Plain Tales From the Hills

Written by Rudyard Kipling

Narrated by Michael Page

Including the stories "Lispeth," "Beyond the Pale," and "In the Pride of His Youth," this collection tells of soldiers, wise children, exiles, forbidden romances and divided identities, creating a rich portrait of Anglo-Indian society. Originally published for a newspaper in Lahore when Kipling was a journalist, the tales were later revised by him to re-create as vividly as possible the sights and smells of India for readers at home. Far from being a celebration of empire, these stories explore the barriers between races, classes and sexes, and convey all the tensions and contradictions of colonial life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781501929458

Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was the author of The Jungle Book, Captains Courageous, and Kim.

Reviews for Plain Tales From the Hills

[renardkitsune · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This collection of stories from Rudyard Kipling is a mixed bag--some are really good, and some are meandering, and some are outright unintelligible, in the case of the few that are written in the dialect of some of the soldiers. I tried to read those few out loud, which helped to a certain extent. I am a fan of Kipling--I liked Kim, and the Jungle Book, and some other, longer short stories, so I came to it with positive feelings. I enjoy the way he seems to be tongue-in-cheek poking fun at the British aristocrats and military in India. The unfortunate thing about Kipling is that, well, he lived in colonial India, and the underlying racism and otherizing of native Indians is cringingly evident, and can make a couple of the stories, not hard to read, but I feel like I am embarrassed for him, and the fact that the culture he lived in will make him increasingly unpalatable for modern readers. There are some gems though, and those who enjoy his writing will find a few stories in this collection that reflect what we love about Kipling.

[m.belljackson · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Winding through this slow-moving book of thankfully short short boring and redundant storiesof the English experience with the natives of British India, I tried to find a favorite.The "object-letters" in "Beyond the Pale" were intriguing, then came the horror story ending.Instead, there was this:"A man should, whatever happens,keep to his own caste, race, and breed.Let the White go to the White, and the Black to the Black."Worse still, on pages 254 and 255, ever so casually appear the N-words.Geez, even from the expected taint of Mr. White Man's Burden, this was unexpected.The book is valuable only for the illustrations of Howard Mueller.

[ericcostello-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A collection of stories from Kipling written in the 1890s, all of which are set in the India of the Imperial Raj. They're of varying quality. The ones rendered in the argot of the soldiers can be quite difficult to parse, owing to the thickness of the accent, which lessens their effect. Others simply meander. But there are a half-dozen stories in the collection that are definite winners, including a hilarious sort-of ghost story involving a beloved horse of a regiment, and an affecting story of employee management where the truth is kept from a recalcitrant and critical employee. Might not be for everyone, this collection, especially given the odour in which Kipling is held by some.

[edwinbcn · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Having published only three novels, viz. The Light that Failed (1891), Captains Courageous (1896) and Kim (1901), Rudyard Kipling is mostly remembered for his poetry and short stories. He won the Nobel Prize in 1907, but as his prose and poetry is most closely associated with British colonialism, his work is now but little read.Plain tales from the hills, a collection of 40 stories, is one of the first prose works of Kipling to be published. But for twelve, these stories had first appeared in a local newspaper in India. They are sketches of various aspects of life in British India.However, these stories and the sentiments they refer to stand very far off modern readers. Most of the stories come across as gossip, and would only seem interesting to an incrowd readership, either British colonials of the time in India or the home country. Among modern readers it is unlikely to find either staunch defenders of the Raj, or readers to whom the intricacies of life in Simla would be appealing enough to read.The stories appear dull, and as some stories are interrelated, with characters repeatedl appearing, it is not clear to modern readers what is going on. Besides, what appears to be going on, seems of very little interest to readers now.Plain tales from the hills is clearly dated to beyond shelf life, and best left alone.