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amleparker 's review for:
The Jungle Book
by Rudyard Kipling
Dismissing my low rating of this classic with "I don't like short stories" is unfair and not entirely true. I just don't like it when the short stories aren't linked more, when I can't find a strong binding component that keeps it all together. Separately I kind of enjoyed the stories about Mowgli, the mongoose, the elephant herders, and a few more but they felt so disconnected. Disconnected from each other and without much meaning.
I realise as I'm writing this that I might have been a little generous with three stars, as my feelings are leaning closer to a two star rating.
The only theme, that I could discern and that was consistent, was the relationship between man and beast, though at more than one occasion man was the one behaving in the more inhumane way.
Certain points struck me as not being right. I never read this as a kid and I'm pretty sure I'd never read it to any child I know, for the simple reason that there are scenes of violence that I can't see any justification for. If I was asked by the child about the chastisement of Mowgli by Baghera or about the great fighting melee of the white seal, I wouldn't be able to explain it.
To summarise: I guess Kipling wanted to show how different the world works not just between human and animal but also between animal and animal. That we have a great responsibility over the world we live in. I just didn't feel it despite really wanting to like the book.
I realise as I'm writing this that I might have been a little generous with three stars, as my feelings are leaning closer to a two star rating.
The only theme, that I could discern and that was consistent, was the relationship between man and beast, though at more than one occasion man was the one behaving in the more inhumane way.
Certain points struck me as not being right. I never read this as a kid and I'm pretty sure I'd never read it to any child I know, for the simple reason that there are scenes of violence that I can't see any justification for. If I was asked by the child about the chastisement of Mowgli by Baghera or about the great fighting melee of the white seal, I wouldn't be able to explain it.
To summarise: I guess Kipling wanted to show how different the world works not just between human and animal but also between animal and animal. That we have a great responsibility over the world we live in. I just didn't feel it despite really wanting to like the book.