My Boy Jack

[ijrowley]

Hi

Has anyone read this book , comments please . Regards Ian

[Ken Lees]

I'm sure there has been a thread on this book previously in the Book Review section. But, I can't find it!

[burlington]

Yes I have but some time ago.

I recall it as being a good and very informative read.

[shinglma]

I was disappointed with it.

I thought it was basically a biography of Rudyard Kipling with a bit tacked on about his son.

Glad I borrowed it rather than bought it.

mike S

[swizz]

There is a lot about Kipling but then surely that was always going to be the case in a book like this.

I thought it was quite interesting - there is certainly some excellent archival material in there - and I was interested to read the detailed account of the search for John Kipling's grave.

Swizz

[shinglma]

There is a lot about Kipling but then surely that was always going to be the case in a book like this.

Swizz

I didn't think it did 'what it said on the tin'.

"My Boy Jack?: The Search for Kipling's Only Son" did not suggest to me that it would include a biography of Rudyard and literary analysis of his work. It seemed that they had very little material concerning the whereabouts of John Kipling's body and much of this was to pad it out.

That said I thought it was good on the relationship between father and son, and good also on the parent's search for Jack Kipling after his death.

Also on a positive note I came away liking Rudyard Kipling more than had been the case previously.

I could just have done with a little less on Kipling's works...

Mike S

[swizz]

Hi Mike

Yes, I absolutely take your point about the excessive analysis of Kipling's work, and for what its worth I would feel much the same myself!

What I meant was that the major 'character' (if that's the right word for a work of fact rather than fiction) was always going to be Kipling. John Kipling's role in the story is to provide events for Kipling to react to.

I found the biographical stuff on Kipling reasonably interesting, but then I didn't know anything much about him prior to reading this book.

What particularly interested me though was the process the Kiplings went through in their attempts to locate John. Perhaps there could have been more on this, but then perhaps the more casual reader would be more interested in reading about how Kipling expressed his loss through his work. Ultimately that's what Kipling is known for, and that's where the emphasis was in this book.

Swizz

[GavinH]

I enjoyed it. It is largely a biography of Kipling, but it's well written and poignant.

Gavin

[n cherry]

In my humble opinion rather than being a book about one of the casualties of Loos it should have been a booklet....too much side information irrelevant to the title. Perhaps it should have had a more general title.....