The Sun and Her Flowers – Rupi Kaur

The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

The Sun and Her Flowers is the second book of poetry by poet Rupi Kaur. I haven’t read Milk and Honey, but I know that it is incredibly popular. I’m not a poetry reader, so when I saw that one of my options to read for class was a familiar title I thought I should pick that one since it was the option that I was likeliest to enjoy. Overall, I feel relatively ambivalent about the collection because sometimes I enjoyed the poems or at least the sentiment of them and other times I found myself just reading because I needed to read the book. I wasn’t a fan of her sentence structure (which I found distracting) but there were some poems that I felt were incredibly touching.

That being said, as I mentioned before these collections are incredibly popular and I can see why – they tackle issues that most people deal with, like self-doubt, relationships, family life, self-image and who you are (especially if your ethnicity, religion, etc. is not the majority where you live), and so the tone grew from dark and depressed to uplifting and encouraging over the course of the collection. I really liked how the book was organized into four different sections because you were able to experience her emotional and mental progression.

I really liked how she included her own drawings throughout the collection. Sometimes they were a little difficult to interpret, but they usually added to the feel of the poem and sometimes were absolutely gorgeous (like the one of her mother). It was nice to have more than just white space and words.

The first read-alike that I would recommend is Milk and Honey, which is also by Rupi Kaur. If you enjoy this collection, then you obviously like her style of poetry and art so this would be a perfect compliment. I feel that the popularity of Milk and Honey is helping to combat something from the class notes which stated “Unfortunately, this passion for words and the joy of reading is often lost. In just a few years, children who loved Dr. Seuss declare that they hate poetry. The key is providing engaging content and wordplay appropriate for the age of the children” (para 30). It shows that even if children decide that they don’t like poetry, there are some works that may inspire them to dive back into the medium.

Another great poetry collection that I think would appeal to teens is Adultolescence by Gabbi Hanna. It is written and illustrated by the author, much like Kaur’s work. It also tackles a lot of similar themes and will resonate with teens who are struggling with the idea of growing up and all of the changes they’re experiencing.

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