Kim (The Penguin English Library)

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.

A great story I have read many times. The audio quality of this version varies throughout the chapters and is fair at best to very poor at it's worst. Try another version to hear a great tale of India.

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.

The story is good just not the easiest story to read, maybe I had a bad week. I normally love Rudyard Kiplings work. I wish it was an awesome book with my name as the title. It's not even a girl called Kim lol

The Times (of London) recently had a list of 100 books people should read, but don't. Kipling's _Kim_ was on the list. Having a passing familiarity with Kipling (his poetry I find a bit offensive, his The Jungle Book (Unabridged Classics) was fun, though), I thought I'd give this a try. I was terribly disappointed.

First, the language was overwrought - even for late 19th century writing, Kipling is over the top. An excerpt: "Thou wast wondering there in thy spirit what manner of thing thy soul might be. The seizure came of a sudden. I know. Who should know but I? Wither goest thou?" This wasn't vernacular English even in Kipling's day, and frankly was too much - particularly considering the social classes of the speakers. I made allowances for the pro-imperialist, pro-British (and vehemently anti-Indian) tone of the book given the author and time period, although I can see how this would rankle some. The story is also liberally peppered with colloquialisms in Hindi, Urdu and perhaps other languages; while this gives some flavor to the story, it may be a distraction to some. (I sort of enjoyed it.) The greatest obstacle, however, was the glacial pace of the book. Kim - Kimball O'Hara - is the orphaned son of a British soldier who was raised as a native. While guiding a Buddhist lama across India, he comes across his father's old regiment, who take it upon themselves to educate Kim (a "proper" British education, that is), and recognizing his skills, to recruit him as a spy in "the Great Game."

This is all well and good, and in many respects creates the formula for the "espinonage" genre - but the story moved so slowly towards those ends, it was all I could do to muster the willpower to plow through chapter after chapter of young Kim running away from his British school to hang out with the locals, to be pulled back to school, to run away again ... all the while, of course, Kim is learning "trade craft": disguise, customs, observing details, learning about human nature. It made for painful reading.

Why three stars, then? For all its shortcomings and the issues I had in reading through it, Kipling certainly celebrates India: the various cultures, the sounds, sights, flavours and rich diversity are detailed here and make for a veritable smorgasbord of what colonial India must have been like. The racial undertones, its "burden of empire" and the strict class differences (among Indians as well as English) aside, it is apparent how deeply attached to India Kipling was. This was the book's only redeeming feature, albiet a mighty one. With that said, I can't recommend it. If you have a tooth for Kipling, I'd recommend his stories in The Jungle Book, which, incidentially, are very different from the Disney production. (No suprise there, I am sure.)

I was really excited to read this book as it fit the bill of all things I enjoy in a book. However, his attrocious writing style blind sided me and ruined the book. I stuck with it as far as I could, but after 70 or so pages of sentences like, "He halted at the stall next but one to his own." I had had enough and called it quits. If you would enjoy reading a book that is written in the style of the above sentence, this ones for you, if not, avoid.

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/

The description claims the Kindle edition has page numbers. I tried it on Kindle for iPad and Kindle for PC and guess what! There are no page numbers! I have the latest versions of Kindle on both PC and iPad!

Kim is a great story, but this is NOT the edition to buy. It's too bad, because it's a handsome book, sturdily built, and with the largest text out there (which is why I bought it). But unfortunately the text is full of misprints. Random periods, missing letters, wrong words, and a section of repeated text like a cut and paste operation gone astray. It's a bad value, and a worse gift. Move on...

The description claims the Kindle edition has page numbers. I tried it on Kindle for iPad and Kindle for PC and guess what! There are no page numbers! I have the latest versions of Kindle on both PC and iPad!

Kim is a great story, but this is NOT the edition to buy. It's too bad, because it's a handsome book, sturdily built, and with the largest text out there (which is why I bought it). But unfortunately the text is full of misprints. Random periods, missing letters, wrong words, and a section of repeated text like a cut and paste operation gone astray. It's a bad value, and a worse gift. Move on...

Maybe this is the way things were done a hundred years ago, but today, this book wouldn't get past the first reviewer. (Nor should it.) Read it for historical purposes, to see how bad novels used to be.

Otherwise, I recommend Laurie R. King's "The Game", instead -- or anything by her, for that matter. "The Game" follows Sherlock Holmes and wife Mary Russell in search of Kim, 30 years later.

Maybe it's because I'm a Yank but I don't understand why this book is a classic. It finally started getting just moderately interesting half-way through and finally I finished it out of spite, hoping for some grand event before the final page. No such luck. Right after I press submit here I'm going to trade it in for a 29 cent the store credit (which is probably generous).

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.

Kimball O’Hara is the orphaned son of an Irish soldier whose mother died in poverty. As a street urchin in British India, Kim survives by begging and running small errands for shopkeepers. Through a local horse trader, Kim inadvertently becomes involved with ferrying information for the British secret service. When Kim enters into the service of a holy lama on a path to enlightenment, his travels take him across the length and breadth of India.

“Kim” might be somewhat difficult to read at first, what with the period language and the historical setting, but it’s definitely worth your time. This is the type of adventure that every boy dreams of having, and I can’t think of any place more diverse and challenging than India. Even as an orphan in a country with a billion other people, Kim never seems to lose his nerve. “Kim” is a classic adventure novel that’s well-deserving of a spot on your reading list.

I found “Kim” to be a very, very lovely and moving book, more so than any I have read in quite a while. Only in the Indian subcontinent could such a protagonist be found; of Irish descent, who is identified as English, speaks Urdu like a Muslim, is ministered to by Hindus and finally leaves everything in search of salvation with a Buddhist monk. It is as if Kim is a mirror upon which the historic and cultural heritage of India will be reflected. Kipling is certainly not racist or condescending in his Kim. He is in some of his poetry, but certainly not here. He loves his Kim and India much too much, or at least that is the impression one is left with at the end of this book. "And Mother Earth was as faithful as the Sahiba. She breathed through him to restore the poise he had lost lying so long on a cot cut off from her good currents. His head lay powerless upon her breast, and his opened hands surrendered to her strength". Only someone who understands India and Indians can write something like this.
The “Great Game” is merely that, a diversion, and a game, it is not the plot. It is only relevant in that its pursuit Kim and Tesho Lama travel up and down the Himalayas, thus adding to Kim’s experiences and personal encounters in the subcontinent. As far as the language is concerned, I can understand what Kipling is trying to accomplish; Urdu/Hindi have two sets of pronouns, the upper/formal and the lower/familiar. The distinction between the two and its use makes every difference in communication. This complexity/subtlety does not exist in the English language. This is a story of growing up, of maturing, much like those of Jean Louise Finch/Jem or even Alice, and probably that is why it is so endearing.

Kim demonstrates a lot of maturity in the goodbye scene with the Woman of Shamlegh as well as affection toward a woman which he never before displayed. The Woman of Shamlegh says to Kim,

“‘Nay. But for one little moment—thou canst overtake the dooli in ten strides—if thou wast a Sahib, shall I show thee what thou wouldst do?’

‘How if I guess, though?’ said Kim, and putting his arm round her waist, he kissed her on the cheek, adding in English: Thank you verree much, my dear’

‘…He held out his hand English fashion. She took it mechanically. ‘Goodbye my dear.’

‘…More than that, they (the Woman of Shamlegh’s husbands) shall be paid in silver,’ quoth Kim. The Woman of Shamlegh had given it to him; and it was only fair, he argued, that her men should earn it back again.’”

A sign that a child has grown to be mature is that he is able to hold friendships with the opposite sex. A clear sign that Kim has grown up is that he does not hate women anymore. He shows the Woman of Shamlegh affection by giving her a hug and a kiss.

Also, because Kim chose the Sahib’s way of parting due to the request of the hill woman, it reveals that he has grown up to have a greater grasp to his English ancestry and culture. Kim showed he has become a better person because didn’t let greed overtake him, instead he willfully chose to pay the Woman’s husbands back in the silver that she gave him. In some ways Father Victor finally has a small victory of turning Kim into a “White man” and even a “good man.”

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.

I read KIM at school. We studied at the Convent school so reading KIM was part of our curriculum. And I must say KIM was the first introduction of a colonial era, now far removed, from the perspective of an English author. Before reading KIM my only introduction to life before partition of Subcontinent in 1947 was via the lens provided by my grandparents, for they had migrated along with millions of Muslims on the eve of partition. So reading KIM was like hearing another episode from the man who belonged to the rulers and not the ruled. So off course there was a perspective shift and we thought that it was a bit racist. But after re-reading KIM - I still have that copy from my school days - and after reading general history of British India, I think although Rudyard was being a bit racist but he loved India to the hilt. He loved Pathans so much that his main character besides KIM in the novel is a Pathan horse seller.

My verdict: I am not going to tell you a story of that orphaned kid on the streets of Lahore. But I must say that you better buy this book. And read it.

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.

When I read a book 40 years later, the issues within it and meaning to me change drastically. When the difference of time involves adulthood as opposed to childhood, that difference becomes more pronounced.

Kim was a child's book when I first read it. The writing was awkward to a grade schooler, but the relationships and dialogue had a romantic feel to the child.

To the adult, the book is about cross cultural bigotry, fighting over a child's education, and British occupation of a boy's future even though his heart and appearance are more of India.

And, so goes eponymous Kim. He is the boy without a country. His veneer is all Indian. He speaks the language too. But, his roots are British - and the white men - the few we meet - assure that the purities of the same are not confounded by Indian idolatry.

Kim, who is only a boy - even after the schooling period of the book's middle - cannot answer for himself what the adults decide for him. And, they do a pretty good job in spite of their biases and more.

The cute use of the languages coupled with the grandfatherly adoration of little Kim by the man of the mountain make this book wonderful. Kipling, whose youth educated him near or around the Himalayan mountains he expertly described in the last third of the novel, adoringly depict the mantra of the people of India. I feel his personal love for their spiritualism, and his description of the power of the appearingly timid nature of the same is impressive.

Kipling, who older scholars claimed wrote this book in derision of India, spoke nothing but of acclaim for the same - or so I interpret this novel. He educated the westerners about these people of the east long before National Geographic and television and the internet.

This book may be becoming outdated, but its importance is well worth recognizing. It is a good read - today or 40 years ago.

It's funny, whenever I use those words "one of the best novels ever written," I seem to be writing about some book which the Anointed Professors of English Literature never even think about.

"Kim" is a great example of that. I read it first when I was about 13, and loved it. I re-read it as an adult, and got a lot more out of it. For one thing, Kipling knew what he was talking about. While leftist professors would bleat of imperialism, racial oppression, colonialism, deconstruction and the rest, Kipling was actually way ahead of them. He obviously was aware of the British Raj in India, but he rather turned the situation on its head by making his hero a neglected and impoverished English boy.

So the novel deals with a situation where the British are "oppressing" the Indians, and among those "Indians" is a no-account slum-dwelling English boy --- and his best friend, a wandering Tibetan monk. These two embark on a quest: Kim searching for the regiment of his long-gone father, the monk searching for his mystic river. Along the way, they meet a fantastic and believable cast of characters, painted with a true artist's brush --- the brush of an artist who truly loved India.

Another novel I mention in this category is The Moonstone (Barnes & Noble Classics) which is to my mind superior to almost anything Dickens ever wrote. And then we have The Way of All Flesh...that's enough for now!

Happy reading to you!

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.

Mr. Kipling was born in the year 1865 in Bombay, India but spent his early childhood with his sister Alice in England in foster care. But in his later years, he would begin his journey in the world of literature and his first published work in 1881. He then returned to his birth place after that year and work on a newspaper and later publish more literacy works that would put him on the map. For his novel "Kim", it would be his most political.

In "Kim", we follow an orphan named Kimball O'Hara who's lived in Lahore, India almost his whole life. But in the story, he is working on a mission for the British and while doing so, he meets a Tibetan Lama who is searching for a legendary river. Kim then is sent to a school in England but is still in contact with his friend over the years. Then whey they reunite, he has been given a government job by retrieving items from Russian agents which could put both of them in danger.

"Kim" is a nice read for anyone who love classic novels. The story starts slow but works up all the way to it's end. The story's main character Kimball "Kim" O'Hara definitely has a nice blend of Oliver Twist with a few political bits. It's entertaining and very deep, but I wouldn't call it memorable at time. But "Kim" should be read for its spiritual feeling and readers will be on a wonderful adventure in India.

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.

It was a privilege to listen to Sam Dastor's reading of "Kim!" No other actor comes close to capturing the sights and smells, characters, and rhythms of life and speech so brilliantly and aptly described by Kipling as does Mr. Dastor. His exceptional performance should be available for streaming and on CD! I fell in love with India when traveling there in the 70's. Remnants of Kipling's India still existed then and probably still do, to some degree, today. Kipling's deep affection for the country and his respect for all its diversity is woven into a marvelous, colorful tapestry so compelling, that after listening to the book once, I read it. Eager to hear the story again I tried other versions only to be crushingly disappointed. Do yourself a favor; find a cassette player and buy this one Kim (Penguin Classics). Although the novel's time is one where bias flourishes among all classes, politics, and religions, the underlying theme is compassion and tolerance as chela and lama, babu and priest, and players in the Great Game in various ways "acquire merit." It is a story that can be heard and read again and again.

The orphaned son of a British Army officer learns the way of the streets of India, where he acts as a courier, and sometimes a spy, for locals who are in the pay of the British as spies, in their pursuit of the Great Game, in which the 19th century empires of Europe and Asia vie for control of India - the jewel-in-the crown of the British Empire.
At the age of thirteen, Kim befriends a Lama who is seeking a mystical river. Kim accompanies him on his search, and takes an important message to a British Officer regarding the nature of a white stallion's pedigree, which is really information about a tribal conspiracy. So Kim embarks upon an adventure which will lead him to his father's old regiment and his induction - after suitable testing - into the Great Game.
Not too much to do with the British Empire directly in terms of the Imperium and the underdog, the Indians with their tribal fiefdoms and a myriad of caste and religious divisions keeping the pot boiling well enough on their own. So there's not much jingoism evident.
I was struck by how much a couple of the characters resembled some of those by Fritz Leiber, and C.J. Cherryh. Kim was akin to Fritz Leiber's Gray Mouser. And the old woman in the carriage reminded me of Illisidi from C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series.

I found the quality of the writing suffered from very abrupt changes in events, which required a couple of re-reads of many sections to get the hang of what had just happened. The most literary section was the one describing Kim and the Lama's trek through the mountains in the end section. The rest was to a good standard, but would have benefited from a more point-of-view style to keep things on a more even keel.

Rudyard Kipling's reputation fell for awhile because many critics interpreted him as a mere apologist for empire. Recent criticism has reviewed his work in new light and has found his work, both stories and Kim, to be much more ambivalent about the relationship between ruler and ruled than traditional opinion held it to be. Traditional critics have often interpreted the ending of novel to portray Kim as having defintively chosen the English side of his English/Indian duality. Such interpretaion makes it seem Kipling himself thought that the English way was the better. Some of the postcolonial literary theorists , however, find no resolution of Kims character in the end of the novel but interpret the ending as just another indication of Kims ongoing ambivalence as he straddles two very distinct cultures. Perhaps only in the interior worlds of characters like Kim do the east and the west meet. Such a reading makes the experience of reading the book a much less resolved and so richer one. Also the stories are full of a similar ambivalence about English rule in India. Kipling often employs invented narrators who are used ironically to comment on the action of the stories being told. Some reviewers interpret the invented narrators views to be Kiplings own, a mistake which leads to simplified readings of the stories which are full of unresolved and contradictory elements. Kipling as shown by the careful readings of postcolonial critics was a much more complex character than he was traditionally thought to be and whose fiction refelects his own complex ambivalence toward the English presence in India.

Kim, orphaned son of an Irish sergeant in the Indian Army, is brought up as an Indian street urchin. Fluent in Hindi, English and Pushtu, he is quick-witted and street-wise. When he becomes attached to a Tibetan lama searching for the River of Buddha's Arrow, his life becomes intertwined with "the Great Game" - England's espionage network that safeguards British India. This is a terrific novel: witty, suspenseful, rich in descriptions of forgotten or disappearing people and customs, and above all as complex and layered as India herself. There is a smack of the colonist's superior airs in the novel - it is Kim's "white blood" that makes him immune to the suggestions of India's magic and his English education that allows him to resist hypnotism - but there is nothing, to my eyes, denigrating in the novel. Kipling loves India, and Kim is India. Able to mimic a Sahib, a Hindi, a Muslim, a beggar, a chela or what have you, he represents all of India: its "good, gentle" people who revere the wise and the virtuous. The ending of the book is perfect: there is closure, but it leaves all of India, from its dusty plains to the bitter cold of the Hills (Himalayas), open to Kim's skills and knowledge. A truly great book, much more than an adventure story, road trip, or coming of age story. It is all these and more.

This book took a few dozen pages for me to get into. The language is old timey at time. But after you get past that it is a great tale of India and the Great Game. It is a story of a boy turning into a young man and his travels as a chela with his Lama. It is like a mixture of Yoda and Luke learning the force and a spy novel.

This review is for Kim [Kindle Edition]
No publisher given
ASIN:B006RXD5NS

No italics. Straight quotes. No accents. No illustrations or annotations. Usual typos (e.g. pincers for pencase). A small space between paragraphs as well as a first line indent.

There's nothing to distinguish this from the many other simple conversions of the text, except that at least the publisher hasn't put DRM on it. But there are better cheaper editions that also don't have DRM.

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/

Kim is Rudyard Kipling's mysterious India: a combination of East and West, of mystery and mysticism. Kim is not the India of history books. It is not a neat historical fiction nor is it a simple adventure story in a slightly exotic setting.

Kim was published in 1901 and is the story of the orphaned son (Kimball O'Hara, known as Kim) of a soldier in an Irish regiment. The novel is set in the Indian subcontinent where Kim spends his childhood as a waif in Lahore.

The story of Kim's journeys, as he moves between the East and the West can be enjoyed as an adventure story or read as a window into British colonialism. Kim himself straddles a number of different worlds but never really belongs to any of them completely.

While the novel includes a richly detailed portrait of Indian life and assumes that western mastery is desirable, Kipling frequently identifies similarities between the cultures of India and those of the Europeans in India.

This is a novel which I think is best read twice. Once as a child - for the adventure and mystery and again as an adult for the broader story.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Kim is honestly a fun book. This is not to say that there aren't lapses, tedious mirings that swirl around the overall ebullient excitment, but these stem more from an excess of the author's wordplay than from anything else. The story is on the surface rather quaint: Orphaned British tyke grows up alone in India, has the internal wits and capacity to learn basic survival skills and has the ambition and sense of humor to make something of a name for himself. From there he meets a 'holy man'--not one in the traditional sense of Western (or even Eastern) literature, but here is more of a true seeker, someone not pulled down by the conventions of organized religiousosity, but one moreso looking for a one-on-one understanding of God. There is a great deal of subtle and transmogrified mythologizing--the traditional fables bowled over by reality, the high, idealistic hopes often stunted in birth by more rational and everyday life concerns. Kim, street-smart and wise before his time, is fascinated by the holy man's honesty and feels some compelling need to accompany the man on his random journies.
Kim is the story of two journies, certainly the holy man's as well as Kim's own, the reckoning with cultural identity and the east/west clash in a time of subterfuge and war. It is really a quite powerful story, dulled down at times by the author's seemingly ceaseless wonder, but for a tale marketed as being about a white European lost in the maze of turn-of-the-century India, there is a great deal that is very contemporary and an enormous amount of action and even betrayal.
Give it a go and read it to your kids. There are many valuable life lessons Kipling makes an attempt to teach and many wrong paths he explains to us all about taking.

I picked up the cd audio version of Kim purely by accident, and what a gem it turned out to be! Kipling's writing is superb and his characters are colorful and sympathetic. I found that the reader of this audio version, Ralph Cosham, really did a magnificent job with the various accents and added a lot to the imagery of the narrative. I've read some of Kipling's poetry, but this is the first of his novels that I have read. Other reviewers have commented that is Kipling's masterpiece. After reading Kim, I intend to check out some of Kipling's other works. This is a great work of literature. I highly recommend it.

Kim is a young boy, a naughty rascal from the streets of Lahore, very much in the tradition of Huck Finn or Lázaro de Tormes, heroes of the picaresque. He is the child of a dead Irish soldier and a native woman who is addicted to opium, so he is pretty much on his own, wandering around all day and being called "the friend of all the world". He has been told that he is destined for great things, and that he will meet his fate when he sees "a red bull on a green field". One day, a mysterious holy man arrives in Lahore and Kim leaves with him. He travels around India with this holy lama, experiencing many adventures in this vast, colorful and dangerous land. Of course he meets his destiny and soon he is playing "the Great Game", that is, he becomes a spy for the English crown in its war to retain control over India and Afghanistan (yep, trouble goes that far back and more).
This is simply a delightful book about an extraordinary hero and his even more extraordinary mentor, the wise lama. If you are attracted by India, this will be a real treat, since it allows you to experience the magic, color, tastes and smells of this interesting nation, in the midst of exciting adventure and spy-games. Kipling was a very good writer who had the trick of writing intelligent books disguised as children iterature. Don't let him cheat you: this is a great novel about a bygone age.

This review is for Kim (Annotated)
No publisher given
ASIN: B006CUB5CY

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

This edition has nothing to recommend it.

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/

Kim is probably one of the best books ever written on India and certainly within the league of E.M.Forster and Paul Scott.
This little treasure describes India with a love and power of observation that is absolutely captivating and charming at the same time.
Kim is a rogue like Huck Finn and Oliver Twist. He is the man for all opportunities and is called the "Friend of all Mankind". He is neither Hindu nor Muslim, he is neither Buddhist nor Christian. Given his background as the orphan son of a Irish military man and a local girl he is a little bit of everything.
In Kim Kipling personifies all the good of Inida while playing down the contrasts, in particular the religious one; he shows us what India would have been like in an ideal situation of mutual tolerance.
Apart from these philosophical considerations, Kim is simply a very well written book. Every passage betrays Kiplings background as a poet and sometimes passages really need to be reread for their beauty. His observations are striking and one realises from time to time that it is not the writers imagination about a period long gone; he was actually part of that period.
One thing Kim is not: a childrens book. Like Siddharta ,a child may be the main character, but the book is far to philosophical and aimed observing intricate human behaviour to be of much interest to children. I would even maintain that Kim should not be the first book to read about India.
However, one of the best reads I had in a long time.

Other reviewers are correct when they complain that this book is extremely difficult to read; it is however brilliant.
You need a map of India and some knowledge of the Indian caste system to truly understand it. I had the map but admit that Kipling's use of slang when referring to certain characters was maddenning.
The odd assortment of charcters are great but Kim is the star of the show. Kim, an orphaned son of Anglo parents, is raised on the streets of Lahore where he befriends an old Tibetan Lama. Kim accompanies the Lama on his serach for a mystical river.
Along the way they come across the regiment in which Kim's Father served. Kim is adopted by the regiments two chaplains who turn Kim over to Colonel Creighton who runs a sophisticated spy system. Kim is sent to an English speaking Catholic school.The allure of the road to Kim is too enticing and during school holidays Kim goes on adventures with the likes of his friend the part time Afgahn horse trader and part time spy for the British.
Kim completes his education both in the school and on the road and he becomes an important member of the spy system.
Kim seems to benefit from the experience of everyone he touches and in turn evereyone Kim encounters seem to be better off by the experience.
His relationship with the lama is truly special and transforms Kim from street urchin into a compassionate young man whose strength keeps the Lama alive as they travel the Himalayas.
Kim is a truly delightful book if you are up to the challenge.

Kim is the most popular of Rudyard Kipling's novels and has received both critical acclaim and negative reviews over the years. Both assessments are valid to some degree. On the positive side, Kipling has written what is acknowledged to be the best description of colonial India ever created by a native or a foreigner. Much of the negative commentary on the book has come from the intertwining of the story of a boy and a holy man each seeking his dream (good) with the political and military intrigues of the "Great Game," the political rivalry among European powers over the middle and south Asia.

The book begins with Kim, a young boy, living on the streets of Lahore in what is now Pakistan but was then a part of British India. His father was an Irish soldier but Kim is clearly a street-wise Indian. He bears some resemblance to Dickens' character, Dodger, but is not as dishonest (although he is not above deceit and trickery to get what he wants). He meets a lama from Tibet who is seeking a river. Kim has his own goal following a dream that tells him to seek a red bull on a field of green. Together they set off to find their goals with Kim acting as the chela (disciple) of the holy man.

This beginning is promising enough, but one problem for the non-native Indian is the extensive references to Indian concepts, terms and especially religious references. Despite this flaw (for the non-Indian reader at least) the adventure is colorful and the characters the two meet along the way make for both humor and interesting situations.

But Kim also is involved with a somewhat mysterious horse trader cum spy, Mahbub Ali who gives him a message to deliver pertaining to some planned military action. Kim delivers the message and eventually comes across a British military camp where he sees a flag bearing a red bull on a field of green. Kim is intrigued by this discover and in an attempt to learn more he is collared by a chaplain attached to the group and falls into the their hands. Determined to make a civilized person out of Kim the chaplain arranges for Kim to attend school. The lama, distraught by the loss of his chela comes to agree to pay for Kim's education believing that it is best for him to learn the white man's ways. The pair are reunited as the story draws to a close there is a more or less suitable ending. But the intrusion of the Great Game scenario into the story, even though it adds the amazing character, Hurree Chunder Mookerjee, does distract from what should be the main idea, the evolving love and relationship between a young boy and a old man, each seeking his dream.

I rate Kim at 4 stars because it really is worth reading although some readers will skim through some parts that are too esoteric for Westerners.

After fifty plus years of reading, I think I can say that Kim is my favorite novel. I'm not sure it is the best novel I ever read, whatever "best" might mean, and it certainly isn't the most profound, but there is simply no other book I have enjoyed as much or have reread as often. Many other the store reviewers have said that they liked the book very much, often for different reasons: some like the "Great Game" aspect and others enjoy the rich narrative description of India for which the book is justly famous. (A few reviewers found the book "difficult", apparently because of the language device that Kipling uses when speakers are speaking in languages other than English, or for Kipling's use of unfamiliar words, and others found it boring, a criticism I find nearly incomprehensible. I honestly believe that if you find Kim boring, you just don't like to read fiction, except perhaps at the level of Tom Clancy novels. And don't be put off by those reviews that found the book difficult. I presume these readers were looking for a continuation of The Jungle Book and found an adult novel instead. Kim is much easier reading than the novels of many of Kipling's contemporaries, such as Conrad or James, and is no more difficult than Twain.)

At least one other reviewer shares my view that in essence Kim is a coming of age novel, and one of the best, in a league with Huckleberry Finn and A Portrait of the Artist. The Great Game provides the book with the bones of a plot, and Kipling's description of India, much like Twain's description of the Mississippi River environs in Huckleberry Finn, published 16 years before Kim, is the flesh. But the heart of the book is the development of the relationship between Kim and the Red Lama, the fundamental story of two people, one an orphan boy and the other an elderly mystic, finding many of the things they are seeking in caring for and looking after one another.

Again, it is hard to avoid comparing Kim with Huckleberry Finn. The core of the latter book is the development of the relationship between Huck and Jim, and it seems likely that Kipling was influenced by the earlier book. Kipling had clearly read and admired Huckleberry Finn, and once referred to its author as "The great and God-like Clemens." Not that I find the notion that Kipling was influenced by Twain to in any way diminish Kim. It is an absolutely wonderful book and I envy anyone who hasn't read it that is about to do so. Come to think of it, that's true of both Kim and Huckleberry Finn.

First, to straighten out a few errors in other reviews -

"Kim" most certainly did not cause controversy "at the end of the 18th century" since it wouldn't be written for another 100 years! Perhaps the reviewer was confused by the Italian use of "century" where "quattrocento" does mean the "14th" century. Kipling wrote at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th. "Kim" was published in 1901.

The Great Game was not really a mysterious secret-service organization - it was simply the name for the activities of British Army intelligence as it gathered information aimed at maintaining control of British India. There were three aims: to prevent other Great Powers gaining influence (especially Russia), to suppress any incipient revolt against British rule, and to maintain order by preventing wars between the Indian princes themselves.

Kim is not part Indian by birth, as some state, but wholly - I was going to say British, but that is not quite right, since Kipling tells us his father was an Irishman, Kimball O'Hara (though at that time indeed Britain ruled Ireland, infamously). His mother was "nurse-maid to a Colonel's family," named Annie Shott.

Apart from that, what at first I found strange in some of the reviews was the complaint that it is "difficult" to read. What? Kipling's writing is much more direct here than in many of his short stories, where you must really stay alert to catch 'why' a character responds to someone else's words in a certain way. As for the Urdu or other words used naturally by the speakers, I am not sure how different editions, or the original text, handled them: my edition, printed in the US by Macmillan, simply includes the English in parentheses where needed "No," said Kim. "Thy man is rather yagi (bad-tempered) than yogi (a holy man). " (yagi and yogi are in italics). I think these would be Kipling's parentheses.

But perhaps for modern American readers some things are unfamiliar - flipping through again, I see hookah, tramway, scapular, coolie, Babu, chela, fakir - these are words that are more likely to be familiar to Brits like me, and especially Brits of middle-age or so.....I guess we don't always realize how much we simply absorb from the specific cultural background. I see that some editions provide lots of footnotes, but of course looking at footnotes is a pain and spoils the flow and pace of reading. All I'd say is, let yourself be swept up in the amazing panorama of the life of a huge sub-continent as it was 100 years ago, and don't sweat the small stuff! This is a story that above all conveys a zest for life, and has nothing to do with prejudice or preconception about how things "should" be. Do as Kim did- take it as you find it, and enjoy.

Kim is without a doubt a masterpiece of literature that helped Kipling get his Nobel Prize for literature.
Yes, the plot does sem to be moving slowly at times, but one must read the book with 19th century India in mind, and not modern day Hollywood action films. It is said that Kim can be read many times and each time the story appears in a different light. There are many different layers to this book and the action lying at the surface is just that: the surface. For a deeper understanding and enjoyment of this work one needs to take one's time.
If you prefer something simpler that is more of a pageturner you may try The Drum,The Broken Road and The Young Rajah: Adventures in India.

This review is for 
No publisher given
ASIN: B005JK6JW4

No italics. No accents. Straight quotes. Dashes are hyphens. A first line indent and no space between paragraphs. No illustrations or annotations that I could see in the sample.
No extras.

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/

'Kim', taken solely on its own terms, is a late 19th century adventure tale, an early spy story, a travelogue of northern India, a coming-of-age story all set in the midst of the Great Game, the Russo-British contest for imperial dominance in Central Asia. It's a good tale well told, if the language is somewhat dated for the modern reader.

But, of course, 'Kim' is generally not simply taken on it own terms because its author Rudyard Kipling came to personify British imperialism as much as Lord Kitchener. The Norton Edition includes excellent articles that provide historical context as well as several critical essays. I consider myself an anti-imperialist, but also admittedly somewhat of a romantic about the British Empire, and I did not detect jingoism in 'Kim'.

Readers interested in even more background will want to read Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling's Great Game. Readers needing to be disabused of romanticism about British imperialism may want to consider Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya.

At the end of the day, 'Kim' is quite a good adventure tale and a book that really need to read for yourself. Highly Recommended.

The United States needs a modern-day Kimball O'Hara or two if it is ever to be successful in thwarting future large-scale terror attacks. The likelihood of that happening is few-and-far-between.

This Rudyard Kipling classic has recently found its way on to US military officer reading lists, and this review will approach the novel from that perspective. As cultural understanding and sensitivity crawls its way up the priority list for military personnel serving abroad, there are few better or more enjoyable ways to appreciate the issue than reading "Kim."

The main character is a British orphan about thirteen years of age when the story begins who has been raised on the streets of Lahore in present-day Pakistan. He speaks fluent Hindi, understands various dialects and, perhaps most important of all, intimately understands the kaleidoscopic whirl of religions and cultures that travel and trade along the northwest border of British India. He takes to the road as a disciple or "chela" of a wandering Tibetan priest in search of a mythical holy river with healing powers. Along the way, he has a chance encounter with his deceased father's old army regiment and his identity is revealed. The army sends him to a prestigious English language Catholic school in the south, but his potential value is quickly gleaned by a member of the British secret service, which is engaged in a cloak-and-dagger contest with the Russians as their two spreading empires converged along the Hindu Kush in the last decades of the 19th century.

There are a number of ways to analyze or appreciate Kipling's writing and the complex narrative he creates. One is historical. The author grew up in India and sets the story on a timeline that would have exactly equated with his own youth in the British colony. The sights, sounds, phrases, references, and personalities in "Kim" are entirely authentic. The volume I read included footnotes that explained the arcane expressions and places. Without this helpful aid much of the story would have been lost (to me at least), so it is worth checking to see if the volume you are buying has notes or a glossary.

Another angle on the story is what is says about modern human intelligence operations. The leading British intelligent agent in the novel, Colonel Creighton, recognizes that Kim has language, culture skills, and local street smarts that simply cannot be taught in any academy. He is lucky that Kim begrudgingly accepts his "obligation" as a Sahib (white man) and agrees to help Britain in its game of wits with the Russians - and it happens to offer him the freedom and adventure he desperately craves.

So, whether one is interested in 19th century India and Pakistan or simply enjoys a good spy novel, "Kim" is as fine a book as can be recommended.

Rudyard Kipling wrote a great half of a book. Then the wheels come off the plot and it runs itself into the ground. A very disappointing finish to an action adventure story. Kipling alternates between philosophical ideas and action, but this mixture eventually becomes both uneven and heavy handed. Bluntly, Kipling ran out of steam.

Kim is the story of a white boy (another review said he was indian and white, but although his nursemaid was indian, his mother and father were white) who as an orphan becomes a messanger boy in the city. He delights in mimicry of the different castes.

Then he becomes the chela (disciple) of a Tibetan lama who is on a spiritual quest. Kim is entranced with the journey rather than the spiritual quest.

Kipling does a wonderful job of describing the sights and sounds of India. The religious philosophy insights are banal, however Kipling's own opinions about religious tolerance are more substantial.

On the journey, Kim is again employed as a messanger boy. Now the action adventure side of the story comes to the foreground as Kim's role progresses from messanger boy to something more.

This book doesn't live up to its promise in terms of plot, but Kipling's skillful use of character and description remain intact.

Another reviewer wrote that there were sequels to Kim written by another author. I haven't read them yet, but a continuation of the action would greatly be appreciated so I'm glad someone wrote them. The sequels are:

Murari, T.N.(1988) Imperial Agent. Hodder and Stoughton, UK New English Library

Murari, T.N.(1989) Last Victory. Hodder and Stoughton, UK New English Library

In this book, you find yourself transported to imperial India, a confused country which is half Indian and half British. In steps Kim, a young white boy who was raised in India. Kim becomes the disciple of a Tibetian lama, and also a part in "the Game," an undercover secret-service type organization. Kipling does an astounding job of mixing action and philosophy, adventure and theology. Although I do not agree with some of the views Kipling presents, it was an excellent look at the pluralism in India, and it also presented an excellent historical look at India during it's imperial period. Some previous reviewers have said that they disliked the ending of the book, saying that Kippling ran out of steam, but I liked it. I thought the ending was very good, and found myself wishing that it had not yet ended so that I could continue reading more and more about Kim, his lama, and the Game.

Some say Kipling was an imperialist. Some say he was an Indophile. I think he was both at the same time. One Kipling was a polished and sophisticated part of the ruling class, the British. Another Kipling was a child, innocent of the artificial divisions of the society, fascinated by the color and splendour of the Jewel in the Crown, India. This novel at a subtle level, to me, represents a tug of war between the the two warring Kiplings. While the British elite Kipling is forced to believe in the good the Raj is doing to the poor rascals, the other Kipling has his doubts and frustrated by his inability to declare them freely, they find a veiled expression in Kim.
Kim is a Classic story of a boy's adventure in British India. There runs a background plot about "the great game", the spying war between the British and the Russian empires. Kim becomes a chain-man (spy) for the British and his native early years make him formidable in the profession. However more interesting is the other parallel story, that of friendship between Kim and a Tibetan lama and their wanderings together which also make this a road novel.
Kipling understands the oriental way of life and its philosophy. "Only chicken and Sahibs walk around without reason" he says. Through many such comments Kipling questions the western way of work, hurry and constant activity. As the lama says "to refrain from any action is best".
Lastly, one can not but wonder, how much Kim represents a fantacy of Kipling that he wanted to happen to himself. A few common facts between the story and Kipling's own life, for example his father's association with the Lahore Musuem, his own schooling experience etc are revealing. They almost make you hear Kipling sighing "I wish thus would have happened with me!"
Highly recommended.

I truly could not decide whether or not to give this book a 4 or a 5. It is so good, with such imagery, and vivid descriptions using vocabulary that slightly makes you want to pick up a dictionary and check to make sure what the words mean, but then you dont want to stop reading! if i did give it a 4, then i would definitely do it only because it was so good i couldn't put it down to make sure i understood it! This book is not at all slow, Rudyard Kipling doesn't waste time on excessive descriptions, yet takes just a little bit of time to make sure the reader really gets where he is coming from. A truly great read.

This is a very entertaining novel, though not as good as the best of Kipling's short stories. As an adventure-oriented bildungsroman, Kim is well constructed with its gradual exposure of the ethnic and religous diversity of India, its engaging characters, and good quality of writing. While written as an adventure novel, Kim is also Kipling's prediction of the British Raj would become. The hero, Kim O'Hara, is in many ways an idealization of what saw as the logical conclusion of British India; a hybrid composed of both Indian and British elements. In an ironic way, this is how things turned out in British India. But where Kim is ethnically British with a largely Indian cultural background, the real inheritors of the British Raj were ethnic Indians (of a variety of ethnicities, castes, and faiths) whose outlook is colored strongly by Western influences.
How this book is read in a 'post-colonial' era is an interesting question. It would be easy, and wrong, to dismiss this book merely as an Imperialist tract, though Kipling clearly supported British Imperial control. It is even wronger to attack Kipling's racism, though there are unquestionably stereotyped elements present. In many ways, Kim is a celebration of India's ethnic and religous diversity. Probably the most unsympathetic characters in the book are not Indian, but Britishers with provincial outlooks. Kipling's support of the Empire is rather more subtle. It is clear that he viewed the existence of the huge and relatively tolerant polyglot society that was the Raj as the result of relatively benign British rule and protection. This is probably true. Without British overlordship, India is likely to have been a congeries of competing states riven by ethnic and religous divisions. Where Kipling is profoundly misleading is what he leaves out, particularly the economic exploitation India and crucial role India played in the Imperial economy.

Kipling, Rudyard (1901) Kim.

Kim is an old book. It was published in 1901. That does not mean that it is not a good read now. Briefly, it deals with a boy who is English in India during the time when England ruled India as one of its colonies. The story takes place after the Indian mutiny of 1858 when many families were split by violence. Kim survives with his native ayah. Eventually he changes from being with his nursemaid to being with a lama, a Tibetan monk who wonders the roads of India looking for enlightenment. The period immediately after the mutiny was a time of immense upheaval in India. It went from being a country made up of many native princely states with Englishmen as merchants to one unified under the flag of England. There was tension between the English in India and the Indians, as is always the way when colonialism occurs. There was also sometimes a devout love of India by those same ruling Englishmen and women, though they might be blind to their own ignorance and blindspots.

India is a land of extremes and magnitudes. The climates range from the hot, dry and low to the snowy cold heights of the Himalayas. There are vast numbers of peoples, religions, languages, cuisines, arts and cultures. The north of the land is different from the south, the west from the east. Into this mixture of people, events, agendas and intersections, Kipling pops down a young boy Kim. The book is his story; where he goes, who he deals with, what he does and for whom and why. It is an amazing story that captures ones imagination. One author: T.N.Murari, an Indian was so taken with Kipling's character that more than three quarters of a century after the original story was written and published, Murari published two sequels to Kim. One; The Imperial Agent picks up where Kim left off and the second; Last Victory continues on after that. They are also set against the dramatic historical events that took place in India between 1858 and 1920. They too, show how history looks when it is lived day by day by just a few people. Kim comes to mind again now, since the world is again facing issues of national sovereignty. Kipling never thought that the mutiny of 1858 was a step in the fight for India's independence because he was so convinced of the rightness of England's rule. He was convinced that what England was doing was right. Kim is a boy. He goes back and forth between the worlds of the English and the Indians. When he works for the English he is surprised when he figures out that he has been used. This book is a good read and it could provoke some thought now that boys are once again thinking that what one white country does in ruling a non white country is right. Murari being Indian, does take the action further in time than Kipling did and it finishes the story perhaps differently than Kipling might have, but it works well. These are three books to read, to enjoy, to think about and to then leap from onto other books about the wonderful land that is, was and always will be India.

Murari, T.N.(1988) Imperial Agent. Hodder and Stoughton, UK New English Library

Murari, T.N.(1989) Last Victory. Hodder and Stoughton

, UK New English Library

The only reason this gets a two star is because so many people gave it a five. Otherwise it's a one. I still don't understand why I am so far out of touch with most everyone else. I tried reading Kim over 30 years ago and tossed it then. My wife bought a used copy as a decorator item and have been noticing it for some time now and thought I would give it a another shot. Same result. I absolutely disliked the writing style and numerous words I had no idea their meaning. Since I did not have it on my Kindle dictionary I was lost. The problem is it is going back on the bookshelf where I have to look at it.

To be honest, I disdained Kipling as a writer ever since turning away from the Jungle Book movie. When pressed to read his more representative novel "Kim", however, I was much more impressed. Kipling picks up on the bildungsroman theme in his book about a young white boy growing up in British India. True, the reader feels the heavy intrusion of Kipling in the narrative, such as the caricatured descriptions of ethnic peoples, but one also feels a genuine fondness for India, however patronizingly misplaced.
I thought some passages were quite remarkable for a writer at the height of the British Raj, such as the occasional sympathetic treatment of Indians and the allowance of deep relationships between the conquerors and the conquered (e.g., Kim and Mahbub Ali). The feeling of youth is well-given and Kipling succeeds at making the horror of imperialism both remote and romantic.

You know, I really wanted to like this book. Maybe it's the first chapter, which fills you with such goodwill for the characters, especially (what a great title Kim has) the Friend of All the World. But then the narrative gets bogged down in a whole bunch of espionage baloney. Imagine a _Huckleberry Finn_ (the supposed prototype for _Kim_) where Huck gets sent to military school for several years in the middle of the book, and you can see whata wrong direction Kipling took. I can't deny that the book abound with local color or whatever, but a plot that drags is a plot that drags, and I could never get around that. It's not helped by a prose style that is often pretty, but ultimately too flowery and opaque for an adventure story. Maybe it's just dated; but I doubt it, for some of Kipling's contemporaries, like Doyle, Stevenson, or Haggard, could write in a similar genre, and they have aged fine. I will say, though, that the ending doesn't cop out the way I'd feared it would, and is very satisfying. But a good beginning and a good ending...that's all you've got here.

This book delves deep into India's caste system and culture at the turn of the century. Our main charachter, Kim, is on a mission to deliver a letter, and from there meets many varied an interresting people. One of these is a monk, who 'adopts' Kim as a student. The monk is in search of enlightenment, and belives Kim to be the answer in his finding a special river.
In this book you will be transported to India in a romanticised time of great poverty, and occupation by the Brittish empire. This is a story of coming-of-age during hardship and turmoil.

Each time I read "Kim" it's new and more enjoyable than previously. When I was barely a teen, it was an exciting adventure. Twenty years later it was an intriguing history. Now thirty years later it is Indian culture, faith, friendship, and loyalty. I hope I and "Kim" continue to change, and always for the better. I eagerly await what is in store at the next reading, and there will be one, just as there is a River of the Arrow.

The tale is a classic adventure story, of Kim, Irish orphan growing up as a street urchin in northern India. It is a colourful picture of a short period in history when East and West met and were intertwined during the British Raj in India. Unromantic lefty dullards will go on about the imperialist tone of the book. But the book tells of an India so gloriously rich and diverse that the British are simply absorbed like conquerors before, one caste among hundreds: Moghuls, Brahmins and Sikhs, Pathans and Tibetans.
We are left in no illusions about the political realities of imperial India. We know that the white man is in charge, though they are shown to consist of fools like the Anglican chaplain as well as good men like Colonel Creighton. Like heroes such as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings or Shasta in C S Lewis' A Horse and His Boy, Kim is always aware deep down (and it strengthens him even though at times he hates it) that he is set apart, of a nobler race, because he is a Sahib. Yet this seems perfectly natural in India, a land of myriad castes and classes, from high-born Brahmins to low, despised, Untouchables.
The characters are brilliant and amusing: Kim is such a lovable scamp ("You - you Od! Thy mother was married under a basket!") I find it hard to understand how anyone can fail to be immediately absorbed in his world and his fortunes. Hurree Babu and Mahbub Ali are likeable Indian characters. The Tibetan holy man, whom Kim follows as a disciple, portrayed in such a tender light that for all his scattiness one believes in his holiness, and we understand why Kim follows and loves him like a father.
But this is a boy's book, and the female characters are marginal and unsympathetically treated. Most will find the Indian slang and jargon tough going, unless they are willing to skim it over, and it is often necessary to keep a finger on the glossary at the end of the book. Nonetheless, beautifully written, and a Good Read.

Throughout this novel, one senses that R. Kipling was a loyal British subject though he was born in Inda. He believed in the imperial authority of his queen and country and his defence of the British rule in India gave rise to controversy at the end of the 18th century. Interestingly enough, as one progresses through "Kim", one feels the author's passion for his beloved India, a country he nevertheless believed should be ruled by white men since, in his view, they are superior. In fact natives are routinely depicted as inferiors but Kipling's racial stereotyping was not outrageous more than a hundred years ago.

Like Mowgli in "The Jungle Book", Kimball O'Hara in "Kim" is a self-reliant and resourceful boy called "little friend of the world" and the author perhaps equates the brutal indignities he suffered in his boyhood with the humiliations inflicted upon the natives of India.

My grandfather gave me KIM when I was 8 years old; I read it when I was a teenager, and hated it. Too strange, too obtuse. Then I read it again when I was in my thirties and had traveled a bit. On the second reading, the work described as "Kipling's best" came alive, and I was gripped by the radiance of the writing and the plunging-but-comprehensible depth of the details. This "best seller of its time" captures an entire elborate culture and intriging era, and moves it indelilbly (mystically?)into your memory. Forever.

My Mom has tried to get me to read Kim for years, and I finally broke down and read it. My Mom recommends infrequently and when she does the book is always brilliant. This was no exception. I loved the slow pace of the novel that allowed you to really sink into the experiences Kim was describing. I can never be in India in that time and place, with those characters, but Kipling made them seem very real. I recommend this book for anybody who is able to slow down and feel the book with all your senses, and don't read it when you are in a hurry because you will lose much of the magic.

This was a FUN book to read, not just for the many adventures undertaken, nor only for the many fine characters (Huree Babu was my favorite), but also for the smorgasborg of different races and societies depicted from an India around the turn of the century. Kipling - who spent parts of his life in both England and India - was able to see both eastern and western approaches to life. His understanding and imagination created this fine novel revolving an adventurous boy's forays. Happy reading. . .

This book is, in one word, splendid. Rudyard Kipling has become a controversial figure in today's politically correct world. His notions of the White Man's Burden and the civilizing mission of England (and America) are well-known and often cited as evidence of a racist mindset and disposition. KIM, however, serves to bring out the basic humanity in Kipling's character. It is certainly one of his best works of fiction, if not the best. Kipling's great knowledge and love of India and its diverse peoples shine through on every page, as do his way with words, his story-telling ability, and his intellectual depth. The concluding passages of the book are breathtaking in their literary beauty.

'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.

The son of an Irish soldier is orphaned in 1800s India and instead of living in an orphanage or British military school he opts to live as a street urchin going on wild adventures mainly with a Tibetan Llama in search of a sacred river. Kipling lived in India for several years and was familiar with the landscape and cultures of India so he does a good job of painting a vivid picture of the place and time. Overall this was a fun book to read.

I wonder if Kipling's most vitriolic critics have read anything about him (or by him) besides caustic post-colonial dissertations. Surely they can't pretend that they've read KIM with silly labels such as "imperialistic," "ignorant," "globalizing," and "racist." I advise these misguided flowers to read without agendas.
But of course reading without agendas nowadays would so offend our academies that it's absolutely impossible. KIM *is* a simple story, as one reviewer already mentioned, that does not really deal with colonial "assumptions" whatsoever. In fact, I marvel at how people ignore the basic fact that Kim resisted his Sahib identity when we could only sympathize with him. Kim contrasts well with THE JUNGLE BOOK'S Mowgli because he disdains most social groups, preferring above all his lama and "the road." If anything, his "yearning" toward colonization near the book's end (itself dubiously proven) probably reflects his educational indoctrination, if anything else. Kipling surely wasn't a stupid writer, and it's probably no coincidence that Kim turns to colonialism only after the Sahibs educate and recruit him in "the Great Game." Whether that's good or bad is irrelevant; Kipling does not justify, advocate or endorse colonialism in KIM. Nor does he waste space needlessly attacking it. Why do people need fiction to contain ideology? Why can't people understand that some stories are about characters and that authors imposing their voices is sometimes unnecessary? "Adult" perspectives in the novel, which critics charge could never come from Kim, come from adult characters. Duh. Kipling, unlike his postmodern butchers, did not write with an agenda.
Unfortunately for his reputation, Kipling professed elsewhere that he favored colonialism and the White Man's Burden. Readers, even more unfortunately, approach his books with such prejudices, prepared to pounce on his literature at the slightest provocation and blame him for not explicitly condemning British imperialism. I'm sorry that people hold such depressing views of how fiction should be written.
A note on the Penguin edition: I found its CONSTANT "scholastic" footnotes irritating and insulting. I can read a book without being told what Buddhism is, thanks. Then again, all those numbers detract from the story itself and advocate the editor's agenda that this book isn't to be enjoyed at all, but only to be jeered at in a postmodern armpit.

i wanted to be a poor street urchin in india so badly when i was a boy and read this. it had i suppose, the opposite effect of a proper upbringing which was to say that it gave me the idea that adults are chasing their tales in games better played by children.

Kim is Rudyard Kipling's novel about a white orphan, Kimball O'Hara, in India. It was first published in 1901, and is often considered to be Kipling's best novel. In the novel, Kim befriends a Tibetan Lama and becomes his disciple. Later, the British force him to attend a British school. Afterward, he rejoins the Lama, and becomes involved in political intrigue between Britain and Russia.

Kim is noteworthy for Kipling's lush depictions of India, its people, its culture, and its religions. In spite of everything that goes on in this novel, there's no real plot - it's just Kim's wanderings around India. And this is the vehicle Kipling uses to celebrate India. This is well and good, but it isn't all that interesting. The story loses quite a lot of steam after Kim gets into British custody. Perhaps the story holds more allure for those of us who have not been to India (I have, several times).

Ultimately, this is about as good a portrayal of India as you can find in a novel. That is what this book should be read for, not its story.

In all its complexity, this really is a simple book: it is simply an exuberant vision of India.

I wanted a book that would give me an English Colonialist view of India. It is a rather hard thing to find: few English Victorian writers of any consequence wrote about India. It wasn't until later, ie, Orwell and Forster, that it became a popular topic, and they wrote with a vastly different attitude. I just wanted to know what an Englishman thought of the "jewel in the English colonial crown".

What I found is exactly what I wanted: so exactly that it caught me off guard. Kipling offers no politics, neither "problems of England in India" or "The White Man's Burden". Kim is, quite simply, a vision of India. Exuberant, complex, vibrant, full of energy and life and change. This is Kipling's India. It is a beautiful, mysterious, dangerous, amazing place.

There is a hint of mass market fiction here -- the basic structure being a young boy, a prodigy, uniquely equipped to help the adults in important "adult" matters -- reminds me of Ender's Game or Dune (both books I loved, but not exactly "literature". But perhaps this isn't either. Such was the claim of critic after critic. But anyway.) Yet in reality it is only a device -- an excuse for Kipling to take his boy on adventures and to immerse us more fully in the pungent waters of Indian culture -- or cultures.

As far as the English/Colonialism question goes, perhaps the real reason Kipling drew so much flak is because he deals his English critics the most cruel insult -- worse than calling them evil, or stupid, or wrong, he implies that they just don't matter that much. Kipling's India is a diverse place, with a plethora of people groups in it, divided by caste, religion, ethnicity, whatever. And the English, the "Sahibs"? Another people group. That's all. They don't dominate or corrupt or really change anything in any profound way; they just sort of become part of the broiling swirl of cultures and peoples that is India.
--

Others have reviewed the book, and I will only add that I found Kipling's character portrayals detailed and beautiful while his philosophical discussions are deep and provide rich ground for thought.

The main point of my review which I wish to make, however, is that this is an excellent edition of the book to read. Kipling includes a large number of Indian words, terms, and phrases that are completly unknown even to a well-read American audience. The footnotes in this edition, therefore, are indispensible to gaining a clear understanding of what is going on.

I first read this book-or tied to-when I was 10. Having already read "Nicholas Nickleby" and enjoyed it I hadn't expected "Kim" to be too hard. Halfway through the book I had to give up in disgust- it was too deep for me. Later on I came to love the book.It flung me into colonial India with all its native intrigue and wonder. We follow the journeys of an eleven year old boy,Kim or "Friend of all the World", a white brought up among the natives. We watch him travel around India with an old lama who becomes something like a fatherto KIm. The book is jam-packed with characters that will dazle you but that are still believable. People complain of the jargon Kipling uses; to me it was an added beauty, it made the atmosphere more tangible. Another thing I loved was the habit Kipling has of inserting verses before some chapters.At first you might not understand the relevance of the verse but the time you've finished the chapter you'll get it. This is a book that deserves to be respected, but also to be actally thought about, too.You have to have a certain amount of patience. Once you get over that, this book will enthrall you.

This wonderful adventure story gives a vivid view of 19th Century India under British rule. It is the thrilling tale of an orphaned boy who becomes a secret agent. The skillful craftsmanship and acute insight that characterizes Kipling's work are especially apparent in this classic novel.--Diana Dell, author, "A Saigon Party: And Other Vietnam War Short Stories."

I am a former peace corps voluteer - I adored this tape - Kim is sort of an Indian Huck Finn who wanders India as Kipling juxtaposes the cacophony of the marketplace, the scholar, the mountains, the long road, the train, the letter writer, the Irish soldiers, the boys school, the lama, the English priests, the dialects, the landscapes, the individual personalities, the stereotypes. and a richly developed collection of spies - against the continuing thread of the Lama's unworldly search for serenity and ultimate fulfillment. Kipling doesn't try to give answers - he just presents life in India as he loves it. But Sam Dastur's reading makes it a masterpiece! His wonderful rendition of all the sounds and voices and dialects just brings all the people vibrantly alive. I only wish it would come out in CD so I could get it for my friends who don't do audio tapes.

Review for EGO Books edition of Kim: B001NGNUN4:

No italics. Straight quotes. Dashes are hyphens. indents and lines space between paragraphs.
Usual typos, e.g. Busts for buts. Pincers for pencase.
Ego Books is right - they have the cheek to put a copyright notice in the book.

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.

Kiplying's Kim is perhaps the best of all of his novels. It is a taught espionage story and at the same time a commentary on the class relationships between the English and the Indians in Victorian India. It's also an excellent historical example of the perceptions of Victorians on their Indian subjects and their fears of Russian competition. It's also just a fantstic story.

Somehow my review of a Kindle edition that is no longer available has been attached to this newer edition. So, I've changed this review to be for this edition.

This review is for Kim by Rudyard Kipling (SUPER ILLUSTRATED)
Publisher: 1901
ASIN: B006O0MD3M

I suppose I ought to be flattered. This copies the text and images from my edition (even to the title page which included the words "Durrant Publishing, Norwich, Norfolk, England, 2010"). Some fancy capitals have been added, but the images are more compressed, and it doesn't include my glossary entries. I don't usually include a direct link to my edition in my reviews of kindle ebooks, as I think that's not fair. But in this case I will!

My edition is the same price but has better illustrations and lots of hyperlinked glossary entries: Kim: Illustrated by J. Lockwood Kipling. There really is no reason to buy this edition over my edition.

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/

Rudyard Kipling's novel Kim, published in 1901, is considered a classic tale of adventure and a seminal precursor to the modern spy novel. It even makes frequent appearances on top 100 lists of the best books ever written in the English language. Such high praise creates high expectations, and this novel didn't even come close to living up to them. Though obviously penned by a highly skilled wordsmith, the novel offers neither enough adventure nor enough espionage to satisfy on either front. It does provide a detailed depiction of India worthy of a vintage issue of National Geographic, but one that is needlessly verbose and unfortunately dull.

Kim is a white boy in India, the orphaned son of a poor Irish soldier. He lives on the streets of Lahore, jovially scraping by as a beggar and errand boy. When a Buddhist Lama from Tibet comes to town, Kim volunteers to accompany him on his journey to find a mystical river of healing. Along the way, he is recruited to practice espionage on behalf of the British government, and becomes a participant in "The Great Game"--the contest between Britain and Russia for dominance in central Asia.

The chronicling of Kim's travels and training allows Kipling the opportunity to present a vivid panorama of India in the late 19th century. Kipling, who was born in India, obviously has a great love for the land of his birth and proves himself quite knowledgeable on the richness and diversity of Indian culture. There is an overall comical tone to the book, however, that leaves a bit of an aftertaste of imperial condescension. The narrative is populated by a myriad of characters, and each one is indeed a character. While Kipling displays a comprehensive ethnographic understanding of everyone's races and creeds, he often depicts their beliefs and practices in so quaint and picturesque a manner that he seems to be making fun of them. What's worse, he's far more interested in the personal quirks of his characters than in the parts they play in advancing the story. He heaps on so much local color that it's detrimental to the plot. Every conversation in the book is four times longer than it needs to be. When Kim comes to a figurative fork in the road, the reader knows immediately which way he's going to turn, but must read through a half hour's worth of deliberations peppered with proverbs, prayers, and song. One finds himself wishing Kipling would just "get to the yolk of the egg," as Kim so aptly puts it. The instances of espionage in the book are not the least bit intricate and are far from exciting. With so much talk going on, it takes over half a chapter just to don a disguise.

As a reviewer, I take no pride or pleasure in taking shots at sacred cows (no pun intended). I have nothing against Kipling in particular--I did enjoy the Jungle Books--but here he's guilty of overindulgent description at the expense of good storytelling. Readers who don't care for that sort of thing probably won't like this book, and can consider themselves warned. Should you choose to tackle Kim, prepare yourself for way too many adjectives and not nearly enough verbs.

This is sort of an Indian James Bond story with a real
holy man guru as the second hero.
Kim is Kimball O'Hara whose Dad was in an Irish regiment in India when he died.
He left his son as a street orphan in India.
Kim finds friends is strange places from a Buddhist lama to an Afghanistani horse trader and a British spy master. He is enlisted in the British Secret Service by those who should be trying to bring him up right?
Thus, in the service of what is today thought to be evil as the British Empire's colonialization of India, he wonders as the servant of the lama doing a secret mission against the Russians.
What I liked most about this book is the look at Indian multiculturalism
in the 19th century.

Review for VP Classics edition of Kim: B00126NA7G:

No italics. Straight quotes. Dashes are hyphens. Indents on paragraphs. No Table of Contents.
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.

Review for Cybraria LLC edition of Kim: B002MH4IPM:

No italics. Straight quotes. Dashes are Dashes, but oddly spaced. Red text!

Usual typos: "Thou knobbiest" for "Thou knowest", and lots more.

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.

This book was well-written. The characters are not as well-rounded as I expected although, by Victorian standards, they are. There are places where the writing is almost juvenile - probably the reason the book is often found on lists for young people - and others where the writing is complex enough for adult enjoyment. If I had to rate an age group for which this book would be appropriate, I would say from those that read at a grade five level to age 90. It is a good adventure book for grade school and a good book for adults seeking a little escapism in an unfamiliar time and place - a Victorian spy story to rival the more modern James Bond.

Unfortunately, after initially being drawn into the book, I lost interest towards the end. It is a great story with great characters. The only problem is that without an understanding of the history and culture of India/Pakistan, much of the nuance of this story gets lost in translation. There were so many colloquialisms and terms I did not understand that it made reading this book too tedious to continue. Those familiar with India/Pakistan during the time the book was written will have no problem. Others may have a problem getting through this book.

Kim is Rudyard Kipling's novel about a white orphan, Kimball O'Hara, in India. It was first published in 1901, and is often considered to be Kipling's best novel. In the novel, Kim befriends a Tibetan Lama and becomes his disciple. Later, the British force him to attend a British school. Afterward, he rejoins the Lama, and becomes involved in political intrigue between Britain and Russia.

Kim is noteworthy for Kipling's lush depictions of India, its people, its culture, and its religions. In spite of everything that goes on in this novel, there's no real plot - it's just Kim's wanderings around India. And this is the vehicle Kipling uses to celebrate India. This is well and good, but it isn't all that interesting. The story loses quite a lot of steam after Kim gets into British custody. Perhaps the story holds more allure for those of us who have not been to India (I have, several times).

Ultimately, this is about as good a portrayal of India as you can find in a novel. That is what this book should be read for, not its story.

This review is for Kim by Rudyard Kipling - Full Version (Annotated) (Literary Classics Collection)
Publisher: G Books
ASIN: B006JOSGJS

This is a review of the quality of this edition in particular, not of Kim as a work of literature.

Introductory notes and a general timeline of Kipling's era, and a few other extras, but no illustrations. Proper quotes, italics, dashes, but often open quotes are used for closed quotes or apostrophes, and closed quotes for open quotes. The unusual character ' is included as an image rather than as a character, and so does not scale with the other letters. Occasional OCR errors (e.g. zero for capital O) and incorrect extra paragraph breaks. The footnotes in the introduction are not hyperlinked. The footnotes/glossary entries in the main text of the book (of which there are a large number) are hyperlinked, with link numbers rather than linking directly from the word. A nicely linked table of contents. I would prefer it if the book opened at the start of the story, but that's a minor quibble. The text gives a blank line between each paragraph, as well as indenting the first line, and some of the extras could be formatted a little better.

Overall, a reasonable edition, let down by poor proofing of the text. It does have copious hyperlinked glossary entries, which is a plus.

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/

Yes, if all you've read is John Clancy, Kim is a bit of a change. But so are Dickens or Shakespeare or Melville. The thing that might be intriguing to a certain sort of reader is that Kim is constantly being torn between the material world of the Great Game and the spiritual world of the Teshoo Lama. How he resolves the conflict reflects Kipling's choice, but in someone else's hands, the resolution might be different. Kim was one of two "bathroom books" I read and re-read during college. If you like stories of the choices young men make as they grow to adulthood, Kim is for you. Stick with it, it's worth it.

Kipling at its best. A joy to read. But some words and customs about India, may be too difficult for average U.S. reader. I beleive an Indian or a Briton can enjoy this book more. If you really want to understand India, without political correct filter , you will love this book.

Had to return this edition for kindle. It has illustrations as it says however they are random classical paintings that have nothing to do with the story that appear to be randomly sprinkled in the text. I will be trying another edition.

This was probably the first - and almost only time a white author really entered the mind of asia.

It opened the whole relationship of the west with india an even ironically helped the campaign of Ghandi and his (MKG's) portrayal of a hindu holy-man (so frightening to muslims).

Kipling himself perhaps saw Kim as his "perfect self" though sadly the real Kipling about this time embrased the two dimensional imperialism of the Daily Mail - in want of a distant Bad Guy for his actual manichean fantasy he fitted up the germans - and sadly had a huge influence on the disaster that was the First World War.

"Kim" Philby (named for the hero) and others in search of this foreign world of duplicity and black and white values later embraced communism.

This novel affected all of this - was the first realistic (rather than idealised) view of buddhism in its evolved and contradictorary form (I like the way the Lama blends in snatches of Pure Land etc along with his "no self" agnosticism). Kipling "sold" a positive picture of India and its two-way relationship with "Blighty" that greatly influenced later events an perceptions of both right and left.

Too bad he embraced the rich and powerful so whole-heartedly - (as did WB Yeats at a similar time in a similar way) and so lost his clear poetic vision.

Rather than take on the task of fighting germany - he might have written a sequel - in which O'Hara had to contemplate the foundations for the glamourisation of the struggle between the European powers - questioned the disruptive influence of the Entente Cordial (all the dangers of a treaty and none of the mutual benefits) and why exactly Britain had to be a continental power with a land-army (responsible for the defense of France and Belgium but with no say in the methods) when it had plenty to do across the oceans.

Kipling painted a picture of the glamour and cultural richness of India - and of great-power conflict. He knew a lot more about the first than the last - sadly because of his authentic voice on Asia folk took heed of him over Europe.

He is one a few people who almost completely discounted a great cultural good with a massive social evil. The pen was mightier than the sword and it was correctly said that at that time the word of Kipling was more eagerly listened to than the words of all but a few heads of state. He lost his own son to the multinational meatgrinder that he and a few "war-glamourisers" wound into action - implying that the whole thing might be more fun than driving a desk in Finchley - he encouraged the French to think they could use the British to gain hegemony in Europe - based on the sound prediction that the Rosbifs would leave when the bloodletting was over.

I adore this man and abhor him - I want to grab hold of him after this book (1901) and send him back to India. You don't understand the Twentieth century if you don't read this book - from the Somme to TE Lawrence to Woodstock to the rise of Mandela is the story of folk who read this book and/or felt its influence. Only the Beatles can compete - but only because they too were influenced. Kipling as colonial taught generations to identify with the locals - thus fuelling de-colonialisation - into the hands of the very "Babu-Class" that he distrusted. They were not like his "Babu". Hurree - they were "in a hurry" and so were the brits!

If only the Neo-cons had both read it and understood its mixed influence and implications. The whole Iraq fiasco could be described as "insufficient Kim".

Kipling's best regarded story set in the confines of "The Great Game". Modern readers may find his biases / prejudices discomforting but the details of everyday life within the context of the plot make the novel vivid and exciting.

I loved the imagery in Kim. The vivid representation of live in India under the British, although idealized, creates a reading experience that surpasses most of Kiplings writing. The way in which he represented the clash of cultures and religions was well done although skewed by Kiplings own beliefs. Through these clashes Kim takes an image of its own, both beautiful as well as insightful.

This is alleged to be Kipling's masterpiece, perhaps it is, but that doesn't make it move any faster. The Old Lama was interesting at first but quickly palled as he never said anything interesting and simply said the same things over and over and over. His view of Buddhism was shallow at best. The attachment between Kim and the Lama never seemed to have any real foundation or purpose other than to give Kim a reason to wander about. The characters may have had interest and relevance in 19th Century India but they are not very realistic today. Walking all over the country side while spouting "The Wheel of Life" doesn't make for much excitement. However, it does provide a real perspective on what India must have been like under Victoria. But the perspective is all Indian and the British play a very small role, which I think detracts from the story. Kim is pressed into service as a spy but his spying never seems to come to fruition and he never seems to have any direction. Creighton recruits him and then never actually uses him. In fact the entire story seems to wander around much like Kim. The teacher Lurgan may or may not have been a pedophile but like much of this book, it is long on hints and short on action. The Wheel Of Life seemd to turn relentlessly without going anywhere and the Great Game was mostly talked about rather than played. I read it to the end and I can now mark it off of my list of classics to be read, but I think it is a classic past its prime.

I gave three stars because parts are interesting and you do get a good view of what India must have been like in the 19th Century and how the natives saw the British, but it isn't a page turner.

I enjoyed this book. I think it is a very good insight to older Indian culture under English control. The story is about a young boy who goes on a journey with a Buddist llama in his search for the river that will cleanse all sins. Kim encounters many adventures and interesting situations as he gets involved in British military affairs. I would recommend this book for those who are interested in more challenging reading have an attraction for both the cultural and the spiritual.

Kim, or the story of an Indian orphan during the British rule, surely will be very interesting to anyone eager to know about this period of India's history. Since that was not my case, I didn't enjoy it at all. In fact, I forced myself to read it until the end and I have to recognize that it was very hard for me to do so.

This review is for Kim (Penguin Classics) (Kindle edition)
Publisher: Penguin
ASIN: B0050N7G8Q

A nicely formatted edition with lots of extras. Indeed, so many extras that I can't comment on the text, as the sample doesn't actually get to the text itself. Hopefully based on the same clean text as the ePenguin edition Kim (Penguin Modern Classics) [Kindle Edition]

No illustrations as far as I can tell. Three stars because of the price and lack of illustrations. The J. Lockwood Illustrations are worth having.

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/

Unreadable. Full of references to Indian towns, holy images or figures, gates, passages, rulers, cherished camels, whatever etc, this book reads like a dictionary. The modern library edition provides a definition of these references in the back, the first chapter containing 80 of them which absolutely ruins any flow to the book as I'm flipping to the glossary madly throughout a read of only a few pages. Although not imperative to know to the get the basic gist of the novel, these references are often important in giving the text or dialogue its needed weight as they often describe a holy or cultural icon, and yet, these icons have lost all importance to modern day times making the book's eventual expiration near. The sentence structure is poor as well and often backwards, and it appears Kipling's intent is not to write witty dialogue or good prose, but to include as many objects pertinent in British India as possible. As a result the text feels rushed and not intimate at all. In no way are sights, sounds, or smells described or elaborated on that may recreate British India for the reader. I have read 30 pages and dropped this book. Rarely have I ever done this, nor been so disappointed in a book. "I like the idea of Kipling" a friend of mine said, and I have to agree. I still do, but his writing is awful.

Unless you enjoy working hard at reading novels, I don't recommend this book. Before you start take a look at the 411 notes in the back that you will have to study (unless you know already know) to get something out of this work.

If you want to read a book where there is no plot, no action and no humor look no further than Kim. Too bad Kipling spent so many years writing this novel. Just So Stories and the Jungle Book are childhood favorites of mine, Kim just lacks that charming quality in this adult novel. Think Huck Finn meets Pip set in India with no where to go and nothing to do.

If you want to read a book where there is no plot, no action and no humor look no further than Kim. Too bad Kipling spent so many years writing this novel. Just So Stories and the Jungle Book are childhood favorites of mine, Kim just lacks that charming quality in this adult novel. Think Huck Finn meets Pip set in India with no where to go and nothing to do.

Please! I thought kipling was supposed to be a good author.. Until I read Kim. I cannot comprehend why anyone would enjoy or have any desire to read a piece of utter (...) like this. In the first chapter I got bored. In the second chapter my mind wandered. By the fifth chapter I was having convulsions. By the tenth chapter I was having a severe epileptic seisure and was experiencing demonic posession of some type.. Ok, well maybe it wasn't that bad, but this book is a disgrace to reputable literature. If books had odors this one would be a heap of fertilizer in the hot July sun. I've read some other Kipling books and they were decent, but this bag of cat droppings gave me mental cramps and contortions. I'm hemorraghing here! Help! Save me from this (...)...

OK to start I was completely board through what I read of KIM. Dont be fooled most people who come on to write reviews are history majors and like anything that is historical. Let me tell you that for a normal person KIM will not be all that interesting! I will give Kipling credit for spending much of his life in India, this is apparent in the novel where he shows a vast understanding of the culture but again if you are not a history buff this is not a book for you.

I had heard that Kim was one of the best books of all time. Had to wait 2 months for library to acquire it.

Have never been so disappointed in anything. Cults, voodoo, spells, magic, demonic activity, caste system, blasphemy, abuse, violence, superstition, humanism (worship of certain humans), depression, ... UGH!!

WHAT A WASTE OF TIME!! DON'T BOTHER READING THIS.