A review by cade
The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling

2.0

This is a novella, so there is only so much that can go into it. I guess that is a way of partially excusing this story for being not very interesting. This story seems to be Kipling's attempt to write in the style of oral storytelling. The story is mostly told as a flashback, so there is not much suspense as to the ending. The characters are colorful, but, consistent with the brief format, the Kipling uses just a few specific "watchwords" and "touchstones" to describe them that are immediately supposed to call to mind a "type" from which you can fill in the details. Unfortunately, what those "touchstones" symbolize is not obvious to a modern layman separated by such distance in time and culture. I understood plenty to understand the story, but I think I missed the extra layer that would have really made me admire the storytelling.