Kim (100th Anniversary Edition): Illustrated First Edition

Wonderful magical story. Love them all, Kim, Teshoo Lama, Mahbub Ali, the Babu, the sahiba, all the characters so real. Read and re-read, always immensely enjoy the immersion into their world.

Kim is a riveting novel of adventure with a wonderful spiritual dimension woven throughout. It also makes a good introduction to India under the British Raj--an India that had not changed all that much by 1963, when I spent nine months in a town in Rajasthan. That was a key formative experience in my life, and Kipling's novel brought so many memories flooding back!Read the first couple of pages if this novel and you will find it difficult to put it down before finding yourself in joyful tears at its poignant end.

Currently in chapter 3 of Kim learning about a boy and his friend Lana.

Fantastic read. You won't want to put it down!

I read this book as it is one of Kipling’s more notable works; being listed among the top 100 best English novels of the 20th century. It has a publication date of around 1901. That said, this is not an easy read and the narrative moves at a painfully slow pace. One of the highlights of the book, its descriptive language, is also one of its main drawbacks.In a nutshell, Kim is the story of an orphan boy who is befriended by an old Tibetan lama. They travel around India where Kim later meets a British priest who knew his father. He subsequently goes to a British school and later gets involved with British intelligence in their work against the Russians.The book is noted for its colorful descriptions. The reader will certainly get a good feel for life in 19th century India. Unfortunately, Kipling spends so much time describing a situation that it’s easy to forget what is happening. Thus, the chapters end up being long and tedious.If you want to read something by Kipling or get a feel for 19th century India, this is a great book. Just be aware that Kipling’s writing style, along with the use of many colloquial words, makes this a slow and difficult novel to follow.

I thought the episodic story of the 13 year old Irish kid and the old holy man on a quest would be ideal for me. Not. I persevered half way before throwing in the towel. I find [mostly] aimless dialog boring. Comparisons to *Huckleberry Finn* are ignorant.** not finish

I liked this a lot better than the collection of short stories Plain Tales from the Hills. The character development in Kim is much better and the plot is much more interesting. There are many fascinating glimpses into both British colonialism and Indian culture.

This is one of the classics based on the meme “orphan boy discovers his true heritage”, a plot scheme that dates back at least to King Arthur, (and would you count the tragic “Oedipus Rex”?)The power and beauty of the story comes from Rudyard Kipling’s luxuriant and vibrant descriptions of India, from its sweltering lowlands to its rugged mountains, and the detailed portrayals of its different peoples, including a Pathan horse-trader, a high-born Hindu grandmother, a clever Bengali, and most especially the Lama who takes Kim as his disciple in a search for the River which will wash a believer clean of sin. The protagonist, Kim, is everything a young hero in search of himself should be. If you are about to go to India, or have been to India, or have thought of going to India, or even if you never had any interest in India at all, you will find it hard to resist this book.

not much of a celebratory edition. typeface difficult to read and paper poor quality

Brilliant book, and a very well worth while read.

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