Poet Rupi Kaur’s books reviewed

Rupi Kaur, the “Queen of Instapoets,” is a Canadian artist, illustrator, author, and photographer. Thanks to her three collections of poems, Rupi Kaur has become one of Canada’s leading poets.

Here, we’ll review her poetry books and mention her most popular poems.

About Rupi Kaur

Rupi Kaur was born into a Sikhi family in Punjab, India in 1992. When she was three years old, her family emigrated to Canada and eventually settled in Brampton, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto.

As a child and young adult, Kaur was embarrassed by her mother’s heavy accent and became self-conscious about her Indian identity.

When she was young, Kaur regularly witnessed her family and friends experiencing sexual abuse or domestic violence. Per Kaur, she was constantly in survival mode.

Although she aspired to be an astronaut, a social worker, or a fashion designer when she was younger, Kaur’s career took a different path. This is partly because her father refused to let her study fashion design.

Kaur enjoyed reading poetry from a young age and ended up studying creative writing and rhetoric at the University of Waterloo.

After leaving an abusive relationship, Kaur decided to perform poetry. During high school, the author had published her writing anonymously but later decided to use the name Kaur. As this is a common name for a Sikh woman, she thought the name would be empowering and inspiring to many.

In 2014, Kaur began posting her illustrations on Instagram. Her first Instagram poem portrayed a wife dealing with her husband’s alcoholism.

Kaur wanted to publish her poetry, but her creative writing professor told her poetry rarely gets published. He advised her to try to publish individual poems in magazines, journals, or anthologies. Although she tried, her poems were constantly rejected.

Kaur decided to self-publish her first poetry book, milk and honey, in 2014, and it was a success.

As a part of her university photography project, Kaur posted photos of her with menstrual blood stains on her clothes and sheets. Instagram removed the photos saying they didn’t comply with the network’s terms of service.

Kaur saw this move as misogynistic and criticized it publicly. Instagram apologized and brought back the photos. Kaur’s response went viral and gained her thousands of supporters worldwide.

As Kaur’s social media popularity grew, her poetry book milk and honey was re-released by Andrews McMeel Publishing. This was the first time she had worked with an editor. The book sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide and became a bestseller.

Kaur released her second poetry book, the sun and her flowers, in 2017, and her third poetry book, home body, was published in 2020.

You may have noticed that the titles of Kaur’s poetry books aren’t capitalized, and this isn’t a coincidence. Kaur’s mother tongue is Punjabi, written in Shahmukhi or Gurmukhi. As the latter doesn’t distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters, Kaur applied this to her poetry collections to connect with her heritage and history.

Kaur self-released a poetry special named Rupi Kaur Live. The special features poetry readings and anecdotes with music and visuals, and it was picked up by Amazon Prime Video.

The author has also published a collection of writing exercises titled Healing Through Words. She has even participated in numerous podcasts, touching on a wide range of topics, from the pandemic to making the world a better place for the next generations.

She’s currently on a world tour, reading her poetry and meeting fans worldwide.

You can learn more about Rupi Kaur on her website, rupikaur.com.

A review of Rupi Kaur’s books

Here’s a review of Rupi Kaur’s books:

milk and honey

Kaur’s first book, milk and honey, is divided into four chapters, each with a different purpose. Throughout this book, the reader learns about some of the most bitter moments in the author’s life. The author maintains an optimistic standpoint and encourages the reader to find sweetness in every moment.

This deeply honest collection of poems deals with feminism, abuse, sexual assault, independence, relationships, and depression. Many people praise the author for dealing with such challenging topics most wouldn’t dare discuss.

the sun and her flowers

The second book, the sun and her flowers, is divided into five chapters, each reflecting the life cycle of a flower: wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming.

The book discusses heartbreak and loss, which eventually leads to healing and blooming. Other topics in the poems are female infanticide, self-care, mental health, self-love, borders, immigration, and depression.

For Kaur, blooming represents her eventual acceptance of her heritage and roots, herself, and ultimately the world around her.

While many people have ridiculed her writing style, creating mocking memes, this book was an immediate success. Within two weeks of publication, it was featured in the top 10 of The New York Times bestseller list.

home body

The poet Rupi Kaur divided trending collection of poetry home body into four sections: mind, heart, rest, and awake. home body represents an intimate and reflective journey through the past that explores one’s self-potential, growth, and progress. It offers insight into the author’s maturity and evolution.

The book starts out a bit darker, dealing with depression and sadness. We begin to see the author’s ups, downs, and struggles—easily relatable for so many. Toward the end, the writing becomes more optimistic and lighter.

With this book, Rupi Kaur wants to remind you to fill yourself with love, acceptance, and respect and not to be afraid of change. She also shows that it’s normal not to feel great all the time.

Healing Through Words

Healing Through Words introduces the readers to the power of the spoken word. The new book represents a collection of guided poetry writing exercises through which readers can explore different topics, including trauma, loss, family, celebrating oneself, and many others.

It discusses the writing process and emphasizes that you don’t have to be a professional writer to write.

Since this isn’t a poetry book, Kaur decided to use proper capitalization for the title.

Listen to Rupi Kaur’s poetry on Speechify Audiobooks

If you want to listen to audio versions of Rupi Kaur’s poetry, Speechify Audiobooks is the way to go. On this platform, you can enjoy audio versions of her collections of poetry, with Kaur herself as the narrator.

Additionally, you can explore over 60,000 titles belonging to different genres like romance, horror, sci-fi, and many more. You can also enjoy convenient features like automatic progress syncing, setting a sleep timer, and adjusting the playback speed.

Try Speechify Audiobooks today.

FAQ

What is Rupi Kaur’s most famous poem?

Her most famous poems are “Fingers,” “How Is It So Easy for You,” “Broken English,” and “I Want to Apologize to All Women.”

Why does Rupi Kaur use Instagram?

She uses Instagram because it gives her the creative freedom to communicate with her fans, share her writing, and reach millions of people worldwide.

Why did Rupi Kaur write milk and honey?

She wrote the poetry book because she wanted to show the readers they aren’t alone and tackle challenging topics many authors wouldn’t dare discuss.