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Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling's Great Game
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This book is for all those who love Kim, the masterpiece of Indian life in which Kipling immortalized the Great Game, the centuries-old power struggle between Russia and Great Britain in the depths of Central Asia. Fascinated since childhood by this strange tale of an orphan boy's recruitment into the Indian secret service, Peter Hopkirk here explores the many mysteries su
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Paperback, 288 pages
Published
October 6th 1999
by University of Michigan Press
(first published January 1st 1997)
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Start your review of Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling's Great Game
Readers of Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game will already know the pleasures of his prose. I'm slowly making way through all his books, but it was The Great Game that alerted me to Kipling's Kim – definitely one of my favorite books this year. I can't believe I waited so long to read it.
Hopkin's companion to Kim should be read alongside, or better, a bit behind Kipling's novel. It would be a shame to spoil the plot in advance, but even the most attentive reader will be left wondering about certain ...more
Hopkin's companion to Kim should be read alongside, or better, a bit behind Kipling's novel. It would be a shame to spoil the plot in advance, but even the most attentive reader will be left wondering about certain ...more
Quest for Kim I received through the now defunct relay site. As I have enjoyed every Kipling book, story and poem that I've read but hadn't read Kim, I though this book would be good inspiration to get me reading Kim. Having finished Kim earlier this year I decided to read Peter Hopkirk's follow up to the book while the novel was still fresh in my head.
Hopkirk comes across through his written as the biggest fan of Kim ever. He gushes his enthusiasm and love of Kipling's novel throughout his chap ...more
Hopkirk comes across through his written as the biggest fan of Kim ever. He gushes his enthusiasm and love of Kipling's novel throughout his chap ...more
"Quest for Kim" is Peter Hopkirk's ode to Rudyard Kipling's masterpiece, "Kim", but it is much more than that. "Quest for Kim" is also a love letter to India, a land of mystery and intrigue, a land capable of producing a wide range of diverse characters both Anglo and Indian, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh. A land of strange customs and complex social rules that can bewilder the outsider for their unspeakable cruelty, yet can also produce spiritual giants like Mahatma Gandhi and st
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I loved Peter Hopkirk’s The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia and really liked Like Hidden Fire: The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire. I am also a fan of Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, so I had high hopes for this book.
Unfortunately, this book isn’t nearly as good as Hopkirk’s sweeping histories of Central Asia. Far too much space is devoted to non-events that amount to “I went looking for this person or that location, but I had only allocated two days in Pakistan to the task and ...more
Unfortunately, this book isn’t nearly as good as Hopkirk’s sweeping histories of Central Asia. Far too much space is devoted to non-events that amount to “I went looking for this person or that location, but I had only allocated two days in Pakistan to the task and ...more
This is obviously a very personal (and a bit of a vanity) project for Hopkirk, and as such is not up the same high standards as the other books in his Central Asia series, (beginning with Foreign Devils on the Silk Road in 1980, through Like Hidden Fire in 1995). However, if you're a Kipling fan, you should enjoy this well-researched book about Hopkirk's attempts to recreate Kim's adventures in today's world. And where else are you going to find a book mentioning a real-life character named Moun
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Best for fans of the Novel, otherwise not as good as Hopkirk as a historian
Paperback edition of The Quest for Kim by Peter Hopkirk is an easy read but not up to his standard. Author and Historian Peter Hopkirk is one of the best resources for topics related to the Great Game. In the Quest for Kim he steps away from being a historian of the British Raj and indulges his passion for the eponymous novel. His assumption is that you share his opinion of Kim and his interest in identifying the original ...more
Paperback edition of The Quest for Kim by Peter Hopkirk is an easy read but not up to his standard. Author and Historian Peter Hopkirk is one of the best resources for topics related to the Great Game. In the Quest for Kim he steps away from being a historian of the British Raj and indulges his passion for the eponymous novel. His assumption is that you share his opinion of Kim and his interest in identifying the original ...more
Kim was one of those really really hard books I tried to read as a teenager, and unlike 'Zen and the Art of MM', I never succeeded. It was simply too densely packed and had too much unknown vocabulary, and a whole flavor and set of contexts I was unfamiliar with. Now I know a bit more about India, and tried to recently skim it a little, and am instead (and/or again) annoyed by his attitude, the way I perceive it anyway.
This book looks like it could be the perfect thing for me! Someone saying, ok ...more
This book looks like it could be the perfect thing for me! Someone saying, ok ...more
May 07, 2014
Gerald Sinstadt
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction-general
There are two writers at work here: there is Peter Hopkirk, author of many splendid travel books about central asia and the Great Game; and there is Peter Hopkirk, lifelong devotee of Rudyard Kipling's Kim
Here he dovetails the two enthusiasms, guiding the reader through the basic narrative of the novel while himself following the path taken by Kim. His quest is to find not only the young sahib in turn of theCentury India, but also to identify the actual places and people who inspired Kipling.
Hpk ...more
Here he dovetails the two enthusiasms, guiding the reader through the basic narrative of the novel while himself following the path taken by Kim. His quest is to find not only the young sahib in turn of theCentury India, but also to identify the actual places and people who inspired Kipling.
Hpk ...more
I'm almost as big a fan as Hopkirk as I am of Kipling, and this exploration of the wonderful novel Kim by a masterful journalist and avid chronicler of the Great Game (when Russia and Britain vied for power in South Asia, during the British Colonial period) is a wicked charming travelogue concerning a romantic period of history (and, yes, I get for the Indian and Pakistanis that there was a lot of nasty business as well - ever a humanist, Hopkirk does his best to address this). For anybody who d
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I first read KIM as a child and was fascinated by the adventure and the colorful life of British India. I have reread it many times since and it has never lost its allure. Hopkirk seems to have had a similar fascination with the book, the time, the history of the British Empire, and all that went with it. In tracing the models for the characters in KIM, he tells his own story of involvement with Asian affairs and the Great Game. Hopkirk has written many wonderful books of history covering these
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After reading Kiplings "KIM", I found Quest For Kim at the local library and immediately checked it out.
This book will lead the curious reader to many other books that are somewhat inter-connected with KIM..read on, enjoy and learn...:-)
Little did I know how addicting Peter Hopkirks wonderful books soon became to me! This author knows the subject[s] and when I read Peter, well, it's like I'm there, part of the adventure.
RIP Peter Hopkirk, I've read all of your books and they've sent me to other ...more
This book will lead the curious reader to many other books that are somewhat inter-connected with KIM..read on, enjoy and learn...:-)
Little did I know how addicting Peter Hopkirks wonderful books soon became to me! This author knows the subject[s] and when I read Peter, well, it's like I'm there, part of the adventure.
RIP Peter Hopkirk, I've read all of your books and they've sent me to other ...more
"...the India that [Kipling] portrays in Kim is painted in the rosiest of colours, and much of the book's extraordinary power, which makes us want to rush off to India, is due to this unbridled euphoria." p. 226
"For today 'the new Great Game', as the political analysts and headline-writers have christened it, is being played from one end of the map of Asia to the other. Colonel Creighton, peering down from the Valhalla of the Great Game, would have no difficulty in recognizing today's rivalries ...more
"For today 'the new Great Game', as the political analysts and headline-writers have christened it, is being played from one end of the map of Asia to the other. Colonel Creighton, peering down from the Valhalla of the Great Game, would have no difficulty in recognizing today's rivalries ...more
A great tale, anyone could read it and be motivated to find Kipling's Kim in the library... Judy, I found it on the shelf after you left, sorry about that.
Funnily enough, I haven't re-read Kim, but this book has made me think about the Lama and his role - as Hopkirk suggests, Kipling may indeed have meant him as the real hero. Also, wondering about the sequel, I feel sure that Kim kept faith and did accompany him on his journey back to Tibet! ...more
Funnily enough, I haven't re-read Kim, but this book has made me think about the Lama and his role - as Hopkirk suggests, Kipling may indeed have meant him as the real hero. Also, wondering about the sequel, I feel sure that Kim kept faith and did accompany him on his journey back to Tibet! ...more
The second time I read Peter Hopkirk's Quest for Kim just recently I was reminded why I had given it 5 stars here on Goodreads first time around. I didn't write a review then, but I will now. I love this book - a combination of history, detective story and personal pilgrimage to the landscape Kipling describes in his masterpiece. Having read most of Hopkirk's other non-fiction books on The Great Game and been fascinated by this largely forgotten (or unknown - in Australia) period of history, Kim
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Rudyard Kipling's "Kim" enchanted my childhood and teenage years and I enjoyed reading some of Peter Hopkirk's other books, so I was not going to pass on this one. I was surprised to discover that Kipling's novel is much closer to real events than I imagined and that most characters were inspired by real people. Hopkirk is clearly in love with his subject and quite frankly if you do not share his passion this book probably isn't for you. Strangely enough perhaps, the parts of the book that made
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Hopkirk rarely manages to find anything of true relevance to link Kipling's story to real-life India, forcing him mostly into supposition more frequently than not. Much of his effort meets a dead end and there's always an air of frustration that he could have dug a little deeper than he did on many occasions. But ultimately, trying to find hard evidence of people and places that inspired a work of fiction means that this quest for Kim proves to be as elusive and misleading as that for the River
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Never ask a question you don't really want to know the answer to
That it is at times overly speculative is the only hard criticism I can offer on Hopkirk's work. It is otherwise deep and enjoyable, yet somehow unsatisfying. Perhaps the weaknesses are inevitable given the task: that of following a work of fiction. But the finest delight of this book comes from sharing a love for Kipling's _Kim_. Kim lovers will rejoice. Others may enjoy a unique glimpse at these parts of India. Still others, who h ...more
That it is at times overly speculative is the only hard criticism I can offer on Hopkirk's work. It is otherwise deep and enjoyable, yet somehow unsatisfying. Perhaps the weaknesses are inevitable given the task: that of following a work of fiction. But the finest delight of this book comes from sharing a love for Kipling's _Kim_. Kim lovers will rejoice. Others may enjoy a unique glimpse at these parts of India. Still others, who h ...more
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It is beautifully written and absolutely charming. While not a member of the Kipling Society, his books have given me great enjoyment over the years. I have always known that Kipling could not have written Kim if he did not love India and it's people. A wonderful companion book to Kim.
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My four stars score is for fans of Kim. Others would likely give a lower rating but why would they read it?
Following in the footsteps of Kim
Entertaining. I need to read Kim agin.
75% is a synopsis of Kim and I found the remaining 25% annoying.
To be honest, I found the Quest for Kim somewhat disappointing, as it seemed in many places like a recapitulation of the action of Kim rather than its own exploration. I would have preferred have either more of Hopkirk's research or more of his adventures in India and Pakistan. That said, it did make me want to return to Kim, which can never be bad.
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Feb 01, 2016
Carlton
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
travel,
books-about-books
For those who have read and admired Kim, by Rudyard Kipling, this is a fascinating travel book trying to retrace Kim's footsteps as he travels through India and identify possible real people for the characters.
The prose is adequate to the task, but is not inspired, as for example William Dalrymple's travel books of India. ...more
The prose is adequate to the task, but is not inspired, as for example William Dalrymple's travel books of India. ...more
If you are a big fan of Kim, this is a necessary read. I have never read Kim. But I will get around to it.
fun modern re-run of KIM - great book, especially for India lovers
Not Hopkirk's best, in my opinion. Where he is normally clear and concise, here he comes across as most unusually vague.
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Thanks to this book I ended up reading the classic "Kim" as well.
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Fast-pace and magical. Makes me want to reach for "Kim" again.
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tell Me - Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling's | 4 | 5 | Aug 09, 2017 04:04PM |
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Peter Hopkirk was born in Nottingham, the son of Frank Stewart Hopkirk, a prison chaplain, and Mary Perkins. He grew up at Danbury, Essex, notable for the historic palace of the Bishop of Rochester. Hopkirk was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford. The family hailed originally from the borders of Scotland in Roxburghshire where there was a rich history of barbaric raids and reivers hanging just
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