Kipling's famous tale of India features Kimball O'Hara, an Irish orphan raised in India. After travelling with a Tibetan lama, Kim is sent to school, but continues to travel with the lama and aids the English Secret Service. The novel is especially well-loved for its depictions of India.
Kim [with Biographical Introduction]
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
One of the particular pleasures of reading Kim is the full range of emotion, knowledge, and experience that Rudyard Kipling gives his complex hero. Kim O'Hara, the orphaned son of an Irish soldier stationed in India, is neither innocent nor victimized. Raised by an opium-addicted half-caste woman since his equally dissolute father's death, the boy has grown up in the streets of Lahore:
Though he was burned black as any native; though he spoke the vernacular by preference, and his mother-tongue in a clipped uncertain sing-song; though he consorted on terms of perfect equality with the small boys of the bazar; Kim was white--a poor white of the very poorest.From his father and the woman who raised him, Kim has come to believe that a great destiny awaits him. The details, however, are a bit fuzzy, consisting as they do of the woman's addled prophecies of "'a great Red Bull on a green field, and the Colonel riding on his tall horse, yes, and'--dropping into English--'nine hundred devils.'"
In the meantime, Kim amuses himself with intrigues, executing "commissions by night on the crowded housetops for sleek and shiny young men of fashion." His peculiar heritage as a white child gone native, combined with his "love of the game for its own sake," makes him uniquely suited for a bigger game. And when, at last, the long-awaited colonel comes along, Kim is recruited as a spy in Britain's struggle to maintain its colonial grip on India. Kipling was, first and foremost, a man of his time; born and raised in India in the 19th century, he was a fervid supporter of the Raj. Nevertheless, his portrait of India and its people is remarkably sympathetic. Yes, there is the stereotypical Westernized Indian Babu Huree Chander with his atrocious English, but there is also Kim's friend and mentor, the Afghani horse trader Mahub Ali, and the gentle Tibetan lama with whom Kim travels along the Grand Trunk Road. The humanity of his characters consistently belies Kipling's private prejudices, and raises Kim above the mere ripping good yarn to the level of a timeless classic. --Alix Wilber --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
Review
This is an edition that will appeal alike to the student, scholar, and general reader. -- Bart Moore-Gilbert, Goldsmiths College, University of London
This is an edition that will appeal alike to the student, scholar, and general reader... -- Bart Moore-Gilbert, Goldsmiths College, University of London --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
This is an edition that will appeal alike to the student, scholar, and general reader... -- Bart Moore-Gilbert, Goldsmiths College, University of London --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
114 of 118 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
'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.
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.
42 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Kim is a book that I had meant to read for nearly 20 years. When I finally got around to it, I first read the Amazon.com reviews and noted they seemed to divide into two camps. The first camp was overwhelmingly favorable; the other was guardedly favorable. The reviews that were guarded said, in the aggregate, that Kim was enjoyable for various reasons, but that it bore the baggage of racism and imperialism. For these and other reasons, Kim must be seen for what it really was. And there were some reviews were quite critical -- describing Kim as a plotless, meandering exercise in boredom.
The Kim that I read had a plot. A common plot. Those who have read Huckleberry Finn would recognize it. It is a coming of age novel placed about 130 years ago.
Imperialism and racism. Well, yes -- if you are viewing Kim from the viewpoint of a revisionist political commentator. Kim's India has a white ruling class and a darker skinned ruled class. This social structure is strikingly similar to the historical relationship between the British and the Indians during the Raj. And Kim is caught up in the Great Game, much like the historical Great Game. The British did want to continue to hold India from enemies foreign and domestic and Kim reflects that historical point of view. It was, after all, written during the Raj and within chronological shouting distance of the Game.
Racism. Yes. British characters, often presented in most unsympathetic ways, do have a racial stereotype of the Indians. And, the Indians have a racial stereotype of the sahibs. But the Indians are not what they want to seem to the British -- they are much, much deeper. Babu is a Babu -- if his mask is all the reader sees. Strikingly like real life.
When caught in the web of current social generalities, Kim is certainly a suspect tome. But Kim is literature. And, as literature, it is a tour de force of language and description and imagery of an India and a Raj long gone. Its main characters are all human and complex and the opposite of stereotyped. The interplay between the values and growth of the lama and the growth and experience of Kim is compelling and warming. When all is said and read, the lama has found his river in the only place it could be found. And Kim, I think, has found himself in the dust of an Indian plain ... an Indian in a Englishman's skin and an Englishman who has the gift of seeing himself as the Indian others see him.
If you are interested in India, pre- or post-Raj, do yourself a favor. Settle down with Kim and travel the Great Trunk Road, winter in Simla, and seek the River of the Arrow with your lama. Don't allow modern, political generalities deny you a wonderful adventure.
60 of 63 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Review for Public Domain Books edition of Kim with ASIN: B000JQU7BM
This edition of Kim has been deleted since I first reviewed it in 2010. That's probably a good thing, as it really wasn't very good.
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.amazon.com/review/RYXM7JHQPNONU/
This edition of Kim has been deleted since I first reviewed it in 2010. That's probably a good thing, as it really wasn't very good.
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.amazon.com/review/RYXM7JHQPNONU/
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A spiritual journey
My book club read Kim because none of us had ever read any Kipling and one of the members had heard that Kim was the Kipling to read. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jane
The best reading yet of KIM!
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... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Andrea A Michaels
WHAT A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT
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. Read more
Have never been so disappointed in anything. Read more
Published 6 months ago by DeAnne
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
Although I have been studying Indian history for a long time, I had not read "Kim" since I was a child. This book is definitely worth rereading. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Kim Burdick
down to earth picture of life in India in late 1800s
Thirteen-year-old Kimball O'Hara Jr., known as Kim, is the son of an Irish sergeant in the British army stationed in India. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Wayne S. Walker
this book had potential except...
whoever transcribed this book for kindle didn't do such a great job, so it makes it hard to read and follow the story. Read more
Published 11 months ago by sammitwizzle79
good book, but this digital format is messed up
good book, but this digital format is messed up. whoever converted this from the gutenberg project version didn't do it right.
Published 12 months ago by K-TRON
The burden of the White Man's Burden...
Bigoted and Prejudiced. No, I'm not referring to "Kim," but rather myself, at least in relationship to Kipling. Read more
Published 13 months ago by John P. Jones III
A Victorian bildungsroman that falls between Dickensian mirth and...
Kipling's novel marks the advent of that most twentieth-century--and, some critics might argue, British--of genres: the spy thriller. Read more
Published 13 months ago by D. Cloyce Smith
One of the best novels ever written...
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... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Geoff Puterbaugh
Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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thy chela, acquired merit, red bull Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mahbub Ali, Lurgan Sahib, Father Victor, Hurree Babu, Colonel Creighton, Wonder House, Colonel Sahib, Great Game, Creighton Sahib, Mister O'Hara, Friend of the Stars, Yankling Sahib, Gates of Learning, Powers of Darkness, Red Hat, River of the Arrow, Son of the Charm, Temple of the Tirthankars, Teshoo Lama, Buddh Gaya, Wheel of Life, Kashmir Serai, Lutuf Ullah, Almighty God, Chota Lal New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
thy chela, acquired merit, red bull Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mahbub Ali, Lurgan Sahib, Father Victor, Hurree Babu, Colonel Creighton, Wonder House, Colonel Sahib, Great Game, Creighton Sahib, Mister O'Hara, Friend of the Stars, Yankling Sahib, Gates of Learning, Powers of Darkness, Red Hat, River of the Arrow, Son of the Charm, Temple of the Tirthankars, Teshoo Lama, Buddh Gaya, Wheel of Life, Kashmir Serai, Lutuf Ullah, Almighty God, Chota Lal New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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