Rating: 
Summary: open your mind
Review: If you read Kipling with the preconcieved notion that he is racist as many critics throughout history have, then you will miss out on the beautiful literature he actually creates. Kim is no exception, and is anything but racist. Rather it calls attention to the horrors of racial oppresion without offering any support to the wrongful acts of the British. Kim in fact was Irish himself - like the Indians, another race oppresed by Britian, and spends the novel struggling to find his identity, which it turns out is uneffected by racial barriers. The novel paints a beautiful and heartwarming picture of colonial India. Kipling gives us a enchanting story and a history lesson at the same time, in this novel that is well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: An imperialist's bildungsroman
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Kim's Journey
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Kim
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: boy without a cross
Review: A brief, gorgeous and kaleidoscopic picture of the "great game" in northern India. Interesting to read at the moment that India and Pakistan were engaging in the same great game on the same soil, with Pakistanis hijacking an Indian place to Afghanistan. Mom was wrong, I think, to treat Kim's whiteness as a minor betrayal by Kipling of his material -- a retreat from the more wholly Indian story he wanted to write. The whiteness is central to Kim -- Kim is like Leatherstocking a "man without a cross."
Rating:
Summary: It's A Spy Novel, Stupid!
Review: "Kim" is a well-deserved classic, a fantastic amalgamation of a Boy's Own adventure tale, an on-the road book (read it with an atlas!) and a fascinating look at the politics of the day. The Great Game is the genesis of all spy novels since, from John LeCarre (who adores it) to Ian Fleming, Ross Thomas, etc. Rich, colorful, thrilling -- only for the smartest of children.
Rating:
Summary: Kim- A friend To All The World
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring tounge-twisting novel
Review: This book is great if you speak Indianish but otherwise its a nightmare. It's for people who like the Indian culture. It is so boring and there is hardly a plot. You should think again if you want to read this story.
Rating: 
Summary: New York Review
Review: Kim is an amazing book but Kipling uses very hard English that I cant even understand in such a short novel. This book is great for people who speak Indianish but for Americans it's very tough.
Rating:
Summary: Tenuous, tiring, not my style
Review: If you are interested in Indian culture, read it. The language is so thick you have to either trudge through it to 'get it' or skim it and miss it altogether. Very time consuming for such a short novel.
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