Kim

Rating:
Summary: Splendid
Review: Rudyard Kipling has become somewhat of a controversial figure in today's politically correct and overwrought world. His notions of the White Man's Burden and the civilizing mission of England (and America) are well-known and often cited as evidence of a racist mindset and disposition. To be sure, like all people, Kipling was not perfect and held his fair share of prejudice. KIM, however, serves to bring out the basic humanity in Kipling's character. It is certainly one of his best works, if not the best. Kipling's great knowledge and love of India and its people shine through every page as do his way with words, his story-telling ability, and his cerebral depth. It is no wonder that KIM is the much-admired and favourite book of countless literary and political figures, both Indian and otherwise.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: I loved the imagery in Kim. The vivid representation of live in India under the British, although idealized, creates a reading experience that surpasses most of Kiplings writing. The way in which he represented the clash of cultures and religions was well done although skewed by Kiplings own beliefs. Through these clashes Kim takes an image of its own, both beautiful as well as insightful.

Rating:
Summary: Among the top 3 most influencial novels of 20thc
Review: This was probably the first - and almost only time a white author really entered the mind of asia.

It opened the whole relationship of the west with india an even ironically helped the campaign of Ghandi and his (MKG's) largely phoney portrayal of a hindu holy-man (so frightening to muslims).

Kiplin himself perhaps saw Kim as his "perfect self" though sadly the real Kipling about this time embrased the two dimensional imperialism of the Daily Mail - in want of a distant Bad Guy for his actual manichean fantasy he fitted up the germans - and sadly had a huge influence on the disaster that was the First World War.

"Kim" Philby (named for the hero) and others in search of this foreign world of duplicity and black and white values later embraced communism.

This novel affected all of this - was the first realistic (rather than idealised) view of buddhism in its evolved and contradictorary form (I like the way the Lama blends in snatches of Pure Land along with his "no self" agnosticism). Kipling "sold" a positive picture of India and its two-way relationship with "Blighty" that greatly influenced later events an perceptions of both right and left.

Too bad he embraced the rich and powerful so whole-heartedly - (as did WB Yeats at a similar time in a similar way) and so lost his clear poetic vision.

Rather than take on the task of fighting germany - he might have wrtiten a sequel - in which O'Hara had to contemplate the foundations for the glamourisation of the struggle between the European powers - questioned the disruptive influence of the Entente Cordial (all the dangers of a treaty and none of the mutual benefits) and why exactly Britain had to be a continental power with a land-army (responsible for the defense of France and Belgium but with no say in the methods) when it had plenty to do across the oceans.

Kipling painted a picture of the glamour and cultural richness of India - and of great-power conflict. He knew a lot more about the first than the last - sadly because of his authentic voice on Asia folk took heed of him over Europe.

He is one a few people who almost completely discounted a great cultural good with a massive social evil. The pen was mightier than the sword and it was correctly said that at that time the word of Kipling was more eagerly listened to than the words of all but a few heads of state. He lost his own son to the multinational meatgrinder that he and a few "war-glamourisers" wound into action - implying that the whole thing might be more fun than driving a desk in Finchley - he encouraged the French to think they could use the British to gain hegemony in Europe - based on the sound prediction that the Rosbifs would leave when the bloodletting was over.

I adore this man and abhor him - I want to grab hold of him after this book (1901) and send him back to India. You don't understand the Twentieth century if you don't read this book - from the Somme to TE Lawrence to Woodstock to the rise of Mandela is the story of folk who read this book and/or felt its influence. Only the Beatles can compete - but only because they too were influenced. Kipling as colonial taught generations to identify with the locals - thusd fueling de-colonialisation - into the hands of the very "Babu-Class" that he distrusted. They were not like his "Babu". Hurree - they were "in a hurry"!

If only the Neo-cons had both read it and understood its mixed influence and implications. The whole Iraq fiasco could be described as "insufficient Kim".

Rating:
Summary: a mild but quite thorough story of initiation:
Review: Kim is honestly a fun book. This is not to say that there aren't lapses, tedious mirings that swirl around the overall ebullient excitment, but these stem more from an excess of the author's wordplay than from anything else. The story is on the surface rather quaint: Orphaned British tyke grows up alone in India, has the internal wits and capacity to learn basic survival skills and has the ambition and sense of humor to make something of a name for himself. From there he meets a 'holy man'--not one in the traditional sense of Western (or even Eastern) literature, but here is more of a true seeker, someone not pulled down by the conventions of organized religiousosity, but one moreso looking for a one-on-one understanding of God. There is a great deal of subtle and transmogrified mythologizing--the traditional fables bowled over by reality, the high, idealistic hopes often stunted in birth by more rational and everyday life concerns. Kim, street-smart and wise before his time, is fascinated by the holy man's honesty and feels some compelling need to accompany the man on his random journies.

Kim is the story of two journies, certainly the holy man's as well as Kim's own, the reckoning with cultural identity and the east/west clash in a time of subterfuge and war. It is really a quite powerful story, dulled down at times by the author's seemingly ceaseless wonder, but for a tale marketed as being about a white European lost in the maze of turn-of-the-century India, there is a great deal that is very contemporary and an enormous amount of action and even betrayal.

Give it a go and read it to your kids. There are many valuable life lessons Kipling makes an attempt to teach and many wrong paths he explains to us all about taking.

Rating:
Summary: Stunningly Overrated
Review: Am I missing something here? Apparently. I found Kipling's writing extremely stilted and archaic, in a bad way (not in a say, Shakespeare way). The characters were one-dimensional, and the plot was heaped with deus-ex-machinas. I had to struggle to get through every page, and force myself to read a designated amount each night in order to finish it (it took me almost a week, and it's not a long book). The writing is filled with colloquialisms and foreign expressions, and I had to constantly flip to the Endnotes to decipher the code, which was extremely inconvenient. I did learn something about India and its history, and I can't wait to read a better novel on the subject.