Honey and Milk by Rupi Kaur is a beautifully written collection of poems. This collection is about survival and how it can break anyone.  Honey and Milk is known as a feminist poetry collection dealing with the struggle of heartbreak and growing stronger. The sections are divided into four different chapters, “The hurting” (30 poems), “The loving” (32 poems), “The breaking” (60 poems), and “The healing” (57 poems). 

These sections explore violence, abuse, loss, love, and femininity. The book deals with the feeling of pain and having to live with it. Milk and Honey take you on a journey of the most bitter moments in life and the discovery of sweetness that was buried under all the bitterness life has to offer. 

Within her book, there are drawings made by the Kaur herself on almost every page. This deep and meaningful poem book has caught the attention of some of St. Louis High Schools’ students and is also available at their very own library. 

Honey and Milk is Rupi Kaur’s first book and was published Nov 4, 2014. This collection was sold over 3 million times and as of June 7, 2020.  The book was on The New York Best Seller for about 165 weeks. At first, Kaur didn’t have a publisher so while in college she learned how to design and publish her own book. Without any help or money, Kaur self-published this book. Her book also has been translated into over 25 different languages.

Kaur was born in India and then soon moved to Canada. By the age of 5, she was drawing, writing poetry, and painting. She struggled with English which led to her not having any friends in school. She finally learned how to speak English in the fourth grade and learned she had a voice for speaking out at open mic nights. As she grew, she continued to speak at open mic night events and soon began to gather a group of followers who would come and listen to her any chance they could. Kaur really gained fame from her Instagram which has over four million followers today. She would post her photography and poems which are known as Instapoerty. 

An anonymous writer of “young adult book review: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur” of Heraldsctoland.com, states, “Unlike a lot of the books I review, Milk and Honey is not primarily aimed at teenagers and young people but based on the content and general themes. I would caution against buying it for those under 13 or so….. My favorite part of reading this was how easy it was to get into. At a decent length of 208 pages, it could have been difficult to get through but I read the entire book in one sitting without noticing the time passing. It was unbelievably easy to get lost in which I rarely find with a book, whether it’s a poetry collection or a novel.” 

St. Louis High School student, Sarah Corson is a big fan of this collection. Corson has read Honey and Milk her freshman year but recently picked up this book again. She states, “My favorite thing about it is how she shared her experiences and worded them so it is so touching for others. Some of the quotes I related to personally, and it was very touching for me. It is an amazing book and is an eye-opener for things that people go through. I think the author did an outstanding job writing this story. She touched base on what a lot of people go through but shared it in a way that made you want to read more. The author also shows how she recovered from the pain she had gone through, and that helped me get through what I had been dealing with. I one hundred percent think more people should read this book. Like I said before, this book is a real eye-opener for what some people go through and how they dealt with it. I believe this poem book could help others who feel like they’re alone when they truly aren’t.”