Review of 'The Jungle Book'
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Many people will be familiar with “The Jungle Book” having seen the original Disney animated film of 1967 or the live action remake in 1994 (see my review here) but this original story is worth reading.
Split into two “books”, “The Jungle Book” is a series of short stories that (generally) feature a young boy who wanders into the jungle after his village was attacked by the tiger Shere Khan where a couple of wolves take him in. At the wolves' council Shere Kahn demands the child be given to him but Baloo the bear (the jungleâ??s teacher) and Bagheera the black panther agree to help raise him with Bagheera buying the boy's life with a freshly killed bull. As he grows Mowgli is taught the laws of the jungle, quickly learning to communicate with all of the animals. As Mowgli grows older and stronger, Shere Kahn's influence on the pack increases, forcing Mowgli to leave. Encountering a human village he is taken in but finds it very difficult to adapt but is able to trap and eventually kill his nemesis. Leaving the humans he returns to the pack but it is clear his future lies elsewhere…
This is a wonderful tale of a boy happy in living with his jungle friends yet never really fitting in. A story of a boy who conquers his fears and ends up conquering the jungle itself but not able to return to his own kind. Unlike the Disney film there is quite a bit of violence in the original story and the characters are not quite so loveable with Baloo, for example, very much a wise advisor to the young Mowgli who eventually grows senile. It is not so much a book for the very young but most will enjoy it. The description of the characters and the environment is vivid and really draw the reader into the story, a talent that Kipling shows throughout his writings (sometimes to the point of reader exhaustion). We are witnesses to the young child who we eventually want very much to come to terms with his destiny but knowing he will never really be truly accepted by either jungle or human-kind.
An interesting and entertaining read.
Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”
Review Date: 2026-02-22
Genre: General Fiction
Publication Date: 1894