“the sun and her flowers” Book Review

Renown for her witty one-liners, imaginative illustrations, and courage to cover taboo topics, Rupi Kaur is back with the sun and her flowers; a companion to her 2014 New York Times bestseller of poetry and prose, milk and honey.

Author Rupi Kaur announcing the cover and title of her book back in June.

In the author’s own words and style:

“the sun and her flowers is a

collection of poetry about grief

self-abandonment

honoring one’s roots

love

And empowering oneself

It is split into five chapters

wilting. falling. rooting. rising. and blooming.”

the sun and her flowers is a continuation of the Canadian Punjabi’s journey as a poet and artist. The poetry anthology is broken down with five different chapters that allude to the life cycle of a flower and have different themes scattered throughout them.

“it took 3 years to write because i wanted to grow as a writer so desperately,” notes Kaur. “i didn’t want the second book to be a sequel or follow up to the first. or use milk and honey as a crutch. i needed it to be a strong rooted companion. i envisioned the two books as two siblings in one family. different from each other. but of the same blood.”  (quote from Kaur’s Instagram).

Just like a flower grows, Kaur’s work has flourished, too. She breaks away from the themes of milk and honey (which primarily focuses on growing from pain) while still closely alluding to them. The book is an homage to her identity and she has grown as a person since her first bestseller.

In particular, one of the preeminent parts of the sun and her flowers is how simple and eloquent it is to read. If you’re someone that wants to get into poetry, but have found previous works from other authors too difficult to digest, either of Kaur’s works would be a great introduction into the world of poetry. It is an easy read despite covering topics that cannot be talked about as easily in person, such as trauma, loss, femininity, and immigration.

One poem in the sun and her flowers representing immigration – a topic close to Kaur’s heart.

Even with poems that seem to be better off as photo captions, such as “never feel guilty for starting again” or “you break women in like shoes” – everything in the sun and her flowers is done with purpose, rather than lazily.

If you have been a longtime fan of Rupi Kaur, the sun and her flowers won’t disappoint. If you’ve come across Kaur’s work for the first time, I encourage you to read it – there’s something for everybody in it.

the sun and her flowers was released on October 3 and can now be found online and in bookstores everywhere.

• books
• literature
• poetry