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A review by michaelion
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
2.5
This came out when I was in high school and even then people were making fun of her. Recently I saw a video of her reading a poem (the one on page 101) and thought it was kinda cute and mostly corny, so I figured like the Brits say "Wot IS all this then?" What's all the hullabaloo, what's all the fuss about, why don't people like her? I should find out for myself.
So anyway I get it. Very corny, very basic, I still think it's a waste of a tree and a waste of paper. But not necessarily a waste of ink... Plenty of the pages are pretty moving. Sometimes basic is resounding and renowned for a reason. Now that I've read this though you can really see the influence she and others like her have had on pop culture in general. Is that good or bad? The answer is yes. (But mostly it's bad.)
I don't like making reviews like this but here I goes. The "poems" aren't really rhythmic or present with the flow of things I usually associate with the term "poetry." Like, yes, arguably a lot of poetry is like this but I personally don't like that. Just because you put several line breaks in something that in any other case would be considered a run on sentence I'm supposed to clap for you? And there are some instances where even when there is a line break it's still a run on sentence? No punctuation at all girl? Not even a comma? An em dash? A semi colon? It's confusing. Pick a struggle.
On a positive note, there's kind of a storyline here. This book couldve been improved if the "poems" weren't placed in the same theme in random order but in a way that better connected them, because it's clear many of the poems are about different people, not just one ex or how that ex connects with a parent or family member. All those people have different feelings and memories attached to them. But alas. Rupi Girl, you'll never be Sandra Cisneros. You'll never be Mitski Miyawaki's Magnificent Musical Melodrama now available on Spotify.
So anyway I get it. Very corny, very basic, I still think it's a waste of a tree and a waste of paper. But not necessarily a waste of ink... Plenty of the pages are pretty moving. Sometimes basic is resounding and renowned for a reason. Now that I've read this though you can really see the influence she and others like her have had on pop culture in general. Is that good or bad? The answer is yes. (But mostly it's bad.)
I don't like making reviews like this but here I goes. The "poems" aren't really rhythmic or present with the flow of things I usually associate with the term "poetry." Like, yes, arguably a lot of poetry is like this but I personally don't like that. Just because you put several line breaks in something that in any other case would be considered a run on sentence I'm supposed to clap for you? And there are some instances where even when there is a line break it's still a run on sentence? No punctuation at all girl? Not even a comma? An em dash? A semi colon? It's confusing. Pick a struggle.
On a positive note, there's kind of a storyline here. This book couldve been improved if the "poems" weren't placed in the same theme in random order but in a way that better connected them, because it's clear many of the poems are about different people, not just one ex or how that ex connects with a parent or family member. All those people have different feelings and memories attached to them. But alas. Rupi Girl, you'll never be Sandra Cisneros. You'll never be Mitski Miyawaki's Magnificent Musical Melodrama now available on Spotify.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, and Gaslighting
Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts