Book Blog #260: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

Title: Milk and Honey
Author: Rupi Kaur
# of Pages: 204 (paperback)
Genre: Nonfiction, Poetry, Feminism
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Milk and honey' is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. It is split into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose. Deals with a different pain. Heals a different heartache. 'milk and honey' takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.
Review: You can tell from the cover that this book is (supposed to be) filled with poetry.

I'm not a huge fan of poetry, so I decided to read this book on a bit of a whim. I knew poetry is usually written in short chunks, and the book wasn't very thick at all, so I was confident I could finish in a relatively short period of time.

I was surprised by how moved I was for some of the poems. The way she defines love and describes how she her life reflects how she has been affected by others in the past is beautiful. However, the reason why I enjoyed it so much is because it felt more like Rupi was talking vaguely about these topics rather than portraying these ideas through traditional(?) poetic means.

TLDR: I believe I liked this book because it didn't really read like poetry.

It's a quick read; if you're interested, go for it!

Book Blog #32: Glass by Ellen Hopkins

Title: Glass
Author: Ellen Hopkins
# of Pages: 681 (paperback)
Genre: YA, Realistic Fiction, Poetry
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Synopsis: Crank. Glass. Ice. Crystal. Whatever you call it, it's all the same: a monster. And once it's got hold of you, this monster will never let you go.

Kristina thinks she can control it. Now with a baby to care for, she's determined to be the one deciding when and how much, the one calling the shots. But the monster is too strong, and before she knows it, Kristina is back in its grips. She needs the monster to keep going, to face the pressures of day-to-day life. She needs it to feel alive.

Once again the monster takes over Kristina's life and she will do anything for it, including giving up the one person who gives her the unconditional love she craves -- her baby. 

The sequel to Crank, this is the continuing story of Kristina and her descent back to hell. Told in verse, it's a harrowing and disturbing look at addiction and the damage that it inflicts.

Review:  So here's my problem.

I don't understand two things; meth and poems. I don't understand how people can be addicted to something so awful or why someone would make a book of poems (I'm a poem hater. Sorry).

See, I actually liked Crank. I felt sorry for how messed up Bree/Kristina was. But Glass was practically the same story with a different setting.

I'm tired of hearing how messed up Kristina is. She obviously doesn't WANT to stop. It's hard to believe that she used to be a good student.

I'm glad I finished the book.

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Book Blog #29: Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Title: Crank
Author: Ellen Hopkins
# of Pages: 537 (paperback)
Genre: YA, Poetry, Realistic Fiction
Rating:★★★★☆
Synopsis: Ellen Hopkins chronicles the turbulent and often disturbing relationship between Kristina, a character based on her own daughter, and the "monster," the highly addictive drug crystal meth, or "crank." Kristina is introduced to the drug while visiting her largely absent and ne'er-do-well father. While under the influence of the monster, Kristina discovers her sexy alter-ego, Bree: "there is no perfect daughter, / no gifted high school junior, / no Kristina Georgia Snow. / There is only Bree." Bree will do all the things good girl Kristina won't, including attracting the attention of dangerous boys who can provide her with a steady flow of crank.

Review: At first I hated it.
And then I loved it.

No one told me it was a book of poems. Or at least something that looked like poems. But that's exactly what it was.

I hate poems.
I love poems.

Bree/Kristina was so messed up. I hated her for doing that to herself. But in the end, I just felt sorry for her.

Ellen Hopkins does something to you, inside. She makes you feel for her characters, makes you feel their despair, their happiness, their sickness. And in the least amount of words possible.

This book was the worst thing I ever read.
This book was the best thing I ever read.

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