Review of 'Kim'

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

Living on the streets of Lahore orphaned Kim, though white, been raised among Indians and moves effortlessly between cultures, languages, and religions. His only link to his parentage is amulet hanging around his neck that contains documents from his father. Kim befriends a wandering Tibetan lama who is searching for the legendary “River of the Arrow”, a place of enlightenment. Meeting a British regiment, Kim is revealed to be the son of a former soldier at which point he is sent away for three years of school to be “trained properly”. Kim is drawn into the “Great Game”, becoming a spy but joins with the lama having finished his time at school where they resume their travels around the country and back to where the lama came from: The Himalayan foothills, near the Tibetan border.

I found this short novel an extremely hard read and never got into it. To be honest, I had to use Co-Pilot to aid in generating the summary above so difficult it was that I followed what was going on. The references to local Indian culture and politics really went way beyond me along with the rather dated language which is also liberally sprinkled with Indian slang and terminology. With the story generally revolving around him, Kim never really endears himself to me and is not terribly sympathetic while the lama is patient, kind and quite fascinating. Kipling does a good job of painting a vision of the landscape and places the two pass through which is quite amazing though I quickly became overwhelmed by the number of unusual names of both people and places…

“Kim” has been deemed a masterpiece of modern literature. Sadly I do not share this but I am sure it has it's merits. Just because it is a masterpiece does not mean it is for everyone…

Rating: “Not great, but not the worse”

Review Date: 2025-12-24

Genre: General Fiction

Publisher: Doubleday & Company

Publication Date: 1901