children's classic to be enjoyed by all ages.

In _Kim_, Rudyard Kipling follows two seekers as they travel about Colonial India.

Kim is an orphan, an unusually clever and observant adolescent boy who is well acquainted with street life and dubious business in Northwest India. By virtue of his parentage, however - his father was a British soldier - he has one foot in another world as well. Throughout the book, Kim seeks his identity - will he live the simpler, unencumbered life that he loves, or will he join the world of the Sahibs, the men who rule India? .

At the opening of the book, Kim shows kindness to an elderly Tibetan lama and, in the lama's eyes, anyway, becomes his disciple. Kim accompanies the lama on a quest to find a mythical river where the lama believes they will find enlightenment. Eventually, the lama pays for Kim's education; while he is at school, the British groom Kim to become a spy. Throughout the rest of the book Kim travels with the lama, performing his work inconspicuously so as not to disillusion the old and rather oblivious lama. Along the way they encounter all that is good and bad in India. The lama wants to escape the Wheel of Life; Kim notices that "by the roadside trundled the very Wheel itself, eating, drinking, trading, marrying, and quarrelling - all warmly alive."

The book examines the relative merits of action and inaction; of the worldliness and other-worldliness. "What profit to kill men?" asks the lama. "Very little - as I know;" says an old soldier, "but if evil men were not now and then slain it would not be a good world for weaponless dreamers." Later, the lama tells Kim that "To abstain from action is well - except to acquire merit." "At the Gates of Learning we were taught that to abstain from action was unbefitting a Sahib. And I am a Sahib," Kim says, revealing his choice of identity.

This is a beautifully written book and a wonderful depiction of life in Colonial India. The Penguin edition has attractive cover art and an excellent introduction and very useful endnotes by Edward W. Said.