Mini Book Review: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur // never thought I would read this book

Title: Milk and Honey

Author: Rupi Kaur

Published: November 4, 2014

Pages: 204

Genre: Poetry, Feminism, Nonfiction

Goodreads Description: milk and honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. It is about the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. It is split into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose, deals with a different pain, heals a different heartache. milk and honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look

**Bestsellers usually make their way on to my TBR, unless they’re from certain genres I steer away from, like poetry.**

I’ve never been able to stomach poetry. Maybe I’m not good with my emotions, too judgmental, or just don’t understand it, but a lot of poetry tends to make me feel uncomfortable. My impression of poetry has been skewed by poems in Tumblr posts and Instagram captions that always seemed more cringey than “𝓭𝓮𝓮𝓹”. So, even though everyone under the sun had already read Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, I never had any intention of reading 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐦𝐬.

Obviously, something changed. Life happened and I was sifting through lists of “Books to Lift You Up” when I saw Milk and Honey. After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to ᴳᴱᵀ ᴼᵛᴱᴿ ᴹᵞˢᴱᴸᶠ and give the book a fair chance. I really needed the pick me up. Plus, I figured that it’s a collection of short poems, so I don’t have to be invested in a story (which I really didn’t think I could be at the time anyways).

In short, I really liked Milk and Honey. The collection was divided into different chapters that tackled various subjects like sexual abuse, feminism, and self-love. Although some sections were lighter than others, many of the poems struck me as dark and heavy for such a sweetly-named book. 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙆𝙖𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙤𝙚𝙢𝙨 as she painted a harrowing backstory of her past traumas. Nevertheless, her past made her more resilient and wise, and it was plain to see how strong and kind she still remains by the end of the book.

The collection is almost like a half-memoir/half-self-help book in that Kaur details intimate moments from her life, but she also heavily advocates for the reader to know and take of yourself before others throughout the book. I appreciated all the messages she tried to convey, whether indirectly from the poems about her life, or directly when she spoke straight to the reader.

Overall, it takes a high level of vulnerability to share your life the way Rupi Kaur did in Milk and Honey. Even if poetry isn’t your thing, I’d recommend this book to anyone who considers themselves a feminist or struggles with self-esteem. The short, clipping poems pack a big punch that I’m sure will resonate with many young people.

☆☆☆☆