Milk and Honey
by Rupi Kaur
★ Top 10 book of 2014 · #8 on Best Books of 2014
This poetry collection is organized into four chapters, each tackling a different kind of pain and heartache. It guides readers through life's bitterest moments while insisting that sweetness can be found everywhere if you look.
Best for: Readers seeking poetry about pain and healing that finds sweetness in hard moments
Milk and Honey is #8 on BookWard's Best Books of 2014, out of 66 2014 books that cleared our data bar.
What Milk and Honey is about
Rupi Kaur's book gathers poems and short prose pieces into four sections: the hurting, the loving, the breaking and the healing. The first deals with sexual assault, abuse and trouble within families. The second turns lighter, following the pleasures of falling in love. The third returns to a dark place after a breakup, and even includes a break-up to-do list. The last section offers comfort, telling women they are valuable and should embrace who they are.
Kaur writes entirely in lowercase with little punctuation, a choice she says honors Punjabi, and some poems sit beside her simple line drawings. The language is plain and direct, and it deals openly with sexual themes, so it is recommended for readers 18 and older. Some critics find the style too simple, and the label "Instapoetry" follows her work because she built her audience on Instagram. It suits readers who want short, intimate poems about hurt and recovery, and who are new to poetry.
Milk and Honey on the Best Books of 2014
Milk and Honey came out in 2014. Of the 66 books first published in 2014 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #8 on our Best Books of 2014 list.
Why it made the list: 2,400 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (121 ratings); 113 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
It earns Being read right now.
Nearby on the 2014 list
- All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr, #6
- Ugly Love Colleen Hoover, #7
- The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, #9
- Ignite Me Tahereh Mafi, #10
See all Best Books of 2014 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2013 Best Books of 2015.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 2,075 want to read it, 113 are reading it now and 212 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4 out of 5 from 121 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 95 | 55% |
| Reader love | 52 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 94 | 20% |
Questions about Milk and Honey
When was Milk and Honey published?
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur was first published in 2014.
Was Milk and Honey one of the best books of 2014?
Milk and Honey is #8 on BookWard's Best Books of 2014, out of 66 2014 books that cleared our data bar. 2,400 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (121 ratings); 113 are reading it right now.
Why is Milk and Honey on the Best Books of 2014 list?
2,400 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (121 ratings); 113 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 2014
- To All the Boys I've Loved Before Jenny Han, #1
- The Long Haul Jeff Kinney, #2
- Surrounded by Idiots Thomas Erikson, #3
- Zero to One Peter A. Thiel, #4
- After (After Series, Book 1) Anna Todd, #5
- All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr, #6
See the full Best Books of 2014, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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