Milk And Honey – Book Review

MILK AND HONEY BOOK REVIEW

Have you ever came across a book you loved so much that you’ve read it over five times in less than a year? Well, that book is Milk and Honey for me. If you’re here, you’re probably trying to get a better perspective on what the book is about. Therefore, I will be providing you a Milk and Honey book review.

Name: Milk and Honey

Author: Rupi Kaur 

Overall Rank: 5 out of 5

MILK AND HONEY OVERVIEW

Rupi Kaur is a writer who focuses on writing poetry about trauma, love, loss and the process of healing.

Milk and Honey was published on November 4, 2014, and includes a collection of poems that illustrates what it feels like living with pain from past traumas, loneliness, and love. The book is divided into four different chapters and every single chapter is a different subject that deals with the aftermath’s of pain and the process of healing throughout that specific situation.

The first chapter is called “The Hurting”

This chapter can be a little rough for some people (it was for me) since it portrays the negative opinion society has over women and how men, inside and outside your family, may hurt you while taking advantage of you.

Rupi tried to explain how difficult it was living with an absent father, abusive family members, and an emotionally disturbed and unavailable mother.

She also talks about growing up with an alcoholic parent and how hard it is for a child to watch their own parents waste their life and their responsibilities of staying sober to raise their kid.

As you read through this poetry collection, you will find subjects such as sexual assault and how existentially draining it is having to carry that cross, from way before you started developing into your teen years and how it has affected your life in such a negative way that you don’t feel safe with no one, not even yourself.

The second chapter is called “The Loving”

At the start of this second chapter, we start seeing, yet again, from a very young age, how society teaches us how the universe really works. Because of that, we start being afraid of the unknown and more used to the misogyny and sexism that surrounds us.

This chapter portrays how society thinks a woman should live their life. Meaning – she’s forced to have children even if they don’t want to.

As the chapter moves along the way we start entering an unknown territory called love. Love can be fun, passionate, joyful, tender, rough, difficult, challenging, painful…love can be whatever you want it to be as long as you don’t end up with loneliness in a loss of abyss.

The poems in this chapter reflect how beautiful and gratifying it is for you to fall for someone else, and how painful it can be not having them. The struggles of falling in love and out of love somehow look similar, but never the same; they both hurt, they both can make you happy and sad at the same time, but only one can make you feel at peace with yourself.

“The Breaking” makes up the third chapter

What comes after love? Heartbreak. Heartbreak is inevitable if you’re stuck in between what you want and what you think you deserve.

In this chapter, we get an insider of how does it feel to live inside someone’s mind without knowing how toxic their hands can be. We often stay in friendships or relationships because the person on the other end tells us they love us. Do they really? There’s such a big difference when it comes to words and actions. Often times, we’re misguided by words so we end up forgetting about the hurtful actions.

Nothing is worth diving in when you’re losing yourself in the process of loving someone else. No one should come before you. No one is worth giving up on yourself just to please their needs of attention and power.

Last but not least we have “The Healing” as the fourth and last chapter of this book.

Healing is such an important component in the process of being hurt. Regardless of what or who hurt you, you deserve to heal. In this last chapter, we learn about the integration of putting yourself first before opening up the doors for other people to walk in. Healing takes time and only you can determinate the path you want your life to take. Heal at your own pace.

Setting up boundaries is not a selfish thing to do, on the contrary, it will give you peace of mind and it will also teach you to prioritize your needs and your beliefs. Sometimes, an apology is needed during the process of healing, but it never comes. When it does come, it’s sometimes too late.

My absolute favorite thing about this chapter is how it encourages women to love themselves without thinking of ways on how others should love them. Women supporting women is one of the most beautiful things that life can give us. Feminism is the reason why I’m still fighting every day for a better life for myself and for everyone else.

THE POSITIVES AND THE NEGATIVE

What were my absolute favorite things about this book?:

PRO #1: This book tells you in a very artistic way how a woman feels when they’re not being heard, how society thinks a woman should act or how we should express ourselves. Honey and Milk is a powerful reminder of how important we are and how we should treat ourselves.

PRO #2: I personally love poetry and what I liked most about this book is that you can learn how to turn something that’s not doing you any good, or something that you’ve been carrying for such a long time, into something beautiful and worth sharing with those around you who truly care about your words and that are looking for something that reflects their own struggles. It truly makes you feel like you’re being heard.

PRO #3: Affordable beyond words! For the amount of artistic content that you’re getting, this book should be selling out on a higher price range, but no, it is actually really affordable. If you’re like me, I know you’d love economic, powerful tools to help you understand better the concept of life.

What I didn’t like about Milk and Honey:

CON #1: As much as I love this book, when I first read it, it was actually triggering. This book deals with sexual assault and abuse. So, I thought you might want to prepare your mindset for that type of content.

That’s about the only negative thing I can say about this book. It truly is worth the read.

WHO IS MILK AND HONEY FOR?

This book can be for absolutely anyone. That’s the reason why I created this Milk and Honey book review, to give you an insider on how wonderfully this book has been written. If you love poetry, creativity, and art, I recommend you giving Milk and Honey a try.

Though, do keep in mind, that it deals with rough subjects that can be triggering for some people.

MY FINAL OPINION OF MILK AND HONEY

I have been so into poetry for as long as I can remember. I have even written some of my own pieces (if you want to check them out I’ll leave them right here). Poetry for me is an escape from reality, and it also helps realize how badly my emotions are playing a toxic role on my mind.

When I first heard about this book I had to immediately get it, and so I did. That was about a year and a half ago. I came across it a few weeks ago and decided to read it again…it was once again, worth it.

Because of that, I decided to give my personal opinion and insights on how this book has walked alongside with me for the longest time and how I still treasure every single word when I read it.

If you’re looking for something to read, or you were just looking for second opinions regarding it, I am so glad you came across my Milk and Honey Book review, and I hope this review gave you a little insider of what’s to come when you get your hands on it.

If you’ve made your decision to get it, I will leave you the link to access your copy right here.

I would love to hear your opinions in the comment section down below. Also, don’t hesitate to ask me any questions if you have any. I will gladly get back to you as soon as possible.

 

original review posted on my other website (stephanienicolerc.com)