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    Kim
    Kim
    Kim
    Audiobook13 hours

    Kim

    Written by Rudyard Kipling

    Narrated by Madhav Sharma

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Set in the days of the British Raj, Kipling’s finest novel is the exciting and touching tale of an Irish orphan-boy who has lived free in the streets of Lahore before setting out, with a Tibetan Lama, on a spiritual quest. Kim later enrols in the Indian Service and simultaneously embarks on an espionage mission of supreme importance. A thrilling climax in the Himalayas occurs when the two quests become entangled. Kim’s search for identity is staged within one of the most magnificent and affectionate portrayals of Indian culture in literature.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaxos Audiobooks
    Release dateDec 1, 2009
    ISBN9789629548216
    Author

    Rudyard Kipling

    Rudyard Kipling was born in India in 1865. After intermittently moving between India and England during his early life, he settled in the latter in 1889, published his novel The Light That Failed in 1891 and married Caroline (Carrie) Balestier the following year. They returned to her home in Brattleboro, Vermont, where Kipling wrote both The Jungle Book and its sequel, as well as Captains Courageous. He continued to write prolifically and was the first Englishman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907 but his later years were darkened by the death of his son John at the Battle of Loos in 1915. He died in 1936.

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    Reviews for Kim

    4/5

    89 ratings65 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I've struggled for a long time to make up my mind about this book, and I think I'll struggle on for a while longer too. Is it rank British Imperialism? Or a sweetly bitter tale of a boy's coming of age? It's hard to tell; the description of India is romantic and evocative enough to make the journey intriguing though, if nothing else.
    • 5/5
      I had never heard of this book- I think it deserves as much attention as the Jungle Book. Kim is an epic, it’s long and sometimes slow. But I never had the urge to skip ahead. It’s a beautiful story. Note: there are some words used to identify people of different ethnicities that are horrifying. That’s my only complaint.
    • 5/5
      I have just read Rudyard Kipling’s novel Kim and am in awe of it.My mother had suggested a few times that I read it and so, of course, I didn’t. This was a triumph of stubbornness over experience. My mother has a few intellectual quirks (Mets fan?) but has never, ever steered me wrong in a book recommendation.*Prior to reading Kim, all I knew of Kipling was 1. he wrote the wonderful Just So Stories 2. his reputation as a stuffy defender of the British Empire 3. and is author of one a great poem about the plight of forgotten veterans, The Last of the Light Brigade. There were thirty million English who talked of England’s might, There were twenty broken troopers who lacked a bed for the night. They had neither food nor money, the had neither service nor trade; They were only shiftless soldiers, the last of the Light Brigade.None of which prepared me for Kim.It is the story of an orphaned son of a British soldier, Kim, who has spent his early childhood as a beggar in the Indian city of Lahore. As a result he is both of Britain and of India in a very deep way. He comes into the service of both a Tibetan Lama and the British Secret Service. (If you need it there’s a very good plot summary here. ) The rest of the book concerns the adventures that come about as a result of this. And Moby Dick is a guide to whales.While it has a wonderful adventure story as its frame, Kim is a book about reconciling the spiritual and the physical. It also has an wondrous story of the love between Kim and the Lama who becomes, in essence, his adopted grandfather.For the most part the spiritual is shown in the people of Asia and India. One of the many things that makes Kim an exceptional story is that the indigenous people are rendered as complete human beings. They are not what my friend Steven calls “magical black people” who are only in the story to educate or help the white folks. (Steven is African-American so he uses another word instead of “black people.” He gets to do that.) If you would like an example of the Magical Black Person genre see the movies The Legend Of Bagger Vance, Driving Miss Daisy, Bruce Almighty and on and on and on…Nor are all the Asians and Indians “spiritually minded.” Many, like the spy and horse trader Mahbub Ali, are as pragmatic and skeptical as anyone from the world of the British ruling class. On the other side, the spy Lurgan – a Brit – is an adept of the mysteries and wonders of Asian and Indian non-rationalist thought.The Brits are not denied a spiritual life nor is the Christian tradition denigrated. It is just presented as alien to and useless in India and related lands. Although the Christian belief system is respected, the clergy are not. There is some very fair lampooning of one minister but he is ridiculed for being closed minded not for what he believes in per se.Both British and Asian cultures are portrayed as less-than perfect but with each is also shown to have their own distinct and separate strengths. These can crudely be called the mechanical vs. the magical. Kipling neither faults nor exults one over the other. His chief criticism of both is their inability to appreciate and tap into each other. This is what makes Kim’s development into their synthesis so emotionally powerful.All that said, make no doubt that Kim is a racist novel. Its racism is sometimes subtle and sometimes blatant. The edition I read (Penguin Classics) includes a fine essay by Edward Said that does an excellent job of highlighting that racism and placing it in context without forgiving it or explaining it away. As Said points out the subtle racism can only be understood by what is left out of Kim. Although the Indian and Asian characters are full people not one even considers that they should not be ruled by the British. The more obvious moments of racism involve references to stereotypical “Eastern” behaviors and ways of doing things. In fact these references are so at odds with the rest of the novel that they stand out and interrupt the rest of the story.Without giving Kipling a pass for his racism, it is worth noting that the most truly egregious stereotypes are reserved for other Europeans. A French secret agent is vaguely effeminate and totally condescending toward everyone else. His Russian partner is stupid and brutally ruthless. Neither is particularly clean. As neither France or Russia were subjected to colonization these stereotypes do not bother me in the least.One of the tremendous accomplishments of this novel is that it forced me to accept, question and consider how a work of art could be both racist and essential at the same time. In the case of Kim it pulls this off by never letting us forget that nearly everyone in it is a human being, even while it refuses to consider any challenges to the author’s status quo.For me Kim ultimately is about the effort to reconcile the power and significance of the unseen and unknowable with the power and significance of the mundane. What makes it so successful is that it offers no conclusions on the topic. When the Teshoo Lama finally stumbles upon the river that he has been searching for – one whose waters will cleanse his karma — it is left up to you to decide whether it is “The River” or a stream or both.*Currently reading her copy of Karen Armstrong’s Short History of Myth. I will be returning it to her because half-way through I decided I had to own a copy. So there.
    • 5/5
      In many ways I think this is the perfect book. First of all, who can resist Kim, himself? A Sahib street-child turned servant to a holy man and at the same time a player in the international intrigue of India in the 1800s, with a lama, a horse trader, a physician/magician, and an entire British regiment as his friends. Politics, spirituality, acceptance, wisdom from all sources......it was just a pleasure to read this book!
    • 5/5
      It was sooo good I hope everybody has the chance to read it ??
    • 5/5
      While it is not politically correct, this book is a wonderful story of adventure, spirituality and coming-of-age set against Kipling's backdrop of India. I always enjoy it each time I re-read it.
    • 3/5
      I'd never read Kim or, in fact, anything by Rudyard Kipling before. I've been told that Kipling is the "poster boy" supporting colonialism, as well as racist so I started this book with some trepidation. It would be nice to be able to say simply "this is a story of a great quest" and enjoy it on its own terms, but I think we have to be aware of at least some of the assumptions Kipling is asking us to make about the world. While I noted some references that are clearly racist (especially by today's standards), I could live with those because most major characters, of all races, were presented as multi-dimensional human beings. What was harder for me to accept is the way the author, and his characters, refuse to consider any challenges to the status quo of colonialism. In Kim himself, we have someone who has grown up in an Indian cultural environment, having lost his European parents at a very young age, but who nevertheless has a special destiny because of his racial origins. I don't think we can absolve Kipling of racism on this point.The debate on whether to continue to read Kipling has a parallel in today's debate over the naming of schools after our first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. As Senator Murray Sinclair said in a CBC Radio interview, I think it is important to understand and learn from history. That is why we must read Kim as a product of its time, not as a product of today. That is why it is better to use Kim (and Kipling) as a launching pad for discussion of our history and how it influences our present rather than hiding them in a dark closet. I enjoyed Kim as a character. His character is pulled in opposite directions which parallels the broader geopolitical situation around him. But as a story, Kim was, at best, adequate. The part of the book dealing with espionage was juvenile. I strongly preferred the part dealing with Kim's relationship and quest with the lama.Mr. Kipling's writes well; his descriptions are fantastic, and I really felt like I was on the train with Kim and the lama.On balance, there are good points: the writing, the rich detail of Indian culture, Kim himself and his search for his identity, the quest story. There are also bad points: the colonialism for sure, and the plot, especially the spy story, left something to be desired.
    • 3/5
      I hoped the longer I read this, the easier it would become. You know once I got a feel for the writing style, well that never happened for me. Half the time I wasn’t sure who was talking to whom or even what they were talking about. I think I should have just watched Errol Flynn in the movie
    • 5/5
      A grand adventure, good reading about Colonialism and India.
    • 5/5
      This is a magnificent book that needs to be listened to in audio book form so as to get the real flavor.This edition has for the reader:Ralph Cosham; excellent!!!5 Stars.
    • 5/5
      I read this as a child and still enjoyed it later when I read it as an adult. I think Kipling is grossly misunderstood as being responsible for promulgating the concept of "the white man's burden." A book to read if you want to read another in the same vein is Kunzru's _The Impressionist_ (Kunzru actually quotes from _Kim_ quite a bit in his book.) - a _Kim_ for adults.
    • 4/5
      An adventurous buddy/road tale set in the teeming infinitude of colonial India. I was worried about it being ruined by Kipling’s colonialist paternalism, but it seems like, while in his head he was an imperialist, his heart was with the colonized. Beautifully and expansively told and described.
    • 5/5
      [Kim] by [[Rudyard Kipling]] I first read this book about 40 years ago in my teens. I found it confusing and hard to understand: Kipling used dialect and a lot of Indian and British vocabulary. I also was more focused on plot than the descriptive sections.Forty years later I read it again and thought it was one of the best books I've read all year. It is a "coming of age" yarn, with deep background on British ruled India, the relationships between various Indian cultures, and the ruling British. For the 21st century American reader, what is striking about Kim's tale is how little material benefits are considered valuable; rather, it is the quality of one's work that is prized by the British and the Indians alike. There is no political correctness in the book: various cultures strengths and weaknesses are depicted and the English do not come out as the most noble of the group. That is all background. For the plot, Kim, an Irish solder's orphan (Kimball O'Hara), lives on the streets of India, passing as a Indian. What may be missed by Americans is that at the time, this was rather counter cultural of Kipling to make the hero an Irish lad. Kim's nickname is "Friend of All the World", for he befriends all, but is taken in by none. Then he gets involved in intelligence work with the British foreign service while accompanying an aged Tibetan lama.By all means read this book, and enjoy it.
    • 3/5
      The strongest impressions I got from this novel were vivid descriptions of India and the wide variety of people who lived in there in the late 19th century. Told from the perspective of Kim, an orphan of Irish descent on his own in this vast land, he quickly embarks on an adventure by joining a holy man, a lama, as his disciple, and traveling through a diverse landscape. This book is good reading for anyone interested in British India.
    • 5/5
      One of my very favorite books, hands down. It never fails to leave me choked up when I reach the end.
    • 2/5
      Kipling was a very popular author during his life (1865-1936), and Kim (1901) was arguably written at the peak of his career. It tells the story of an orphaned son of an Irish soldier traveling through India, and Kipling was certainly experienced enough to write the tale, having lived there from 1882 to 1889. As the introduction to this volume says, “Kipling’s view of life is a deeply pessimistic one. Not only is man, as he once put it, at war with his surroundings in a world that does not care, but that world itself is without intrinsic order: chaos and anarchy constitute its true moral reality.” What better place for this worldview than India, with its harshness, diversity, and chaos. In the story, Kim meets an aged lama and becomes his disciple, and throughout the book there is a duality between Kim’s humanistic love with the lama spiritual love. The fundamental message Kipling imparts to us is that this duality can never be “resolved” and will always exist. The novel takes place during what is referred to as “The Great Game”, that is, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia at this time, and there is a similar “earthly” duality between this tension and the better instincts of humanity that is also shown to be unending. Today Kipling stands for the imperialism of the age and he’s controversial today for having written “The White Man’s Burden” (ugh) two years earlier, but it is not for that Kim didn’t resonate with me. Kim was “ok” as an adventure story, “ok” as a cultural study of India, and “ok” relative to insights into spirituality or the human condition … but not strong enough at any of these for me to recommend it. I think it’s a bit overrated.Quotes:On religion:"Thou art beyond question an unbeliever, and therefore thou wilt be damned. So says my Law - or I think it does. But thou art also my Little Friend of all the World, and I love thee. So says my heart. This matter of creeds is like horseflesh. The wise man knows horses are good - that there is a profit to be made from all; and for myself - but that I am a good Sunni and hate the men of Tira - I could believe the same of all the Faiths.”“Bennett looked at him with the triple-ringed uninterest of the creed that lumps nine-tenths of the world under the title of ‘heathen’.”On eating, and different cultures:“Certain things are not known to those who eat with forks. It is better to eat with both hands for a while. Speak soft words to those who do not understand this…”
    • 3/5
      Kim is the classic tale of a young orphan boy who grows up in the streets of colonial India. Although Kim survives as a street urchin, he is the son of an Irish officer and is a mishmash of his British ancestry and his Indian upbringing. Throughout this book, Kim is torn between his two nationalities. Once it is discovered that he is a white English boy, he is sent to school to be educated and eventually become part of the 'Great Game' or the espionage plot between England and the other European power houses. At the same time, Kim meets a Tibetan Lama and wants to accompany him as his servant on his quest for enlightenment. Kim is miraculously able to do both and his travels take him through much of India and the Himalayas.

      The descriptions of Colonial India were the best part of this book. Definitely, it was a crossroads for many cultures that all seemed to work well together and coexist peacefully. Also, the amazing friendship that Kim develops with the old Tibetan Lama was sweet and touching. But, this book is on quite a few of the notable 'books you MUST read' lists including, 1001 Books to Read Before You Die, Modern Library and the Radcliffe List. For me the book was sweet and even memorable, but not quite earth shattering.
    • 5/5
      Published in 1901, Kim by Rudyard Kipling has rightly become a beloved classic over the years. Possessing all the ingredients needed for a grand adventure story, this tale goes a step further with it’s wondrous descriptive writing and it’s close look at the India Kipling knew so well. To this is added well defined and interesting characters and a bitter-sweet coming of age plot line. The story revolves around Kimball O’Hara who, at the beginning of the story, is living as a native orphan on the streets of Lahore. He meets and makes an instant connection with a wandering lama from Tibet. Together they embark upon a journey, both spiritual and actual. Travelling the crowded rails and dusty roads of India, meeting many interesting people along the way. Kim becomes the lamas disciple or “chela” and his love and respect for the older man grows. That these feelings are returned is obvious as well. Eventually Kim meets up with a company of soldiers from his father’s Irish Regiment who take him under their wing. With his ability to blend into the native population, he soon finds himself involved in “The Great Game” as a British agent. High adventure indeed, but for me it was the detailed descriptions of India, the sights, the smells and the people that made this book special. From the crowded marketplace to the dusty plains, Kipling’s colourful writing brings India to life. Kim is a book that I can see reading over and over again as I believe every read would give you a different perspective. Truly a classic.
    • 3/5
      A boyish adventure: Kim, the son of an Irish soldier, is orphaned in India and brought up by an Indian foster mother of dubious moral standing, left only with his father’s army papers (which he cannot read) and an assurance which he cannot understand but takes for a prophecy, relating to the return of the regiment and the help it would bring. He is therefore a Sahib, but brought up as a Hindu and well-versed in all the street wisdom of the bazaar. He takes up with a Tibetan lama on pilgrimage and leaves to travel the country. They come across the regiment and Kim is taken up to be educated as a Sahib, finally joining a secret service whose aims he does not understand or particularly care about, interested only in spying as a great Game. Blah blah.It's well written - just a bit blokey for my tastes.
    • 4/5
      The novel "Kim" is unique in the English literary canon: the only novel by a significant British author that features India as its setting at a time when the British Raj was still flourishing. We're lucky to have this product of Rudyard Kipling's in-depth knowledge of life in India, a knowledge acquired thanks to his upbringing. Kipling was born in India and raised there, son of a British curator stationed at the Lahore museum (his father makes a cameo appearance in the novel's first chapter.) Authors to follow would turn a critical eye on the Raj in hindsight (e.g. "A Passage to India"). By comparison this one (and Kipling in general) is sometimes argued as endorsing imperialism. To the extent this is true, it is only for the lack of that criticism. The author's love and respect for the nation of his birth and its peoples shines from every page. I enjoyed the characters, especially Kim and the wise but fumbling Buddhist lama whom he adores. Kim matures about halfway through, at which point the novel loses some of its charm - I preferred the irascible child to the confident teenager - but there are still moments to treasure and Kim remains the same boy at heart. Mahbub Ali and Hurree Babu are also standouts. The British characters are the least interesting, except for Lurgan who seems to be a practiced magician of some sort. I'm still not certain what's taking place in the scene concerning the broken jar. Is it an illusion, hypnotism ...?I also appreciated the 'peaceful coexistence' portrayal of India's wealth of diverse religions and peoples. Among the fourth chapter's descriptions of the Grand Trunk Road, there are people stopping to "make a prayer before one of the wayside shrines - sometimes Hindu, sometimes Mussalman - which the low caste of both creeds share with beautiful impartiality." It's refreshing to see religious diversity being extolled and maintained as a background element rather than made the source of a story's conflict."Kim" is sometimes taken for a children's novel for its simple plotting, light theme, and featuring a youth as protagonist. Our own children might enjoy the exploits of street-smart Kim (especially his sharp tongue), but I think it requires an adult's perspective to best appreciate the setting's portrayal.
    • 5/5
      As enchanting as I remembered, and given his attitudes toward the British Empire, surprisingly open-minded about India and its inhabitants. Unlike some writers who just trafficked in exoticism and Orientalism, Kipling took the time to flesh out his native characters (who are often more clued-in than several of the supercilious but supremely ignorant Westerners). Kim is a wonderful creation, curious, cheeky and savvy beyond his years, and I loved joining him on his adventures throughout a country I know too little about. I'm glad Kipling didn't write more Kim stories, as it might have diluted the uniqueness of this one -- but I'm also sorry he didn't, because I wasn't ready for it to end!
    • 5/5
      Kim is a story of a young street beggar who becomes involved in the international intrique surrounding England's control of India. Nicknamed, "Friend of all the world," Kim is charming, savvy, resourceful, and smart. As a street beggar he can slip in and out of nearly any environment without attracting attention. Ignored by those with power and importance, he makes the perfect spy—and he loves the game.

      This book has everything: adventure, mystery, even spirituality. One of the subplots involves Kim's relationship with a Tibetan holy man who is seeking a legendary arrow that will lead to enlightenment and salvation. The intertwining of the transcendent spirituality with the gritty reality of Indian street life is handled perfectly by Kipling. It's a beautiful book that is fun, fun, fun on every page.
    • 5/5
      Extraordinary, a beautiful, rich, moving story of a boy coming of age in British India. I had heard so much of what it was (Imperialist etc) and that is just not so. It is more a Buddhist book than an imperialist and the heart of it is the love between the Red Lama and the the orphan. The picture of India is drawn with passion and love and the richness of the people and life is contrasted often with the inadequacy of some of the British. I see echoes of Kim in many of my favourite books - look at the Shasta in the Horse and His Boy, at Lyra in His Dark Materials, at John Buchann's Sandy Arbuthnot and in real life at Lawrence of Arabia... And although the adventure and spy story drive the narrative the long trip into the himmalayas is a spiritual quest the culmination of the book one of spiritual fulfilment (and something of the feel of the last chapters of Lord of the Rings also) Highly recommended! (Oddly many of my friends said they were made to read it in Scouts - and it's full of what these days would be called strong language, violence, drug use and sexual references - go Kipling!)
    • 5/5
      I started this as an e-book and couldn't wait to get a print copy. Kim, short for Kimball O'Hara, is an Irish orphan in India during the Raj who gets up to all sorts of mischief until he meets a holy man, a lama from Tibet. He continues to get up to mischief but his adventures take him out across India, to school, and into contact with all sorts of interesting characters. It's an excellent story and was one of the many books that inspired Baden Powell as he started the Boy Scout movement. The issues relating to religion and caste would be good to discuss with younger (12 and under) readers.
    • 5/5
      Kipling is under-appreciated these days. Kim is a wonderful book which I have read a few times now, and had to keep. :) Like Haggard, Kipling wrote about "the Great Game." Spy stuff early on, and overlaid with the gentle story of the Tibetan Monk on his way to his forever home. These old guys from the turn of the 20th century could write - many of them wrote so well and always lucidly and with a vocabulary that they used in even the pulp fiction of the day (Example - Sax Rohmer stuff). It is an extraordinary pleasure to read a well written book.
    • 5/5
      Few characters in literature will capture your heart the way the 13-year-old imp Kim will. Few literary relationships will move you as much as the one that springs up between the Irish-Indian imp and the Buddhist Lama. In three days, the old Lama's heart goes out to his chela (disciple) for his courtesy, charity and wisdom of his little years. So did mine. Kipling's love for India, its people, its customs and traditions, its riches and its poverty shines through in this novel. There is humor, pathos, love and mischief. And plenty of adventure. India's Grand Trunk Road, a river of life, is like Huck Finn's Mississippi River. Kim is a descendant of Huck. And from Kim comes the delightful Hindustaniwallah Hatterr (G V Desani's hero) and Saleem Sinai (Midnight's Children). A real masterpiece.
    • 4/5
      Perhaps the very core novel of imperialism, widely considered Kipling's masterpiece. For my own part, I was never entirely caught by this difficult merger of 2 genres later considered quite separate: the novel of personal or spiritual development, & the espionage novel. The pure espionage parts however, adding up to about 1/3 of the book, are lively, fresh, in every way original. The ending, which unites & transcends the 2 genres, remains a stroke of genius & skill.
    • 3/5
      I know a lot of people really like this book, but for some reason I have never been able to make it through the whole thing. I read a little bit and then lose interest. Maybe someday I will give it another try.
    • 5/5
      A fascinating narrative beautifully read. Spy, adventure, coming of age fantasy in a very particular historical time and place.
    • 4/5
      Kim O'Hara is an orphan, living in the streets of Lahore, India like countless other unfortunate children. So dark is his skin from his prolonged exposure to the elements, that he has no notion at all that he is a 'sahib', a term used to designate a white man. He meets an elderly Buddhist monk who is on a mission to find the mythical river that has sprouted at the place where Buddha's arrow struck long ago, and Kim decides he must accompany the man and be his disciple, so he can beg for food for and shelter for the frail sage. Kim has his own destiny to fulfill: he must find a red bull in a green field, which will reveal to him great truths. And so the young boy and the old man embark on a long journey together that will take Kim from childhood to the life of an educated young man who is of great use as an agent of the British army, which seeks to keep a firm grasp on it's colonies with the use of spies as on of it's weapons. There are many sympathetic characters along the journey and it's a gripping adventure. But though our protagonist goes through a fascinating journey, I failed to be fully drawn into this story, as in the back of my mind there remained the insistent thought that through it all, Kippling might be upholding colonialism as an ideal and I often wondered whether the author considered the natives in the story fully as human beings or was rather parodying regional stereotypes. For example, with the Buddhist sage's continual references to 'The Way' and 'The Wheel', which must have seemed novel ideas to a Western readership at the beginning of the 20th century, was Kippling simply trying to teach Eastern Philosophy to his readers, or was he using the man's constant proselytizing in mockery? This is a book which would probably profit from a group reading to allow the opportunity for discussion on these matters.