Ellie Doe-Demosse
“The idea that we are so capable of love, but still choose to be toxic.”
-Excerpt from Milk and Honey
My amazing journey with this book started quite long ago, the summer of 2016 to be exact. It was just after my birthday when I first sat down and fully read this book. I had gotten it as a gift; something I’ve wanted since the day of the book’s release. It was the talk of the town in the poetry world, with everyone telling me I needed to get my hands on it – “Milk and Honey is just perfect!” They’d tell me.
And indeed, they were right.
Milk and Honey is just one of those books, you know? It’s one of those books you never want to end, you just want to keep reading because you don’t want to stop. It’s one of those books you can relate the most to – the words, the poem’s meanings, the pictures, the chapter themes. It’s one of those books that will easily be your reminder whenever you think of something; Milk and Honey’s words are always there in the corners of your mind, waiting for you to think about them.
I think that to me, is what makes a good book.
If it makes you feel all of that, if it makes you think about different things you’ve experienced or people you’ve encountered, if it changes your perception of life, then you know you’ve read possibly one of the best books in the world.
“Love will come and when love comes, love will hold you, love will call your name and you will melt. Sometimes though, love will hurt you but love will never mean to. Love will play no games cause love knows life has been hard enough already.”
-Excerpt from Milk and Honey
Calling Milk and Honey “a good book” is an understatement to me; it doesn’t even deserve that title because it’s more than “a good book”. Milk and Honey is a work of art. It’s beautiful piece of fine literature with exquisite and touching poems on every page.
Every word in this book describes an emotion you’ve felt before or an emotion you’re feeling again. Every word in this book describes a battle you’ve fought in and won. And every poem in this book touches you in ways you’ve never been touched; in ways and places you never even knew you could be.
That is what I think Milk and Honey should be called; that is the title it deserves. It doesn’t deserve anything less than that, because the book is everything extraordinary and tragic at the same time. And no book has been able to achieve that; no book has the ability to be called that.
No book except for Milk and Honey.
Milk and Honey takes you on an emotional rollercoaster; in fact, each chapter is an emotional rollercoaster. The synopsis itself, even describes the book as a journey of survival.
“This is the journey of surviving through poetry. This is the blood, sweat, tears of twenty-one years. This is my heart in your hands. This is the hurting, the loving, the breaking, the healing.”
-Synopsis of Milk and Honey
I find it simply amazing that the synopsis is even a poem. Truly, Rupi Kaur (the author) has a gift and I’m so happy that she’s decided to share it with the world. She’s decided to share her journey of survival through the hurting, the loving, the breaking, and the healing with the rest of the world, and I have never been more grateful.
As I’ve said, this book is just one of those books you can relate the most to. I’ve related heavily to this book in more ways than I could count. And like I said at the beginning of this review, my amazing journey of survival with this book started as soon as I picked it up, and read the first page.
And I documented my journey of survival by coating my favourite poems (the poems that have touched me and made me feel something), in highlighter; I’ve even included some of those poems in this review. Each chapter has a different colour of highlighter, representing the emotion that I felt while reading each poem.
My favourite poems in “the hurting” are highlighted in purple, to represent gloom and sadness.
My favourite poems in “the loving” are highlighted in pink, to represent love and bliss.
My favourite poems in “the breaking” are highlighted in orange, to represent anger and resentment.
And my favourite poems in “the healing” are highlighted in yellow, to represent satisfaction and a feeling of content.
And see that’s exactly the point I’ve been trying to drive in this review: this book has the ability to make you feel, as long as you let it. This book has the ability to take you on a true emotional journey; not just Rupi’s emotional journey, but your own as well.
This book has the ability to make you feel.
“It must hurt to know I am your most beautiful regret.”
-Excerpt from Milk and Honey
And so overall, Milk and Honey is definitely by far one amazing read. This book as a whole is a brilliant concept that connects body to soul; that connects mind to heart, and mind to emotion. It’s chalk full of chilling poetry and emotions, it shows you what human nature is all about, it changes your perception of life, and it shows you what emotions you’re capable of feeling if you let yourself feel.
So now that you have this information, what will you do with it? Will you go to your local bookstore, pick up a copy of this brilliant piece of fine literature, and allow yourself to feel? Or will you let yourself continue to live behind the very wall obscuring you from it?
“We are all born so beautiful. The greatest tragedy is being convinced we are not.”
-Excerpt from Milk and Honey
