The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling

Title: The Jungle Book
Author: Rudyard Kipling
Genre: Childrends, classic
Rating: 1.5/5
# pages: Audiobook
Date read: June, 2009

Rescued as an infant from the savage tiger Shere Khan, Mowgli is reared by a pack of wolves. His days are filled with excitement and danger as he learns the ways of the jungle from Bagheera the panther and the wise bear, Baloo. As the boy grows, he also learns he must take his place among his own kind... but first, he must face Shere Khan in a battle of wits and strength to discover the true King of the Jungle.

Along with the story of Mowgli are other jungle tales - including "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," "The White Seal," and "Toomai of the Elephants" - lending depth and diversity to our understanding of Kipling's India.

I don't rightly get how this became to be a classic. I found it extremely boring and don't think it was purely because I was too old for it... besides, a true classic should be worth reading at any age, right?

I hadn't realized that The Jungle Book was basically a collection of short stories. I'd expected a novel, and therefore assumed the story of Mowgli would have been a lot longer than it was. Not that I minded terribly that that wasn't the case, because unlike Disney's Mowgli, I never really 'took' to this one. My favourite stories were by far Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and The White Seal. The others were okay at best, mind-numbingly boring at worst.

I ended up mostly just skimming the last two stories. By then I felt I'd given the book enough of a chance to entertain me, so when I wasn't hooked after the first couple of pages of each, I moved on.

A shame, because I did want to like the book - but couldn't.

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