This was a difficult book to read. In some parts of the book it seems that barely a page goes by without Kipling making another racist generalisation about 'Orientals'. It is not as if it just the culture he is referring to, from early on it is clear that a central theme of the book is that Kim's European race means that he is superior to the 'natives'. It is also frankly rather long-winded in parts. Nevertheless, in the end it is the cultural superiorism that makes it interesting. The book opens a transparent window onto the mindset of the Imperial Raj, and that is quite fascinating. It is precisely because it is such erudite well-written racism and not the rantings of a contemporary far-right politician that enables the reader to understand how the colonial attitude was able to maintain itself for such a long time.