Kim (Rudyard Kipling)

[David]

Heather mentioned this book as being adult fare on the main list.

I think it's a fair bet that if you like HP you will like Kim: the 
evocation of a different world (in this case India), the boy growing 
through adolescence, the complicated and at times mystifying plot, 
the Dumbledore-esque lama, the gallery of comic characters, and a 
story that crackles from the first page.  And, although it's a 
commonplace in literature and cinema, possibly the grandaddy of the 
scene where Trelawney makes her prediction.

It also has in common the hard-to-place quality on the scale from 
children's literature to adults.  I would not really categorise it as 
adult, yet it touches on adult themes (difficult to give examples 
without spoiling the book for those who haven't read it).

Kipling buffs regard it as perhaps his best because he played to his 
strengths - only the Jungle Books compare.

If you haven't read it, you've seen HP and the PS/SS three times 
already, and are bored waiting for OOP, you could do worse than read 
it.

If you have read it, do you agree?

David