It has been nearly 6 months since that fateful night in early July. I was shopping with my 13-year-old, getting the final items she needed for a 2-week residential camp program. In between rounds of “No, you can’t get that, it’s too short” and “Definitely not appropriate for a co-ed camp!” I turned to Twitter for interesting chat with adults.
What I found was a fast and furious exchange led by My Friend Amy. Apparently Newsweek had published a list of “50 Books for Our Times,” and she wondered if we agreed that these book were, indeed, for our times. According to the Newsweek blog post:
What we do need, in a world with precious little time to read (and think), is to know which books—new or old, fiction or nonfiction—open a window on the times we live in, whether they deal directly with the issues of today or simply help us see ourselves in new and surprising ways. Which is why we’d like you to sit down with … these … remarkably trenchant voices.
Bloggers were signing up left and right, claiming a book on the list to read, review, and assess whether or not it deserved the title.
I was in the midst of a “the-straps-have-to-be-an-inch-wide-and-your-belly-can’t-show” shopping nightmare, so I tweeted to Beth Fish Reads, “I want in. Pick something for me.” She selected Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, which she had read and enjoyed when she was 11 or 12.
(now, if this were a film, you’d see the months on the calendar flying off the screen – July, August, September … or, maybe a change of seasons and time-lapse photography – the tree would have green leaves, then crisp autumn colors, the wind would blow the fallen leaves away, and snow would start to fall …)
Suddenly (as they like to say in Disney adaptations of children’s books), it was December. I borrowed Kim from the library and started to read … then restarted … then got distracted by another book or two … then picked up where I left off, rereading a few pages to get in the groove …
I’m sorry that I can’t pass judgment on whether or not Kim deserves a place on Newsweek’s Fifty Books for Our Times, I stopped reading at the end of Chapter VI, almost 100 pages into the copy I had. Why didn’t it grab me? It may be that I was put off by what I considered racist and stereotypical characterizations (although, I understand that a writer’s work is a product of the time he lives in, and I usually can put that in context). This scene takes place on a train (p 24):
‘And wither goest thou?’ said the woman, handing him the half of a cake from a greasy package.
‘Even to Benares.’
‘Jugglers belike?’ the young soldier suggested. Have ye any tricks to pass the time? Why does not that yellow man answer?’
‘Because,’ said Kim stoutly, ‘he is holy, and thinks upon matters hidden from thee.’
‘That may be well. We of the Loodhiana Sikhs,’ he rolled it out sonorously, ‘do not trouble our heads with doctrine. We fight.’
‘My sister’s brother’s son in naik (corporal) in the regiment,’ said the Sikh craftsman quietly. ‘There are also some Dogra companies there.’ The soldier glared, for a Dogra is of other caste than a Sikh, and the banker tittered.
‘They are all one to me,’ said the Amritzar girl.
‘That we believe,’ snorted the cultivator’s wife malignantly.
Or, it may be that I found myself trudging through stilted language (see “wither goest thou” and various “ye”s and “thee“s in the passage above), when I simply wanted to read for the story.
Kim is said to be a coming-of-age story coupled with an adventure story, complete with spies and intrigue. Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:
Kim is an orphan, living from hand to mouth in the teeming streets of Lahore. One day he meets a man quite unlike anything in his wide experience, a Tibetan lama on a quest. Kim’s life suddenly acquires meaning and purpose as he becomes the lama’s guide and protector–his chela. Other forces are at work as Kim is sucked into the intrigue of the Great Game and travels the Grand Trunk Road with his lama. How Kim and the lama meet their respective destinies on the road and in the mountains of India forms one of the most compelling adventure tales of all time.
I read to a turning point, when Kim was faced with a previously unknown truth about his past which might greatly impact his future. I just didn’t have it in me to read the remaining 60% of the book. Perhaps one day I’ll listen on audio (or even see a movie adaptation), and find out what I was missing.
Beth Fish said that she especially enjoyed the setting in India. I have to agree that Kipling did put us on a path of excitement. Reading his descriptions of the Grand Trunk Road, as Kim saw it for the first time, had me revisiting old history lessons to refresh my memory of this bustling major route.
If you’re curious as to how other bloggers reacted to the books they chose for this project, click over to the page of Review Links for the Newsweek’s 50 Books for Our Times Reading Project post at My Friend Amy’s blog. Monnibo also read, reviewed, and assessed Kim (and she finished the book!)
A note about the copy I read: it was a 1901 edition published by Doubleday (here’s the title page). The dust jacket is more recent, showing a cover price of $2.95. I was trying to figure out the date of the dust jacket, but haven’t had any success matching the cover (top of this post) – are there any budding Nancy Drews out there who can help?
FTC Disclosure: I bought a copy of Kim to read for this project, but I may have left it at our rental house during vacation. I’ll check the bookshelves when we return next summer, to see if Kim enjoyed a year on the Cape. The copy I attempted to read was borrowed from my local library.
Chris about fell asleep and drove off the road listening to the one passage (his words).
The story about your 13-year-old seems way more exciting, and actually, seems more like a story “of our times”!!!
OMG!!!! I had no idea that it was so dense. What was I thinking when I was little??? I really do remember liking it, but maybe I just like finally finishing it???? Who can remember back all those many years ago. You get an A for effort.
I have vague recollections of reading this when I was younger (the only lingering thought was that it was wrong for a boy to be named Kim…yes I was a deep-thinking child). I am all for reading classics, but not if it is so painful!
I have Kim in my library… somewhere. I can’t blame you for not being able to finish it after reading the quotes included. It seems a bit painful and antiquated. Yes, racism and stereotyping was a norm in Kipling’s time, which may be one reason to include it on that list.
By the way, somehow I missed the whole “Newsweek’s 50″ discussion way back when and had to google it. It seems many of the books have been written in the last 50 or so years, so it’s not a big surprise they are “for our time”.
After reading the quotes you included I can see why you stopped. It would take a lot of concentration to get anything out of that.
Interesting! I’ve never actually even heard of this but I did read one of the Jungle books when I was in middle school. I plan on re-reading them again one day.
Oh, my. I commend you for getting to page 100 because I know I would not have made it that far, with that dense language. I haven’t even picked up my book for this challenge yet … so you definitely get an A for effort too. (And I agree with Rhapsody – the story with your daughter is definitely a better tale for our times!)
I’ve not read Kim and actually not really interested in it either. It’s really is odd to read a “classic” and find stereotypes or things we would normally not see in books nowadays isn’t it? I don’t think it takes away from the book being a classic but it does make you wonder.
Nicole – I hope that was a passage from KIM, not a passage from my review!
rhapsody – LOL! Yes, maybe I should expand on *that* narrative.
Beth F – I gave up on the print version (for now), but may view a movie at some point …
Sandy – oh, you thinker of deep thoughts! I believe there was a character in the Wizard of Oz who got a medal for that.
Kool-Aid Mom – I know, I can generally excuse the racism/stereotyping because they are reflective of the time in which the book was written. This one just got to me (beyond my ability to ignore it)
Kathy – and Monica’s review indicates that it really took off after about 100 pages. Oh, well … a missed opportunity for me.
Ladytink – I might look at some of Kipling’s other books (one day)
Melissa – I thought “one book, I can handle it” … but, I couldn’t
iliana – I remember some terms that my grandfathers used, which shocked me. My mother explained that they were products of their time, and I was able to accept it (and not lecture them). But, I just couldn’t get past it in this book.
I wonder if a more recent edition would have been accessible????
And so far, all the Newsweek book posts I’ve read, no one has really like the books!
I didn’t finish my Newsweek book either. I have serious doubts about that list.
I’m sure I never read this when I was young and it sounds like I wouldn’t like it now. I would like to read some of Kipling but this one might not be the best choice for me!
I’m glad to see that I wasn’t the only one that gave up on this book. I owned it for years, and could never really get into it. I finally donated it to the library book sale a few years ago.
Thanks for the link. I definitely struggled with the language too. I don’t remember the Just So Stories by Kipling to be so strenuous and I enjoyed those as a kid.
[...] Is Rudyard Kipling’s *Kim* a book for our times? [...]
Judging from the excerpt that you printed, I don’t think this would be the book for me. I am also not sure if this is one of the books that speaks to our times or must be read. I have heard much of this book over the years, but I now can safely say that my curiosity for it has been extinguished!
That doesn’t sound like a book I could focus on now, much less when I was 11! Go BethFishReads!
I have a lot of trouble when the language is so different. I am challenged reading Shakespeare because of the same reason. I have to stop and translate it in my head and it takes much longer to read than it should. I don’t know if lots of people have this problem or if it is my ADD or what.
Good thorough review, though. Nicely done.
It is interesting that many thought the purposeful formulation that Kipling used was difficult to read. He did this to notify the reader that the characters were not talking in English, but in this case Urdu or Punjabi (which are for more formal than English hence the “thee” etc.) I first read Kim when I was about 10 or 11 and instantly identified with the main character. I reread the novel during my teens and early twenties. I just have reread the novel after almost 20 years, and was very surprised (in fact, I’m using it, or rather commentary on it, for a history paper). Personally, I find it not much more racist than Twain’s “Huck Finn.” It is more our own perceptions of racism that we project onto it that become our stumbling blocks. However, there are certain elements of Orientalism in the work that many may find hard to understand. Rebecca, to get over your trouble reading Shakespeare — try reading it aloud — you may find that it makes much more sense then.