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Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
What a beautiful feminist poetry collection. I loved every moment of it, and I'll just say that I've rarely highlighted and annotated this much in a book before. Simply stunning, super empowering, and truly amazing. I can't wait to own 'Milk and Honey' and read more of Rupi Kaur's poems.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abortion, Murder, Sexual harassment
emotional
slow-paced
Beautiful and powerful poetry. Rupi Kaur has a way with words that is an absolute treat to read. The comparisons and quotes out of this book forced me to highlight them. There were numerous lines of poetry that i just wanted branded onto me they were so stunning
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abortion, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Eating disorder, Racism, Self harm, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content
Minor: Colonisation
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
I am not a poetry expert. More so, I rarely actually read poetry, but when I do, I usually enjoy it - it inspires me, makes me feel, think and reflect. However, I did not like this edition. Most of the poems seemed forced to me and most of them them felt just dull. When I read, my thoughts shifted away from them and made me think - were these poems written just for the sake to be written and be sold or am I wrong...? Because that's how I felt.
There were good lines, definitely. And the topics in Kaur's poems are very important, but if felt so... blunt, in some cases even superficial. I have to note this - maybe it seemed to me because I read these poems in my native language and not in English. Nevertheless, I enjoyed her poems in "Milk and Honey" which I also read in my native language, so... maybe not.
I would not recommend this as your first poetry book, because I'm afraid this gives wrong impression of what poetry can do and make you fell. That said, I am curious what will come next of Kaur, because as much I hated "The Sun and Her Flowers", I loved "Milk and Honey", so right now I am 50:50 of what I can expect from her.
There were good lines, definitely. And the topics in Kaur's poems are very important, but if felt so... blunt, in some cases even superficial. I have to note this - maybe it seemed to me because I read these poems in my native language and not in English. Nevertheless, I enjoyed her poems in "Milk and Honey" which I also read in my native language, so... maybe not.
I would not recommend this as your first poetry book, because I'm afraid this gives wrong impression of what poetry can do and make you fell. That said, I am curious what will come next of Kaur, because as much I hated "The Sun and Her Flowers", I loved "Milk and Honey", so right now I am 50:50 of what I can expect from her.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Rupi Kaur is an Indian-Canadiens bestseller novelist and illustrator best known for her two poetry collections "milk and honey" plus "the sun and her flowers". While Kaur was at the University of Waterloo, she started working on her first poetry collecting.
This poetry collection is about grief, self-abandonment, honouring one's roots, love and empowering oneself. It is split into five chapters:
- wilting
- falling
- rooting
- rising
- blooming
-wilting-
It is astonishing that although it is the same motif as in "milk and honey", these poems about grief/loss about a needed relationship are more developed. I immensely enjoyed reading this chapter, and it felt a bit more polished and not as raw, which I like.
-falling-
The theme of this chapter goes darker and darker on every page, although there are a few light poems about self-love. We mostly read about sexual assault as a child and an adult and what consent is, and how to use it.
-rooting-
Like, the title already says it is all about someone's roots and their homeland. It is tough to leave home and start your life in a foreign country, especially when you cannot speak the official language. Furthermore, the poems are also explaining motherhood as something beautiful yet challenging job.
-rising-
This time the chapter is about love, the real kind. The one you want to find and want to hold onto. These poems seem rather lovely compared to her first poetry collection. The author did a fantastic job!
-blooming-
This is the final part of this gathering, and the central theme is uplifting the reader and predominantly female readers. It was a great ending to the collection since it ended on a light note.
Overall, this collection has pleasantly surprised me after reading the first one. "The sun and her flowers" is much more throughout and developed. I would recommend this book, especially for readers at 18 and up, since I think these poems hit deeper if you are not a teenager anymore. Still, I was not too fond of Kaur's use of dots and no other punctuation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Grief
Moderate: Death
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
This is not a masterpiece nor a good representative for the poetry genre. This work is similiar to the likes of Amanda Lovelace's work and other instapoets. Personally, I didn't like most of these poems but one brought me to tears and some sounded nice. I believe the value of Kaur's poetry comes from the fact that her experiences are very relatable and as a woman of color she can also appeal to the struggles of POC and more specifically, South Asian women—this being the reason why her poem 'broken english' spoke to me as a South Asian girl. This book however is a great gateway into the world of poetry for someone who sees poetry as foreboding and intimidating. Kaur's simple language and familiar struggles and concepts makes poetry very accessible compared to more classic poets such as Emily Dickinson. Heck, Dickinson's poetry still makes my head spin so it's reassuring that poetry is not all archaic and complicated. Something I also loved about Kaur's poetry is her honesty. She talked about the untalkable, the prime example of this being masturbation. Masturbation is such a taboo subject in feminine spheres—sometimes even amongst feminists! There's this unspoken discomfort about discussing anything sexual that excludes a partner/s and frankly I find it annoying so I'm glad Kaur is talking about these things that feel 'forbidden' to discuss openly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Sexual harassment
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
would have been 1* if not for the third section which focused on her family. as a South Asian girl with an immigrant mother, i might be biased because the themes in that section spoke to me. would have been 3* if only for the family chapter. one of the poems even made me tear up.
however, the rest of the book feels pretty same-y. I read milk and honey years ago so the fact that these poems felt like something I'd read before speaks volumes about Rupi Kaur's lack of range.
I would have loved to see more themes, more literary devices, more variation in meter and rhythm and just style in general. I don't read poetry often but when I do, I want it to feel like poetry. not like Instagram captions.
but maybe I'm being too harsh, I'm sure her poetry appeals to a wide range of women going through breakups, self-esteem issues and sexual assault. however, even though I've also experienced some of the themes she discusses, I didn't feel like I experienced a book that was meant for me, so 2* it is.
however, the rest of the book feels pretty same-y. I read milk and honey years ago so the fact that these poems felt like something I'd read before speaks volumes about Rupi Kaur's lack of range.
I would have loved to see more themes, more literary devices, more variation in meter and rhythm and just style in general. I don't read poetry often but when I do, I want it to feel like poetry. not like Instagram captions.
but maybe I'm being too harsh, I'm sure her poetry appeals to a wide range of women going through breakups, self-esteem issues and sexual assault. however, even though I've also experienced some of the themes she discusses, I didn't feel like I experienced a book that was meant for me, so 2* it is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
Moderate: Sexual content
emotional
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
The poems progressively got better as I became more engaged and connected. My favorite chapters are definitely "rooting" and "rising." Absolutely beautiful, and helpful in realizing what I could do to improve myself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Grief
Moderate: Sexual content