"Kim" by Rudyard Kipling

Happy New Year! 

I'd like to start the first blog post of 2026 with my expeirence of reading "Kim" By Rudyard Kipling, in hopes that I'll read more books this year. This blog was planned on December to be posted on New Year, but we're past January so... 😆This isn't a proper book review though, with critical assessments here and there. I'd just like to tell you about my experience with the book, so don't have your hopes up!

"Kim" has sat on my bookshelf long before I became a teenager, but it never took my interest until a few years ago. The blurb looked interesting; it talked about a British boy who becomes a Tibetan monk while training for the British spy. Two worlds which I wouldn't expect to cross paths. I opened the first page with enthusiasm...only to shut it after a page or two. The English was (and still is) really difficult for me to understand, so I immediately lost interest. Last September though, I suddenly had the call to conquer "Kim" and decided to finish reading it no matter what. I went in headfirst without any preparations or guide: rereading the blurb didn't cross my mind, I didn't do any background research on the book to avoid spoilers, and decided to search things up after I finish the book. The results? Well, I didn't understand each and every sentence, but at least I understand the overall story! I consider that an accomplishment, especially when I haven't read a novel in such a long long time. 

"Kim" is about an orphaned Irish boy's adventures as he accompanies a Tibetan lama on his journey to find the "River of Arrow" while secretly working for the British as a spy. The "River of Arrow" is a river that emerged from a place in which Buddha's arrow fell and is said to wash away the sins of those who bathe in it. My limited knowledge on Buddhism makes the "River of the Arrow" fascinating. I've never heard of it in the few Buddhism tales I've read and there aren't any rivers known for that aspect (like how the Jordan River is known to be where Jesus was baptized). So, like the impatient reader I am, I skipped to the last pages of the book to know what the "River of the Arrow" is like and where it's located. I'd also like to know how the lama ended up finding it. With other books, this method would usually work well for me; I could get the whole story with a little backtracking. However, the ending of "Kim" made things even more confusing. There are no descriptions or names of locations of the river. In addition to that, two of the characters I didn't expect to get along well are having a chat! Backtracking didn't help either as there are too many unfamiliar characters and places in the middle of the story. Well, this meant I should read the whole thing.

I read the first few chapters with enthusiasm, thinking that the whole story will be the journey of Kim and his lama in finding their river. Yes, enthusiasm, even though I often nodded off to sleep after several pages due to difficulty in understanding it (I'll talk more about this later). However, something unexpected happened in the middle of the story. Kim was caught by his late father's regiment and was sent to an expensive, private school for western boys, which was supported and even paid for by the lama. Thus, I thought, this was the end of their journey in finding their river and that the rest of the story will be about Kim's other adventures. Extremely disappointed that I won't be getting any further information on the river, I stopped reading the book for about two weeks. 

During that time, I went back and forth on whether I should continue to read the book or return it to its shelf. Should I finish the book? Or should I not? The determination to finish the book has waned in me. However, I came to realize that the title of the book is "Kim", not "Kim and the Lama" or "The Search for the River" so obviously this book wouldn't revolve entirely on finding the river. 😭This made me pick up the book again. I even got curious on how Kim, a boy who is more familiar with the ways of a low-caste Indian life, would survive in a school with a western lifestyle. 

At times, I found the story boring. As a picaresque novel (I didn't even know these existed) which oftentimes have little to no plot, "Kim" isn't your typical beginning, middle, and end story. "Kim" barely seems to have a middle at all. The story is like a series of episodes: Kim and the lama met, travelled around, met various people, experienced different cultures, got seperated by Kim's schooling, then travelled some more. A big part of the story is made up of conversations that showcased people of various backgrounds and their views of British India. While this gives readers an immersive experience on the era, this leads to another complication.

"Kim" is difficult to understand. The conversations are in English, yes, and I understand each word when read independently, but I barely understood anything when put together into sentences. Rereading each sentence also didn't help. What did help though, was forcing myself to read through the whole paragraph. In this way, I somehow got the general idea of what Kipling is trying to say. Perhaps the English is difficult because it was written more than a century ago. Perhaps though, it's due to my unfamiliarity with Indian culture and more importantly with something central to the novel: The Great Game. 

At first, I genuinely thought that The Great Game was another piece of Kipling's imagination before going on to the internet 😂 In reality, it was a time when Britain and Russia fought over influence in Central Asia, but didn't go into a full-scale war. Kim's side-quest while accompanying the lama is "playing The Great Game", or helping the British secret service with spying and relaying cryptic messages. Through this, "Kim" gives an immersive experience on what being 'The Great Game' player is like as we watch Kim and other characters lie, spy, fool, sneak, and smooth-talk in order to obtain, protect, and relay information. Now that I've read up on The Great Game, I realized that a lot of the conversations are cryptic and full or hidden meanings. They would make a lot of sense if I knew what was going on from the start (or maybe not, I had to ask ChatGPT what several messages meant even after knowing The Great Game)😂 I did notice somwhere in the middle that the characters were speaking with secret meanings but I couldn't make head or tail about what they're on. 

Another difficulty comes from the way how the characters communicate. They speak English with their own cultural habits rather than using the standard grammar or sentence structure. There are lots of proverbs, slangs from that era (this is most confusing), and words spelled to reflect heavy accents. This does give a sense on what British India might have sounded like, but this makes the story harder to understand.

Rudyard Kipling wanted to immerse readers with life and culture in British India, which I think he did really well with his many diverse characters and their conversations. The complex language and lack of clear plot requires a little grit to get through though. However, those interested in Eastern cultures, has a background knowledge of The Great Game, and loves decoding messages might find the book fascinating. I've grown to love "Kim" and would like to read it again with the background knowledge I have now, but I don't think I'm a huge fan of picaresque novels. 

Hopefully another book review will follow this!

The Big Bad Wolf Bookfair

Last Saturday I went to a bookfair called Big Bad Wolf. It's held in ICE, BSD, and is open everyday starting from April 30th - May 8th. Here's the schedule:

The books there are really cheap! The cheapest book that I saw costs Rp.10000. These are the books that I bought:

I also bought World War II books, as I'm interested in them currently:

And this is a sneak peak to the book "D-Day Remembered". They're really interesting and inviting:

They have some copies of the real documents (letters, passports, etc.) 

In total, these are the books that I bought:

I think it is a worthy place to go to. If they held it in Indonesia again, I'd surely go there! Hopefully next time they will come with more books from my list. 

Uncle Tom's Cabin

I really enjoyed reading "Uncle Tom's Cabin", a classic book made by the time dark skin people were made into slaves by Harriet Beecher Stowe. I first knew about it when I read it somewhere, but I forget where. It's a really interesting book. The story is divided into parts, but then they're combined together in the end of the story. You'll understand later, as I'm here to make a summary of the book.

The story took place in America. It all started when a wealthy Southern slave trader named Haley came to talk to a Northen man called Mr. Shelby who kept slaves but treated them well, and did not trade them (sell, buy). They were in the middle of talking when the son of a young Afro-American woman who lived there came in. He's really good looking and "would make a fine trade" according to Haley. The boy's mother came to pick him up, and when she went away, Haley talked Mr.to sell him the boy. Eliza, the boy's mother heard all of this and asked her mistress, Mrs.Shelby, who took care of her when she was younger to confirm about this. Mrs. Shelby thought that all of those were just silly, but asked her husband to make sure. Unfortunatelly, he was forced to sell the boy, whose name was Harry.

In a cabin not far from the Shelby's house lived Uncle Tom, his wife Aunt Chloe (as called by George Shelby), and their 3 children. Aunt Chloe was a talented cook, and Uncle Tom was very religious, and often played with "Masr George", as what he called the Shelby's son.

Eliza planned to escape the night before Harry was taken, as she eavesdropped on Mr and Mrs.Shelby's conversation. She also heard that Mr. Shelby was forced to sell Uncle Tom too.  She planned to go to Canada, which was her husband's escape destination. He ran away days ago because of being mistreated by his Master.

Eliza just packed the things she needed and went to the cabin to warn and ask Uncle Tom if he wanted to escape with her. He refused, so Eliza went on her way.

The next day, Haley went to pick up Uncle Tom and Harry, but unfortunately Eliza wasn't there, so Uncle Tom was taken, chained, and asked to wait while Haley chase Eliza. But because nobody really supported his decision to chase Eliza, everyone tried to make things longer. Like when Aunt Chloe purposely cooked Haley's lunch longer, taking her time.

The two Afro-American boys who were asked to accompany Haley to chase Eliza made a prank with Haley's horses. They put something into Haley's horse so that when Haley climbed on his horse, the horse would stand and cause Haley to fall and the horse would run around the field crazy, which will cause the other horses to follow and chaos would happen.

In the meantime in the middle of the chaos, Eliza had reached a river that crossed from Kentucky. She found a house nearby and stopped there to rest because she was so tired. She was planning to cross the river when the next boat came.

After everything was settled in the Shelby's mansion, Haley and the boys that would help him set off the chase Eliza together with hounds. When Eliza heard and saw them from the window, she directly took Harry and ran to the river. Haley and the boys came nearer, and there was no boat at that time. But as it's around winter, there were floating icebergs around. So Eliza ran and jumped onto the floating icebergs to cross. She saw a house nearby.

Meanwhile at the house, there lived a man and woman,  and their 2 children. Their last child, Henry died. The man worked in the government, and he told his wife that the government made a rule saying that if any runaway slave came for help, they're to be turned away. His wife tried to make him change his mind, but he won't. And very soon Eliza turned up at their house seeking for shelter. They took her in and gave Harry some new clothes that onced belonged to Henry.

When Eliza continued her journey to Canada with her husband George, she was chased by Tom Loker, a slave hunter. But he got injured as a result and was brought to care to a Quaker. Eliza and George and Harry continued their journey to Canada. Tom Loker also changed since then.

Haley went back with the boys to get Uncle Tom. He brought Uncle Tom to a carriage and brought him to a boat where they would sail on the Mississippi River. There he met Evangeline St.Claire, whom would visit the places where the slaves were kept and brought them food and other things. Eva never talked to them, until one day, Tom talked to Eva, which made Eva asked her father, Mr. St. Claire, to buy Tom.

Tom had a great time in Mr St.Claire's house, playing with Eva, doing all his work punctually, etc. He also wanted to go back to Kentucky, but said he'll wait until Mr St. Claire change into a Christian. Mr St.Claire was a man who didn't pay much attention to the church and wasn't religious.

One day Eva fell sick and died. That caused Mr. St.Claire to change himself, and wanted to free his slaves. But he died too in a "fight accident", for he was stabbed. Mrs St. Claire decided to sell all the slaves, including Uncle Tom, and the house.

Uncle Tom was sold to Simon Legree, who owned a lot of slaves and a plantation. On the way there he met 2 slaves who were bought too, named Emmeline and Cassy. He helped Cassy a lot on the plantation, and was really good, until Legree made his rank higher, becoming the overseer of the slaves. His job was to whip them if they didn't work hard. Tom refused this and continued becoming the worker.

Emmeline and Cassy decided to escape, and Tom knew this. When Legree asked where they had gone, Tom refused to answer, so Legree order his right and left hand man to kill him. But then they were touched when they saw how Tom anticipates dieing because he wanted to go back to God, which changed them into Christians.

My Mom's New Book

My mom illustrated a children' book that was written by one of my mother's friend, Rhonda Paglia. The title of the book is Three Little Gnomes and a Boy Named Orion. You can buy the book in Amazon . You can also have a sneak peak there. You can also see the trailer. Here's the cover of the book: 

The main point of the story was about three little gnomes who tried to find help for finding a name that suits them, for all of the names that they thought of were not good.  The story is so funny, and Wormy ( a character in the story ) is so cute!  I love it!

Pinocchio

I have finished reading a book titled Pinocchio. Written by Carlo Collodi, 288 pages, published by Puffin Classics. It's a story about a puppet who was made by Geppetto. Geppetto got the wood from his friend. His friend gave him the wood because he didn't want it and was annoyed with it. Geppetto's goal was to made a puppet.

 Pinocchio ran away from Geppetto right after he was made. Geppetto was caught by the police beacuse the polices thought that he couldn't keep a child. Whilst Geppetto was brought by the police, Pinoccio went home and killed a talking cricket who tried to remind him. Pinocchio got so many misfortune from many kinds of bad people, like he was so hungry because there were no food, he became a donkey who worked in a circus.Those all caused by his naughtiness. He met a kind blue- haired child along his journey. He had ran away from her last time, and when he met him she was a woman. She helped Pinocchio became a good boy, and Pinocchio finally became a good boy.

I think this book is a very good book because it helps children to learn how to behave themselves and what will happen if they don't obey their parents. Besides, this is an unabridged book, it's a complete and original one. Much better than the Disney's version.

Comparing Three Kinds of Famous Five Books

I would like to compare these three Famous Five that I have. From right to left :

This is the original book of Famous Five ( Classic Edition). It's a very good book, I say that it is the best because it was written in very good sentences and words. I don't feel that it is " too old" although it's a classical book. There are few illustration inside the book which I said is the best too. I only want to have a complete collection of this classical one. 

The middle one is carefully revised text for today's readers. This book is good. It doesn't have any illustration inside. But I don't judge books from is there any illustration or how is the illustration. I just don't like to be revised.  I like the original one. 

Now is the worst of all. The left one. Are you sure that this book was written by Enid Blyton? I'm not sure about that. First : the character's name are different except their family names and their dog's name. In the original one, the characters are: Julian, Dick, Anne, Georgina ( called George ) and Timmy the dog. In this book, the characters are: Jo, Dylan, Allie, Max, and Timmy the dog. They were said that they were Kirrin cousins. I think they copy the original book for the dog's name and the kid's family name ( Kirrin). Second : all of their titles start with " On the Case bla bla bla." Third : the story isn't related to the title. Fourth : the story is so short, not match for me.

Famous Five On A Treasure Island

This is the Original Famous Five book ( the Classic Edition too). I like it. The stories are brilliant, every time I reach the middle part, I always shuddered.

This is a story about 4 kids and their dog who explored Kirrin Island and had an adventure together. Here is the story:

Julian, Dick, and Annie were siblings. They'd never met their cousin, a strange girl who wanted to be a boy named Georgina. She cut her hair short, almost like a boy's, she wore jeans all the time, and she acted  like a boy all the time.
She was a tomboy. She had a dog named Timothy, but she had it at the end of the story.

At that Summer holiday, Julian, Dick and Annie wanted to go to Polseath. But their parents said that that they were going to Scotland. So they thought of staying in Uncle Quentin's house, their father's brother. Uncle Quentin was a scientist which was always in a bad mood. The children decided that it was a good idea when their parents told them that there was Georgina, and they never met her, and they were excited to meet their unknown cousin.

When they went to Uncle Quentin's house, they didn't see or met Georgina until their bedtime came. Julian and Dick slept in a room, while Annie slept in a room together with Georgina. The next morning, Annie saw another figure on a bed next to her. She was very shock at the look of it. Annie asked if she was Georgina. She said that she's not Georgina, but she's George. She said that she hated being a girl and she didn't like doing what girls do, she liked the things that boys did, she could climb better than any boy. She could swim faster and she could sail a boat like any boy. She wanted Annie to call her George, or she won't answer. She even teased Annie for liking to be a girl, who liked dolls and pretty frocks.

At the breakfast table, Aunt Fanny, Georgina's mother told Georgina to bring her cousins down to see the bay and the best places to bathe. But Georgina refused. She wanted to go fishing. But her parents forced her to do it. When they were on an easy path that led to the bay, Annie saw a funny little Island. She asked Georgina about it, and Georgina said that it's called Kirrin Island, and it belonged to her. Anne, Julian and Dick were shocked. Then Dick asked her about it, but he failed because he called her Georgina, so Julian asked her again, this time using George, and George explained that her mother's family owned nearly all of the land around there, but when they got poor, they had to sell everything, but they couldn't sell that Island because it was worth nothing. And there were wrecks too, but all of them had been cleared except one, which deep down underwater. And she said that the wreck belonged to her too. She said that the wreck belonged to her great-great-great grandfather but was shipwrecked on Kirrin Island. He was bringing back gold with him. Divers came down to see but they didn't found any gold.

Dick suggested that they had a bathe, but George said that she had to get Timothy first. It was a mystery for Julian, Dick, and Anne of who Timothy was. George asked if they could keep a secret. They said yes. So she brought out a dog. She told them that she found him lost as a puppy and brought him home. Then she raised him until he was big, and he started to become naughty. He chewed on things. And he barked too. That made her father angry and she put him to Alf, a fisher boy she knew and she paid him with all the pocket money she got for his food and things. She also promised to take her cousins out to see the Island and the wreck, and her mother was truly shocked when she heard that for George never took anybody to that Island.

The next day they had a picnic with their Aunt Fanny. And the next day again, they visited the Island again and found an amazing sight. There was a storm and the storm pulled up the shipwreck to shore. After the storm, the four kids went and explored the shipwreck. It's full of seaweed and was smelly. But they found a box. They opened it a George's home. They discovered that there was a map of the old castle which stood on the Island, and a diary of the ship's voyages. On the map, there was a picture of a dungeon and there was a writing Ingots on it. Julian, Dick, and George understood directly. Annie was puzzled and they explained about it.They decided to find the bars of gold.

But suddenly they got bad news. When they wanted to open the box, they need to bang it from the attic and it disturbed Uncle Quentin. He took the box. But Julian made a copy of the map. He didn't think that the box would be sold. But they got news that the box was sold, and the Island was going to be sold. The children were going to get the gold. They needed to act fast now.

The Famous Five planned every thing carefully, then they went to the Island and stayed there for a day or two. They worked very hard, digging, going down wells, and opening heavy doors. Finally, they found the dungeon and found the gold. But, Dick got bleeding from a peck, and Annie needed to go up with him and rest outside. Julian and Georgina were the one who founded the gold, but two men came and trapped them in the dungeon. Then Dick came to the rescue. When he got everyone out, Georgina destroyed the two men's boat and went away to tell Uncle Quentin. When they went home, they showed where the gold was. They also brought the police with them. Soon, they became rich and Georgina got her wish, she got Timothy.

The End

                                                          

Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

Although this book is not a complete and unabridged book, I still like it and often read it over and over again

This is a story about a poor family which consisted of a mother and a brood of five children. They lived in a small village known as Badgertown, on a a tiny street called Promise Lane. They lived in a rented house called Little Brown House.The five children called their mother Mamsie. Everyday, Mamsie made coats and did mending of all kinds for the people who lived around her to earn money. Her husband had died when the youngest Pepper child, Phronsie, was still a baby.

The Peppers had never been to school. There were too many chores to be done and they had very little money.
Ben, the oldest Pepper child, worked at Deacon Blodgett's, chopping wood together with his little  brothers, Joel and Davie. He was eleven years old. He also did all the outdoor chores. Polly, the second eldest  of the Peppers, was ten years old. She took care of all the younger Peppers so Mamsie could sew. She also took care of the house, such as baking, cooking, and cleaning up.

The Pepper kids wanted to celebrate Mamsie's birthday. So that night, they planned everything together. The Pepper kids woke up extra-early to finish the morning chores. Ben gave Polly a secret wink as he went to work at Deacon Blodgett's. Mamsie was going to help Mrs.Henderson that morning. After she left, Polly and the three younger Peppers light up the old stove so that it would be nice and hot to bake the cake. After they light the stove, Polly went to Grandma Bascom to get a recipe for a cake. Grandma Bascom wasn't really Polly's Grandma, but everyone in the village called her that.

Once Polly got a recipe from Grandma Bascom, Polly ran back home. But when she got home, she saw a terrible sight. Joel told Polly that he was hammering and the old hammer was shaking. Phronsie stuck her foot in the way, and the hammer hit her foot. It's lucky that nothing's broken, but she got a bruise. After Polly gave Phronsie medicine, she started to make the cake. Polly asked Joel and Davie to get her some cinnamon from the basement cupboard. Suddenly, there was a THUMP from the basement. Polly called them. Joel and Davie went to Polly, their faces dust with cinnamon. They told about what happened. They were wrestling and the sack fell over them. Polly got them cleaned up and suddenly Phronsie reminded Polly about the cake. It was burning.

The cake was ruined. It was black on top and the center had fallen in. Soon, Mrs. Beebe, one of their mother's friend came and gave a bunch of flowers to them. Polly decorated the cake with the flowers and the cake was beautiful again. Polly hid the cake on the top shelf of the highest cupboard. Mamsie was surprised with the cake the next day.

A few weeks after Mamsie's birthday, Polly visited the Hendersons.  Parson Henderson, Mrs. Henderson's husband, was a little sick . He was a minister. But when she got home, she saw that Phronsie was sick. She went for Dr. Fisher. Doctor Fisher examined Phronsie and said that she caught measles. He gave her medicine and left. Doctor Fisher said that Mrs. Pepper shan't need to pay him. It's free.

When Joel and Davie went home from work, Ben was not with them. Polly questioned them of where was Ben, and they said that Ben didn't feel well. When Ben got home, Mrs. Pepper saw that Ben had caught the measles too. She gave him a spoonful of Phronsie's medicine and packed him off to bed.

Mrs. Pepper worked harder than before. Polly worked harder than before too, nursing the sick ones, taking care of the house and also helped her mom to sew. And Polly too got sick. Joel was too. But Davie survived. Then Doctor Fisher came and made the two kids get well. He also gave Polly a new stove.

A few weeks later, Polly was busy in the kitchen and Phronsie was playing in the garden. Then suddenly, Polly heard music from down the lane. Polly called Phronsie. Polly saw an organ grinder playing music from the window. Beside him was a little monkey on a rope. Polly and Phronsie got close and then the monkey bow. When the organ grinder struck up another tune, the monkey danced.

When he finished, the organ grinder asked for money. But Polly gave him brown bread and two potatoes instead because she had no enough money to pay him. The organ grinder threw the food to his monkey, which ate it up. Then he went away from the Little Brown House, taking Phronsie. But Polly didn't notice. She just went back into the kitchen, thinking that Phronsie was playing in the garden again. But when she called her for lunch, she found Phronsie's doll in the garden, but Phronsie was nowhere to be seen.

Soon, all the people in town knew that Phronsie was gone. The good people of Badgertown searched for her, but she was nowhere to be found. So Ben borrowed Deacon Blodgett's horse and he went to town. He found Phronsie behind a dog. The owner of the dog, Jasper, told about how he rescued Phronsie with his dog and the two boys introduced each other.

The next day, Jasper came for a visit to the Little Brown House. They talked. Then he went back to the hotel where he and his father stayed for the Summer. He said that he would be back on Thursday. But he didn't come on Thursday! Instead, he sent a letter telling that his father was sick and he couldn't leave him. He himself was sick! So Polly and the other Pepper children made lovely little cakes and Phronsie made a gingerbread boy for Jasper's father. They sent it to them with a letter and some flowers.

As Jasper got well from the sickness, he visited them. Polly taught him how to bake, and he told them about Christmas and Thanksgiving, for the Peppers had never had those celebrations. But at the end of Summer, he had to go home.

That Winter, letters flew between the Peppers and Jasper. Polly and Ben decided to have Christmas this year. They prepared everything. They had a very fun time. They also had a Christmas tree. Mrs. Henderson, her husband, Grandma Bascom and Dr. Fisher came too. Jasper also sent them wonderful gifts and the Peppers wondered how to thank him.

That Summer, Polly went to stay in Jasper's house and got a full education. There were music lessons, french lessons, reading, writing, and math lessons. Phronsie came too. One day there was an incident. Polly forgot to send the letter to her mother. So Phronsie decided to go to post it and she turned to the wrong street. She bumped onto a woman carrying a big basket. Phronsie's bonnet flew to the middle of a the coach-filled street. She ran for it. She was nearly killed by a carriage. Luckily she wasn't killed and Jasper's father went to take her home. Phronsie also caught burglars stealing Jasper's father's things that night when everyone was asleep and she woke up everybody in the house. Jasper's dog chased the burglars away and Jasper's father got back all the things they'd had stolen.

The next morning, Jasper's father and his eldest child, a grown daughter named Marian, went to pick up the rest of Pepper family after breakfast. What a surprise it was for Polly and Phronsie when their family reached there. They were going to live there.

The end

I love this book.This sounds a little bit silly because I don't know why I love this story.