Book in the Spotlight: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

for this blog post, i am going to talk about milk and honey by rupi kaur. you may be wondering why i am writing this in all lowercase. the answer is because that is how this book is written. in all lowercase and no punctuation other than a period. which is obviously grammatically incorrect but to celebrate this book, i am going to write this post in all lowercase (i have to add punctuation though. my inner editor won't let me take this too far).

first off, why does rupi kaur write in all lowercase? to figure out the answer to this, i had to do some digging and i was quite interested in the answer i found. the following is the explanation she has posted on her website:

"although i can read and understand my mother tongue (punjabi) i do not have the skillset to write poetry in it. to write punjabi means to use gurmukhi script. and within this script there are no uppercase or lowercase letters. all letters are treated the same. i enjoy how simple that is. how symmetrical and how absolutely straightforward. i also feel there is a level of equality this visuality brings to the work. a visual representation of what i want to see more of within the world: equalness.

and the only punctuation that exists within gurmukhi script is a period. which is represented through the following symbol: |

so in order to preserve these small details of my mother language I include them within this language. no case distinction and only periods. a world within a world. which is what i am as an immigrant. as a diasporic punjabi sikh woman. it is less about breaking the rules of english (although that’s pretty fun) but more about tying in my own history and heritage within my work."

rupi's reasoning is quite interesting in my opinion.

so let's dive into this review, shall we? what is this book about? well, it's a poetry book! i'm amazed at how popular this book has become, and how quick! poetry is beautiful and the fact that so many young people have picked up this book and are reading it is amazing. bravo, rupi.

rupi's writing is, well...different. instead of using crazy metaphors, personifications, and analogies in her poetry, rupi keeps it simple. she has written this book in a way that millennials will understand and not some ridiculous shakespearean language that no one understands this day in age.

she has poured out her life into milk and honey. the back cover explains that it is her journey of life through poetry. milk and honey is broken down into four sections, "the hurting," "the loving," "the breaking," and "the healing." each chapter serves as an explanation to different pains and have different purposes. this book explores the depths of femininity, love, loss, rape, violence, pain, anger, heartache, and abuse. 

although the way the poetry is written isn't exactly mind-blowing, it does get the younger generation reading. the variety in rupi's work can speak to anyone and readers may relate to several of the poems in this collection.

i enjoyed how there are illustrations within the text that were drawn by the author herself. the pictures add another depth of emotion and correlate with the poems extremely well.

i give milk and honey a four out of five stars. i enjoyed it because it is easy to understand and follow, it is an easy and fast read, people can relate to it, and it has gotten so many people reading. also, because rupi kaur first self-published the manuscript! :D

what do you think of milk and honey?