___________________________
At the beginning of all of my posts from now until December 31st I will be including a link to my Dressember fundraising page. I will also be sharing facts about modern day slavery. Today’s fact: Sex traffickers often get women to join them by promising a glamorous job in a new and exciting country. By separating the women from their families it easier to take all of their documents and force them into trafficking. (information found here).
Here is the link to my fundraising page if you want to join me in helping exploited women experience freedom. Part of Dressember is just starting the conversation, but another large part is raising money to help Dressember’s partners carry out rescue missions. Just $200 dollars helps with the immediate needs a woman has when she leaves a trafficking situation. Whether or not you make a donation, start the conversation!
___________________________
So in an effort to relax after studying for finals all morning, I started, and finished reading The Sun and All Her Flowers. This is somewhat of a sequel to Milk & Honey but you do not need to read them in any certain order.
The same friend that got me Milk & Honey for my birthday had me for our Secret Santa so she definitely knew the perfect present.
I was not as amazed by The Sun and All Her Flowers as I had expected to be. There were so many poems in Milk & Honey that caused me to stop and think a little more but I did not have the same feeling with this one. It took me a little over an hour to read it and I was expecting it to take a little longer for those “oh wow” moments. Don’t get me wrong I still thought it was great and there were poems that really resonated with me but I think that some of the “newness” to this style of writing had rubbed off. To me it seemed like some of the poems in this book were similar to poems in her first book with different words. I think part of that is just the simplistic style of Kaur’s writing.
Just like Milk & Honey, The Sun and All Her Flowers is broken up into sections. The sections are wilting, falling, rooting, rising, blooming. I wanted to share my favorite poem from each section with you guys just like I had done last time.
Wilting
Falling
Rooting
Rising
Blooming (here’s a bonus one because this section was my favorite!)
Kaur is definitely an amazing writer and I have said before, I admire her openness to let millions of people into her lives. The best part of this book for me was that it addressed different themes. Prior to receiving this book I did not think too much of it, I had assumed it was about the same topics she had already addressed.
The theme that really stuck out to me is immigration. It seems like recently a lot of people in the U.S. have forgotten that unless you are 100% Native American, you got here through immigration at some point. In the spring I will be doing an Alternative Spring Break trip focusing on the refuge population in my area and I am so excited to learn more about it. The Sun and All Her Flowers started teaching me about that already, it explains the life of an immigrant in a few short lines scattered throughout the book.
Another theme that I loved was feminism. Kaur ties this theme in with her culture and I think she does that beautifully. She writes about her mother a lot and she also includes all of her other female ancestors. I think that is a really cool way of looking at feminism.
If I had to pick my favorite section I would pick blooming. That’s the section that I had dog-earred the most pages and it is one I will reread if I am never needing a little inspiration.
I would definitely recommend this book to a friend, especially if you have read Milk & Honey. I think it gave me a deeper understand of Kaur’s family history and dynamic. Although it did not leave me as speechless as I had hoped, I think it was a great read.
If you want to read my reviews of Milk & Honey you can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
If you have any book recommendations leave them in the comments!
xox,
Marissa
sunflowersandseersucker.wordpress.com 