Milk and Honey

I DEVOURED THIS BOOK.
I still think about the poems from this collection on an almost daily basis. There are some really triggering poems for those who have experienced abuse in any way – I found it therapeutic, but not all will.
The poetry in the book is certainly short, but I don't believe that makes it “simple”.
This was my “gateway drug” to contemporary poetry and I highly recommend.

dumbass poetry

while i work out a way to criticize this tripe without being problematic, just know that this is one of my “yellow flag” books. it's not actually a red flag like, say, a jordan peterson book, but if you love rupi kaur then chances are, i won't hate you or object to you on moral grounds, but we won't get along

This is one of, if not the most, beautiful poetry I've ever read

DNFd at 38%.

Absolutely not.

this is so mother

When they say they like poetry but they mean ‘Milk and Honey'

I heard about this book a lot, did not look at the reviews, but I am suprised by the general vibe of them of them. Dictating what is or isn't poetry without any reasoning is interesting. Some of them hate women, but try to make it look like the hate the poems. I guess it's so popular that you don't have to explain your rating.

I will try to look at what this poetry collection is doing. It is very quick and to the point with its message, it is extremely accessible. It has a good message, simple drawings. It says nothing bad which I feel like is a challenge for many books regardless of how many words they have cough cough the bible cough cough.

I feel like I need to read more books similar to this one to rate it.

Amazing how so few words can resonate so deeply. I appreciated how the structure of the collection, broken into chapters (the hurting, the loving, the breaking, the healing), made it feel more like a flowing narrative.

Let's say I'm not the target audience for this collection.
“It's not you it's me” - “It's not that they're bad, I just didn't like them” kinda thing.

Well I started poetry with this book and it wasn't a good idea although I have to admit that the topics of this book were a bit interesting but not well written so I wouldn't recommend this book maybe I don't have the best idea of how good this book is because is my first poetry book however I didn't like it

we are all bornso beautifulthe greatest tragedy isbeing convinced we are not

As my first time reading a book of poetry, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was interesting diving into this genre by reading free verse/prose poetry (which was my understanding from my limited research).

Rupi Kaur paints vivid and crude images with her words, and her pen, truly transmiting her struggles and feelings, showing there is no shame to our scars: they make us strong, they make us grow and heal; they make us our very unique beautiful self.

you were so afraidof my voicei decided to beafraid of it too

Like I said, I'm no poetry expert, but I think this is a great book that relentlessly touches on themes such as love, abuse, feminitity and trauma in a way that there's always something for one as reader to connect with, no matter your life experiencies. Also, the illustrations were the perfect addition; I really think they're my favorite part of the book.

The only reason I'm not rating this higher is because of my personal likes on reading content. Perhaps after reading more poetry I'll come back to it and up the rating.

how cruel i was to myself. giving you credit for my warmth simply because you had felt it. thinking it was you who gave me strength. wit. beauty. simply because you recognized it. as if i was already not these things before i met you. as if i did not remain all these once you left.

i read
this book
out of
curiousity

does it warrant
the hate it gets ...
or is it actually
not that bad?

leave the words
look at the pictures
atleast I didn't pay for this

It's more like a 3.5
In general I liked this book and I would recommend it.

Pick up this collection of poetry and read anywhere. You'll likely find a sentiment that is familiar and hits close to your heart. And that is the power of a collection such as this one: Kaur is a collector of difficult emotions that she bottles up in colorful glass, and presents in an easy to swallow manner.

As far as poems go, these are not all that amazing. The verse is often clunky and relies more on the revelation of the emotion than on the words themselves. But Kaur clearly has her fans, likely because of how she presents these sentiments. I doubt time will be gracious to the poetry of Kaur anymore than it has been to the spiritualist pioneer poets of the 1800s, but time will tell.

This “review” is part of a series in which I quickly scribble a few of the thoughts I had regarding a book I read in the first half of 2021 during a time when I let my reviews get very behind.

It was alright, I guess. It was really repetitive and was pretty straight forward. There weren't really any beautiful metaphors that punched me in the gut or anything like that. I really liked the last chapter, about femininity and how women are powerful and should life each other up, and that last chapter is really all thats saving this from being a one star book.

Also, I'm personally just not a fan of this style of poetry.

Lo maravilloso de Rupi Kaur, y que se confirma en poemarios como este, es que pone en palabras sencillas, breves y concretas, lo que muchos sienten, te hacen sentir acompañado mientras te enseña a no dejarte caer, a que eres más fuerte de lo que crees y te hacen creer.



Poemas cortos que llevan en ellos un gran mensaje.

Poetically Beautiful


Sometimes you just need a change of pace. That is what Milk and honey was for me.

Divided into four chapters–the hurting, the loving, the breaking, the healing– MILK AND HONEY (2015) is a provocative collection of poems meant to empower females. This work may be considered feminist but it is worth every minute you invest in it.

Like many of her critics, I question the literary or poetic merit of Kaur's craft: the traditional elements of poetry as we have been taught to recognize them (alliteration, rhyme, rhythm, simile, metaphor, personification etc.) aren't evident in many of her poems. Her line breaks are at times dubious. At their basic level, some of her poems seem to be renditions of familiar advice or platitudes. In a few cases, some of the poems seem repetitive. And yet, I can admit that her words are impactful, for the seemingly simple way she expresses her ideas resonate on a universal way. I have been writing poetry since I can remember it has always been a way of painting with words for me. This paints pain and healing so beautifully that you can finish this book in one sitting and take things away from it to take with you for a long time. I needed a break and this was a great one

Even though some poems sounded similar to the ones from her other book “The sun and her flowers”, her way of describing deep emotions and thoughts with a very simple language creates beautiful poems.

bad. looks like “poetry” written by an artsy and horny 14yo to post on her Tumblr page. I'm kinda ashamed, tbh...

Writing
like this do-
es not make a sentence
poetry.

This collection is, at best, a gateway into poetry for those who were bored by the medium in school. For me, it is a series of Tumblr or Instagram type motivational quotations - very shallow, “I'm 14 and this is deep” type guff. I can accept that there will be a target audience that will, and has, lapped this up - it's just not for me.

However, it has earned its star for the genuinely horrible image of a woman ‘being gutted' like ‘he's scraping the inside of a cantaloupe clean.'

Here's my attempt at a Rupi Kaur style poem:

When he
leaves
I cry because
I loved him

I'm so glad
I torrented milk and honey
And not bought it
With my own fucking money

Oh, well why
One may carefully ask me

It's because indenting sentences
Doesn't make it poetry.

I can see why some individuals, especially in the feminine side, would find a connection to this book but to have the nerve to call it poetry is just atrocious. The book is short, I mean short, has no actual poetry and it is so badly written it hurts.

Don't believe me. Read it yourself.

Wow.... powerful, gripping, and captivating. I didn't plan on reading this one, but skimming through it ended up with me reading it front to back.

I'm not one to read poetry, so I don't know what else to say about this one. I may definitely pick up more poetry in the future because of this one though.

While I think there was so good thoughts here I don't think they were expressed well. It really does read like a teenager's diary. Full of angst and gasp-worthy words (like you want to shock the reader with your harshness and bravery) and entirely too repetitive.

I'm not at all surprised this book is so hyped, but I like a little more substance.