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A review by maketeaa
The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
the thing is, i think i'm always going to love the way tagore uses symbolism. it just itches a part of my brain like nothing else. and it's literally for that reason ONLY that i am giving this four stars, because otherwise it probably would've been much lower.
i think my main issue with this book is that it read less like a novel and more like an essay, or a speech, or a manifesto of sorts -- which does make sense, considering many of its lines were lifted from tagore's own existing lectures on nationalism. set during the swadeshi movement, the story follows the characters nikhil, bimala, and sandip through their journal entries, and their conflicting relationships to to the concept of indian nationalism. nikhil and sandip represent the opposing ideas -- the arrogant, fiery swadeshi activist sandip, and the peace-spreading nikhil, who despises the violence behind the protests. bimala is caught in between the two men. while aware of how purely her husband adores her and takes care of her, she is chagrined by his lack of fire, his incapacity to fight back, and is attracted to sandip's irresistible tenacity and leadership of his swadeshi followers. the story is evidently supposed to be a treatise against violent nationalism, framing it as a seductive, deceptive thing, seemingly liberated by its dismissal of morals while dragging those that are vulnerable under its own form of oppression. but i feel like, regarding the swadeshi movement and the fight for indian independence, this kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. i think the analogy used in this story misses a lot of important factors that should be considered in the context of british rule in india before it can be considered a successful parable. this story was kind of a miss for me
but like, im bengali, we have a framed photo of tagore in our house, so still, four stars.
i think my main issue with this book is that it read less like a novel and more like an essay, or a speech, or a manifesto of sorts -- which does make sense, considering many of its lines were lifted from tagore's own existing lectures on nationalism. set during the swadeshi movement, the story follows the characters nikhil, bimala, and sandip through their journal entries, and their conflicting relationships to to the concept of indian nationalism. nikhil and sandip represent the opposing ideas -- the arrogant, fiery swadeshi activist sandip, and the peace-spreading nikhil, who despises the violence behind the protests. bimala is caught in between the two men. while aware of how purely her husband adores her and takes care of her, she is chagrined by his lack of fire, his incapacity to fight back, and is attracted to sandip's irresistible tenacity and leadership of his swadeshi followers. the story is evidently supposed to be a treatise against violent nationalism, framing it as a seductive, deceptive thing, seemingly liberated by its dismissal of morals while dragging those that are vulnerable under its own form of oppression. but i feel like, regarding the swadeshi movement and the fight for indian independence, this kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. i think the analogy used in this story misses a lot of important factors that should be considered in the context of british rule in india before it can be considered a successful parable. this story was kind of a miss for me
but like, im bengali, we have a framed photo of tagore in our house, so still, four stars.