The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore

Idealistic Nikhil, a wealthy Bengali landowner, encourages Bimala, his tradition-minded wife, to venture out into the world. Bimala's gradual political awakening leads to her attraction to charismatic Sandip, a revolutionary who stops at nothing — neither robbery nor murder — to achieve his ends. Their love triangle unfolds against the backdrop of the 1905 Partition of Bengal, during India's long fight for independence from British rule. This brilliantly poetic novel explores the psychology of its three protagonists, capturing the turmoil that results when personal relationships and family life are exposed to the chaos of social and political change.

Originally written in Bengali and published in 1916, The Home and the World is the vision of Rabindranath Tagore, Asia's first Nobel laureate. 

The novel reflects Tagore's own inner conflict between embracing modern ideas and rejecting Western domination. His vivid historical setting, realistically portrayed characters, and philosophical insights form a compelling drama of the clash between old and new, realism and idealism, and good and evil.

Paperback, 176 pages

Published May 16, 2018

 by Dover Publications

3/5 stars

The Home an The World is a poetic story originally published in 1916. It is part of our Family Blessings Book Club where our theme is ‘let’s read some classics.'

This is a story with many layers, there is the relationship between husband and wife as well as between wife and a revolutionary taking place in 1905.

This was another audio read for me. I grabbed the edition with 3 distinct voices. Coming in with 176 pages (or 8 hours for the audio) there aren’t any fillers but a direct story that I had to pay attention to. It’s definitely not my normal read and I probably wouldn’t have picked it otherwise but still it was enlightening and enjoyable.

This book was part of my 2022 Reading Off My Shelf Challenge