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milk and honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. It is 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.

As mentioned in my birthday wishlist and book haul, I’ve wanted to read this collection of poetry for a long time, actually since it came out. I was lucky enough to receive it from my lovely friend Amy for my birthday, and I finished it in less than an hour the other evening.

“you tell me to quiet down cause
my opinions make me less beautiful
but i was not made with a fire in my belly
so i could be put out
i was not made with a lightness on my tongue
so i could be easy to swallow
i was made heavy
half blade and half silk
difficult to forget and not easy
for the mind to follow”

Milk and Honey is everthing I expected and more. This book is just so raw. It is a complete outpouring of emotion and it made me feel so many too. I cried at the amount of herself Rupi has thrown into this story. I admire her for opening herself up so much to us.

Although this is a collection of poems, it also follows a simple storyline – the journey of Rupi’s self-acceptance and healing. It also includes some gorgeous little simple illustrations which fit perfectly with the poems.

“you were a dragon long before
he came around and said
you could fly
you will remain a dragon
long after he’s left”

Overall, this book is tender, raw, sensitive and emotional. It is heart breaking and heart warming. It is brutal and healing. It is beautiful.

(I don’t to ruin my no doubt 5 star thoughts with this, but the only niggle I had is the lack of capitalisation in this book. Although I actually felt like it worked, I simply can’t be swayed in my opinion of capitalisation. Sorry.)

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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