I was in a St Andrews bookshop a few months ago when an American chap was buying an ancient set of Rudyard Kipling books and praising Kipling ‘to the skies’. Well, I had only read the Just So Stories, Puck of Pook’s Hill and Rewards and Fairies – way back in nineteen canteen – as my mother used to say for some reason.
So I thought that maybe I was missing something and it was about time I got into Kipling, I have a lovely Folio Books copy of Kim so when I realised that Kafka’s The Castle was not going to be good bedtime reading I decided to givew Kim a go. Unfortunately I soon discovered that Kim and the Castle actually have quite a lot in common. They’re both basically about a quest.
Kim is a young orphaned boy. His father was an Irishman in the British Army and his mother was also white so despite the fact that he has been living as an Indian and speaks English with an Indian lilt, he is in fact a ‘sahib’. He forms a relationship with a wandering holy man from Nepal who is searching for a special river. Kim becomes the holy man’s disciple and helps him with begging for food as they continue on their travels.
But Kim is also looking for something, he had a vision of a red bull and knows that it has a special meaning for him, so he is searching for it. When he finds the red bull on a flag flying in a British Army camp he discovers that his father had been an Irish soldier and when the officers realise that Kim has been living as a native they decide that he must go to school to be trained up possibly as a surveyor.
After three years at school during which time the lama travels around on his own, eventually the two are able to continue their travels again.
I read on to the end but I can’t say that I found Kim to be an entertaining or even informative read, but as always when I read a disappointing classic I’m quite glad that I did read it and now know what it’s about.
I read this for the Classics Club Challenge.
I thought I’d read Kim, but now realise I haven’t. I think I got it mixed in my head with Kim’s Game, a memory game we played in Guides – I expect this comes from the book?
Margaret,
Yes it does come from the book as Kim is given lessons in memorising things, but it isn’t a big part of the book. We played that game at parties and in the Brownies too but I don’t even remember it having a name.
I read and loved The Jungle Book as a child, but I haven’t read any of Rudyard Kipling’s other books and have often wondered what they were like. Sorry to hear this one was disappointing.
Helen,
It’s all very colonial India, not really my favourite sort of setting, but I noticed that a lot of men on Goodreads seem to be very keen on it.
I too, have a hankering to read Kipling – and really, he should be on my classics club list. (So many books that I forgot about.) Kipling’s home: Batemans, was quite close to where I lived a few years back, and I’ve always felt something of a connection as a result. I’m sorry that you didn’t enjoy this one, Katrina. It sounds like it may be my cup of tea: I quite like ‘quests’. One day I shall try it.
Sandra,
It’s a pity that I was reading this one in tandem with The Castle, I might have enjoyed it more but for that. I hope you enjoy it when you get around to it. It would be interesting to visit his home though.
I had to look back at my review of Kim, as I read it in 2010, to remember my exact feelings. According to the review, I really enjoyed reading it. It isn’t among my favorite classics, so maybe that is why in my memory, there were no strong feelings about Kim either way. But I also noted in my review that when I was looking at other blogger reviews, I came across at least two from bloggers who had abandoned it.
Christy,
That’s interesting, I really forced myself to finish it. Although I’m well used to reading classics this one just didn’t hit the spot for me, although towards the end I was more enamoured of it. Possibly because the end was in sight.
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