Once upon a time (because at its heart, Kim is a fairy tale), there was an orphan boy named Kimball O'Hara, Kim for short. In fact, this isn't just any old fairy tale time: this book takes place specifically around the late 1890s in British India. (For more on this time period, check out the "In a Nutshell" and "Setting" sections.) Kim spends his time in the city of Lahore running around, scrounging food, and generally leading a carefree and mischief-heavy life.But there is a prophecy surrounding Kim. No, not "neither can ...
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Once upon a time (because at its heart, Kim is a fairy tale), there was an orphan boy named Kimball O'Hara, Kim for short. In fact, this isn't just any old fairy tale time: this book takes place specifically around the late 1890s in British India. (For more on this time period, check out the "In a Nutshell" and "Setting" sections.) Kim spends his time in the city of Lahore running around, scrounging food, and generally leading a carefree and mischief-heavy life.But there is a prophecy surrounding Kim. No, not "neither can live while the other survives"- that's about a different orphan boy. Kim's prophecy comes down from his now-deceased father: Apparently, Kim's luck will change once he finds a Red Bull on a green field. And two men will appear first to prepare the way for the arrival of this Red Bull.
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I reread this book after a 40 to 50 year gap. I did so because I had had reason to speak with someone about Kim's Game.
Having reread I went though it again to fix some of the episodes in my mind.
Kipling himself says it has no plot. But the threads of the Great Game and a buddist lama's search for the River of the Arrow run through it. John Le Carre almost matches it in the thriller aspect
It includes some remarkable characters, a Sunni Horse dealer, a 'fearful" babu who aspires to Fellowship of The Royal Society, a british Colonel, Kim's father ( not stated but in real life the keeper of the Wonder House in Lahore0and of course Kim himself who we first encounter in Lahore as white but the poorest of the poor.
Set in NW India in I suppose about 1900 shortly after the Battle of Tirah( q.v.)
coldwater
May 13, 2010
Kim, by Rudyard Kipling
This is written so well, it confronts us with a new world - and it is nearly one hundred year old already! I decided to read more Rudyard Kipling!
Alexa Fleckenstein M.D., physician, author.
KathrynJane
May 7, 2010
"Kim" is a gem!
In "Kim", Mr. Kipling has created a timeless imp of a character who steals your heart while both he and the reader gain wisdom of the world. The vivid portrait of India and it's people could only have been captured and rendered for the ages by the matchless Mr. Kipling. Each page of this volume is a delight, packed with wit, suspense, wisdom and the opulence and poverty of India. It's a "life book" - you'll carry it's wit and wisdom with you and always know your life is enriched for having read it.
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