The Sun and Her Flowers - Rupi Kaur

Title: The Sun and Her Flowers
Author: Rupi Kaur
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2017 (Paperback)
Length: 250 pages
Genre: Adult; Poetry
Started: January 12, 2018
Finished: January 12, 2018

Summary:
From the back cover:

this is the recipe of life
said my mother
as she held me in her arms as i wept
think of those flowers you plant
in the garden each year
they will teach you
that people too
must wilt
fall
root
rise
in order to bloom

-rupi kaur

Review:
This book has been on practically every bestseller list since it was released in October, but poetry can be such a hit or miss with me that I was just going to wait to read it until a copy became available at the library. A friend ended up posting shots from her copy of the book on social media and that's what finally convinced me to head over to the bookstore and just take the plunge, and I am so glad I did.

This is the second collection of poetry by the author, who is Canadian and local to boot. Her style is free verse, and not everyone enjoys that, but I personally liked the collection as a whole. The only aspect I found a little frustrating at times was the fragmented nature of the poetry and lack of punctuation, sometimes it was difficult to tell when one poem ended and another began. Eventually it all flows and makes sense, but it took a couple pages for that to happen.

The author touches on several themes of love, heartbreak, assault, immigration, self-love, sexism, and  female empowerment, among others. The poems are divided into chapters based on the general mood and theme: wilting, falling, rooting, rising, blooming. The poems are fairly simplistic, not all of them hit home, but some are quite profound. I really appreciated the middle chapter dealing primarily with the author's experiences as the daughter of Indian immigrants, there were quite a few poems concerning her relationship with her mother that made me tear up (I can see a lot of second and third generation women really identifying with that section).

Recommendation:

If you're not sure if this would be your thing, google the author's name and take a look at some of the examples of her work. If it touches something deep inside yourself, buy this book and just enjoy it. Some of the content can definitely be considered triggering for some individuals though, so keep that in mind. 

Thoughts on the cover:

Very simple, but it goes with the recurring motif of sunflowers.