Book Review #1: Milk And Honey by Rupi Kaur

Hi lovelies ♥

For my first book review, I want to share a poetry collection called "Milk and Honey" by Rupi Kaur. She's a Canadian writer, poet and spoken word artist, she was born in India and she's my age. 

The collection is absolutely beautiful. It took me 30 minutes to finish and I cried so hard the entire time I was reading. Then I sat down and wrote a bunch of stuff of my own (which wasn't nearly as good), then cried some more. Not just because the poems are beautifully written, which they are, but also because I found them so, so relatable. So many of them were feelings I have felt a million times and maybe even put into words, but nowhere near as perfectly.

If you're into creative writing or poetry at all, it's one of those works that you will want to buy rather than borrow. I know I'm going to leaf through this a million times more and wonder why I even bother to write when all the right words have already been put in exactly the right order by someone else.

On the first page, Rupi tells the reader why she wrote the book - and out of all the possible reasons one could have for writing, I think this is one of the best.

The back cover mentions "surviving through poetry", which accurately describes my own life so far, and also hints at how the collection is split up. 

It comprises four parts, or chapters, I guess you could call them. 

It deals with femininity, with what it means to be a woman, with societal expectations and toxic beauty ideals. 

It deals with sex, sometimes in a very beautiful way, sometimes in a very painful way, always in a relateable way. 

This might be my favorite.

As you can see, the collection also includes little illustrative sketches that fit the poems, which sometimes add to the meaning quite nicely. 

Some of the poems are very short and yet still hit incredibly close to home for me. 

In fact, the shortest ones were oftentimes those I liked the very best.

And of course, there are poems about love. The worst kind... 

 ... and the best.

Also definitely one of my favorites. I guess Rupi and I agree on what constitutes the perfect date :)

The writing isn't complicated, or verbose, or particularly elaborate. It's simple, and it's beautiful, and with every page I turned I felt a little twinge in my chest. The kind that you get when you realize someone has felt what you are feeling and you are not alone, and then you feel less stupid for feeling all of it.

↠ I definitely recommend picking up a copy. ↞

Love,

Damita

PS. Did you know I used to hate Sundays? When I was a teenager that was the only day I had to spend at home - Mondays to Fridays were schooldays and then Saturday I would usually have extra classes. But Sundays were the only days I had to be home all day and they were the worst. And ever since I moved back to Vienna from London, they've become my favorite day in the world. Noone does Sundays better than Austria. Everything is closed, noone does much, and you have all the time in the world to catch up with work or spend time with people. It's amazing :)