Kim (Bantam Classics) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "He sat, in defiance of municipal orders, astride the gun Zam-Zammah on her brick platform opposite the old Ajaib-Gher-the Wonder House, as the natives call..." (more)
Key Phrases: thy chela, thee war, acquired merit, Mahbub Ali, Lurgan Sahib, Father Victor (more...)

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

Review

?A work of positive genius, as radiant all over with intellectual light as the sky of a frosty night with stars.??The Atlantic Monthly -- Review --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Classics (April 1, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553213326
• ISBN-13: 978-0553213324
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,246,774 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A 'Best Kept Secret' of literature, May 26, 2006

By	E. M. Van Court "Van, emvc (at) lycos.com" (Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Kim (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) (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.

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A captivating clasic of Indian Literature, February 19, 2001

By	Gerrit Ruitinga "gerrit ruitinga" (Antwerp) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Kim (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) (Paperback)

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.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kipling's Kim and Komments on Kim, June 26, 2003

By	Highlander (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kim (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) (Paperback)

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.