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oldpondnewfrog's review
3.0
The story we tell ourselves later about our lives isn't always the right one. This book is useful as an example of that. What John Bayley calls "one of the most significantly reticent autobiographies ever written." I don't want to write much about it. He has nice style, concrete incident, and occasionally glimpses of emotional resonance. That opening: "My first impression is of daybreak, light and colour and golden and purple fruits at the level of my shoulder.... Our evening walks were by the sea in the shadow of palm-groves." Kipling the personality came across as a bit name-drop-y, but I forget in what way exactly. Crowing a bit. Reminds me of "the boy who swaggers, like the man who swaggers, has little else that he can do. He is a cheap Jack crying his own paltry wares."
Great notes by Thomas Pinney.
I liked the image of young Kipling reciting poetry to himself as he swam in the big rollers off the Ridge.
Great notes by Thomas Pinney.
I liked the image of young Kipling reciting poetry to himself as he swam in the big rollers off the Ridge.
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