Divided into five chapters and illustrated by Kaur, the sun and her flowers is a journey of wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming. A celebration of love in all its forms. this is the recipe of lifesaid my motheras she held me in her arms as i wept think of those flowers you plantin the garden each year they will teach youthat people toomust wiltfallrootrisein order to bloom
Milk and Honey was one of those books that I found at exactly the right time in my life – it was reading that turned me inside out and laid me bare, and I read those poems over and over in the weeks after because they were just exactly what I needed to hear. The poems in Milk and Honey, while achingly specific to Kaur’s life, still felt able to speak to anyone who might stumble upon them.
The Sun and Her Flowers was a collection that was harder to find yourself in and ended up less smooth on the palate. It skipped through heavy topics quickly enough to give whiplash and that cohesive journey I’d loved so much about Milk and Honey wasn’t there. That being said, the things Kaur does write about – sexual assault, the immigrant experience, self-hate and self-love – all deserve the space they’re given, and she manages stunning and surprising moments of beauty even in her darkest pieces.
ALL THE STARS
I said previously in my milk and honey review that “she [Rupi Kaur] has given us women a way to be reborn and renewed.” Now I say, after stretching the sun and her flowers into a three day spiritual dance fest that Rupi has given many of us a voice to not only speak out, but up!
For the second time, I finished a collection of poems that left tears running down my cheeks, a gripping sensation around my heart, and my chest feeling like heartache and loss and first loves all at the same time.
Just like milk and honey, the sun and her flowers had moments. Moments that inspire, uplift, and wrap you in positivity. Moments that much in the same way milk and honey did-invoke feminism while not only walking with you through certain emotions, but carrying you through the heartbreaking ones.
milk and honey meant something to me, and so does the sun and her flowers… And so, I will pass this Sun and Her flowers down to my daughter to be loved by her in the same way I have loved it-with my heart in my throat, with my hands caressing the pages, and with my tear drops leaving stains upon the pages.
Rupi Kaur hit bestselling lists all over the world with her debut, Milk and Honey, which really just blew me away. I’ve always had a hard time with poetry, and Kaur’s short, succinct lines speak to me in a way that other poetry just never has.
Similar to her debut, The Sun and Her Flowers also addresses issues such as sexual assault, rape, self-doubt, depression, oppression, racism, and others. Its organization, however, felt a little lacking to me compared with Milk and Honey.
I honestly think that if I’d read The Sun and Her Flowers first, I could have appreciated it more; I’m just not sure Kaur will ever be able to give her audience the same satisfaction and understanding we felt with Milk and Honey. Still highly recommended, all the same.
I usually associate poetry with this endless tomes we used to have to read in school. And then analyze. I was never taught to love it for its beautiful words and find my own meaning in it. But coming across The Sun and Her Flowers opened me up to that form of expression and I will not only seek out this author’s other work but that of different poets as well.
Rupi Kaur has again delivered a palpable collection of perspective on varying issues of significance that range from love to heartbreak and all the things in between. I leave this experience feeling grateful, beautiful, and incredibly empowered. I am in love with this woman’s writing.
Note: There are a few repeated poems from Milk and Honey but much of this material felt very fresh.
One of my many favorite poems:
i reduced my body to aesthetics
forgot the work it did to keep me alive
with every beat and breath
declared it a grand failure for not looking like theirs
searched everywhere for a miracle
foolish enough to not realize
i was already living in one
Awesome poetry dealing with love to femininity. I love Kaur’s writing style – very deep and also empowering!
Similar to Milk & Honey, these poems are deep, thoughtful, and sometimes disturbing due her this poet’s difficult childhood. But that’s why humans created poetry; to heal. If you have the coping mechanisms to read this poetry book, please do so.
I don’t even like poetry but Rupi Kaur gives me all the feels with her collections. I swear, there’s actual magic in her words, goosebumps instilling and leaving you in awe with each page turned. Absolutely spellbinding, profound to the marrow of your bones, and so very relatable and inspiring. I’m a forever fan.
Wow! The different emotions you feel while reading this is insane. Rupi Kaur has a way with words. I was so wrapped up in each little poem and each little word. I have found a love of poetry by reading her books.
I really struggled with this book. Although I read it in one day, it was not out of being immersed in the reading. I actually had a hard time wanting to finish it. While some poems were really profound, and I liked the theme of some of them, others I thought were no more than perverse porn.
It has been three years since I read Kaur’s previous book Milk and Honey. I figured I would give her second book a try and see if my thoughts on this style of poetry has changed.
So I liked this book a lot more than Milk and Honey, especially the longer poems. I had at least one poem per section that I really loved, and guess what they were all the longer ones. I felt they actually captured the emotions the author was trying to portray so much more than the short one to two sentence poems.
My main issue is with this style of poetry. I just don’t like this tumblr style of poetry that can be as short as a sentence. To me that isn’t a poem it’s a sentence and I don’t like that it can be considered poetry. Another issue is the lack of punctuation. It is very annoying for me to read a poem, or anything really, that doesn’t capitalize the I’s in the sentences.
I can understand the appeal for this kind of tumblr poetry but it is not for me. And while I did enjoy quite a few of the poems, which is why I am giving this a three star, I won’t be reading anymore poetry from this author or any author who writes in this style.
all her books are good i could read them all
honestly, when I first picked up this book, I had no idea what to expect. so beautiful, and so inspirational. between a boy and a girl, everything was broken. cheating, lying, abuse even. in the end, she still was broken, but aren’t we all?
The Sun and Her Flowers is a lovely collection of poems. I did not enjoy this collection as much as Rupi Kaur’s first collection Milk and Honey, but I did find several pieces that spoke to me while reading this one. I really admired her strength and the honesty behind her works and liked how she weaved the poems together with the continual metaphor with the sun and flowers.
The power and emotion…
From start to finish this book moved me. The power, the imagery, the emotion found in the words left them imprinted in my mind. I would like to break my review down a little and list some of the pieces that really hit me hardest, but that will have to wait until I’m not on mobile. I can’t wait to read her first book of poems.
“You can imitate a light like mine but you cannot become it”
“You need to be vulnerable to live fully but rough enough to survive it all”
“If you got any more beautiful the sun would leave its place and come for you”
“The day you have everything I hope you remember when you had nothing”
“The road to changing the world is never-ending”
The first thing I wanted to do when I finished this book is read another of Rupi’s wonders. There is something special about the smoothness of her words and the power of her style that makes me want to read even more.
Such books are blessings that open up your mind to life’s truth, they show you your not alone and that your part of the right process.
Loved this collection just as much as the first one! Can’t wait to read more
this book cool ig
Rupi Kaur has an insight that far surpasses her chronological age. I believe she is what used to be called an old soul, and that reflects beautifully in her poetry. Many of the themes in The Sun and Her Flowers are similar to those in Milk and Honey, but it doesn’t feel like a retread. Her heartbreak and anguish still come across as unrelenting, her new love still feels new, and her acceptance feels freshly earned. The poetry regarding her romantic relationships is moving, but the pieces that really caught my heart were those that referred to her mother and her heritage. This is a young woman who fully appreciates the sacrifices that were made for her, and doesn’t try to belittle those sacrifices by comparing them to her own journey. She knows there is no comparison.
I’m beginning to think Rupi Kaur writes pure gold. milk & honey has to be the most amazing poetry I’ve ever read, and the sun and her flowers follows that trend. milk & honey was an experience, the sun and her flowers was also one, but of its own class. milk & honey was sort of like scaling a mountain without a safety harness, with only Kaur to guide you; and the views were breath-taking, but it was also frightening that high up until you reached the safety of the top. the sun and her flowers is more like rafting down a river, there are some rapids, but also amazing moments of incredible peace where the river flows softly and you bask in the sounds around you.