Book Review: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kauer

Author: Rupi Kaur
Title: Milk and Honey
Genre: Nonfiction, Poetry
Format: Paperback
Pages: 204 
Published: November 4th 2014
Where I Got It: My shelf (Walmart)



A collection of poetry and prose about survival. 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







This was a random find at Walmart. I was drawn in by the two little bees on the cover. It made me think of my friend who passed recently and I took it as a sign to pick it up. 

This is a collection of poetry and prose about life, survival, healing, and love. 

First....I will say the first chapter is very dark. It talks about abuse and violence. It broke my heart. I do not know a lot about the author and I really hope she did not have to experience the abuse first hand. So tragic. It does get a touch graphic...so head's up there. 

The other chapters are less graphic and some proses/poems are very sweet especially about the ones about loving someone and loving oneself. 

I did take a lot from this and found a lot of poems that really hit me in the feelings. There were a few that had me near tears. Some of happiness/love and some of sadness. The blend of these really worked. It really showed how life is not one way or another. It is all of it. The happiness...the sadness. 

Now...let us talk about the controversial format that has all the reviews buzzing on Goodreads. After I finished this I spent so much time on Goodreads seeing what other people thought because it is different for sure and I was curious to see how everyone else felt. There are a lot of negative thoughts on it. Which surprised, but at the same time it didn't. 

There isn't a lot of rhyming. There are some repeating of words, but generally...it wasn't how we see poetry normally. Many people ripped this apart. However, I liked it. It worked. Sure it is not classic poetry, BUT anything can be poetry. I guess this comes from my time when I wanted to be an English/History teacher and took a bunch of literature classes. Whenever we talked of poetry, my professors would show us classic forms, but then show us the non-classic formatted poetry. This author isn't the first to do this. She won't be the last. I honestly like it. It is different. It is not everyone's cup of tea. I can for sure see how people don't like it, but I find that it stands out if done right. I do feel this author did a good job at making her work...well...work and stand out and be different. She really knows how to pull you along and make you see and feel the feelings she wants to express.  

I do think the lack of capital is intriguing. But I feel like it goes hand-in-hand when authors capitalize on everything. It is making a statement. I'm sure if I spent enough time I could write a paper on how this is symbolic of the messages she is sharing. I'm sure there is symbolism there if you dig enough and analyze the work. There is one thing that popped out right away that maybe she was emphasizing with her lower case letters: Lots of the topics here are overlooked...especially the issues of child abuse and women/children being preyed upon by monsters. It is so easy to overlook and ignore because the topic is very unpleasant.    

But yes...I do like the format and it works. I HAVE SPOKEN (sorry for 'The Mandalorian' reference). 

Okay - so yes. I liked this collection. I am curious to read more by this author. I highly recommend this if you are looking for some real talk poetry that deals with serious things. Yes, there are some feel-good poems/proses here so it is not all doom and gloom. I loved the honesty. There is good in life, but we can't forget and hide the darker bits. 

I shall stamp this with 5 stars. 

Wordless Wednesday

TMST: One Book or Many?

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post on Rainy Day Ramblings where Rainy discusses a wide range of topics from books to blogging. 

  

Do you read/listen to more than one book at a time, or do you give every book your undivided attention? (Courtesy of Roberta@ Offbeat YA)

Many at once of course! I need some variety in my life especially with books. However, I have tried to have some strategy in my madness. I usually try to read one ebook, one paper book, and then listen to one audiobook. However, sometimes I have to put a book to the side (especially if it is taking forever) and focus on something that I need to get done asap. Like a publisher/author or a borrowed book. 

I used to be a undivided attention reader, but that really made life hard and boring. Kuddos to those that can do that though!

B's Monday Review: All the Ways We Said Goodbye

By: Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, Karen White

Narrated by: Helen Sadler, Nicola Barber, Saskia Maarleveld

Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 01-14-20

Language: English

Publisher: HarperAudio

Historical fiction

In exchange for an honest review

This is a 3 part story, and I did feel that it either could have been longer or sorry one person should have been left out. I wanted more!

In 1914 there is noblewoman Aurelie, from an illustrious line, that keeps a locket with Jean of Arc's blood as a talisman. I did want more of her story. The German's take over her castle, she falls in love with one as she knew him before the war. Though she is just as much playing him for information. It was just over so fast!

I am not sure who narrated her parts, but I liked it.

In 1942 there is Daisy, who clearly married the wrong man. I wanted more of her rise to a resistance fighter. She was so cowed, and then she was a spy.

There is also a German officer around that was also around in 1914...

Again, I do not know who narrated her either, but whoever it was did a good job with this too,.

And then in the 60s Barb goes to find out what her husband did in France during the war. Her part was fine as brief, cos looking for the past is never as interesting as being in the past. She was a good interlude. But oh Barb, I had a hard time with her. Her husband, on to be, got a letter while recuperating and she never showed it to him! So not cool. But then he could just have gone back too...

Again, whoever narrated did well.

I did like the story as a whole, they are all connected, and it is obvious how. Not one aha moment, but maybe it was meant to be like that.

And yes the earlier stories could have been longer and more fleshed out, but the thing is if they had been then the book would have been too heavy.

I did like that there were 3 distinct narrators too so that every woman got to shine in her own light.

France, 1914. As war breaks out, Aurelie becomes trapped on the wrong side of the front with her father, Comte Sigismund de Courcelles. When the Germans move into their family’s ancestral estate, using it as their headquarters, Aurelie discovers she knows the German Major’s aide de camp, Maximilian Von Sternburg. She and the dashing young officer first met during Aurelie’s debutante days in Paris. Despite their conflicting loyalties, Aurelie and Max’s friendship soon deepens into love, but betrayal will shatter them both, driving Aurelie back to Paris and the Ritz— the home of her estranged American heiress mother, with unexpected consequences.

France, 1942. Raised by her indomitable, free-spirited American grandmother in the glamorous Hotel Ritz, Marguerite “Daisy” Villon remains in Paris with her daughter and husband, a Nazi collaborator, after France falls to Hitler. At first reluctant to put herself and her family at risk to assist her grandmother’s Resistance efforts, Daisy agrees to act as a courier for a skilled English forger known only as Legrand, who creates identity papers for Resistance members and Jewish refugees. But as Daisy is drawn ever deeper into Legrand’s underground network, committing increasingly audacious acts of resistance for the sake of the country—and the man—she holds dear, she uncovers a devastating secret…one that will force her to commit the ultimate betrayal, and to confront at last the shocking circumstances of her own family history..

France, 1964. For Barbara “Babs” Langford, her husband, Kit, was the love of her life. Yet their marriage was haunted by a mysterious woman known only as La Fleur. On Kit’s death, American lawyer Andrew “Drew” Bowdoin appears at her door. Hired to find a Resistance fighter turned traitor known as “La Fleur,” the investigation has led to Kit Langford. Curious to know more about the enigmatic La Fleur, Babs joins Drew in his search, a journey of discovery that that takes them to Paris and the Ritz—and to unexpected places of the heart. . .