This needs to be read through the lens of cultural and historical context. Heavily.

It is an unbiased yet well-characterised interaction with the five major clashing philosophies in the country of India. Kipling paints a good picture of how a survivalist manages to adopt and adapt to each philosophy or religion and the people who adhere to each. Well documented is the journey he takes with the Lama, and that lingering belief and similar treatment of monks still exists in many parts of Asia where monks and novices can survive at the mercy of the people without money or belongings (I’ve seen it myself in Thailand and Laos). And there’s a touch of spying and adventure (very specifically sensitive to the politics of the time) throw in to spice up what is overall a very deeply philosophical narrative.

The language is straight out of the tail end of the 19th century, so if you’re looking for something equivalent to The Hardy Boys of the mid-20th or one of these spy-kid novels of the 21st, please note: this ain’t it. 

But it’s ‘clean’ right the way through, even if a ten year old might be stumped by the overall language construction; the censorship of the time restricted Kipling to using only the profanity viewed as mild for his era. 

For example (this gave me a giggle) in the dialogue between Kim and a benefactor who hosts him (though she’s a bit peeved in this scene)—

<i>‘A thousand blessings upon your house.’
‘The house be unblessed.’
It is impossible to give exactly the old lady’s word.</i>

…you can almost hear the cursed muttering under her breath.

This may have been a children’s book in 1900, but as with many books written in eras past, this text needs two or three equivalent alongside to explain the politics, culture and realities of an abandoned Irish boy in the India governed under British Imperialism. Good for an upper level or university class on any of those subjects, possibly alongside Frances Burnett Hodgson’s <i>The Secret Garden</i> as her novel begins in relatively the same era.


A Reviewer’s Reviews Response:
**It would do some readers well to scan a biographical summary of Kipling himself, a man born and raised in India at the time of his own writing (some of the other reviewers seem not to have realised that fact—I mean, he didn’t drop onto the continent for a three-week first class holiday in the 21st century, so it’s a bit odd to expect that sort of perspective from this writing)… we readers from the future aren’t required to agree with political and social perspectives that are outdated and imperialistic—of course not! But God forbid we throw away the incriminating evidence of ‘what was’ because we don’t like or agree with what happened. History is recorded not to give accolades to the dead (though some might think) but to learn from experiences both positive and negative, for the betterment of our present age, and the promise of the future. Better to read, intelligibly analyse, dissect, evaluate, and compare ‘what might have been then’ and ‘what should be now’ with greater insight, understanding and reaching for higher standards of equality and love among all of humanity.