milk and honey

milk and honey by Rupi Kaur
Published by Create Space on Nov. 4, 2014
Genre(s): Nonfiction, Poetry, Feminism
Format: Paperback
Pages: 204

Goodreads synopsis: 

milk and honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. It is 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.

I read some of the reviews on goodreads and felt disappointed that people would dismiss this woman's work so quickly because they didn't personally resonate with her words, so I decided to check it out for myself.

Many of the negative reviews seemed unfair to me, but maybe I don't understand because the book did speak to me on a personal level. Regardless, I'm not an expert on this style of writing, but I still believe that this collection was brave and raw and just real. It put words to feelings that many young men and women may be feeling but are unable to express.

It's hard to summarize these feelings into one review since some of the pieces were so vastly different, and I hate to give excerpts as they would essentially be spoiling the book. I'll just say that I really enjoyed reading Rupi Kaur's words accompanied by her exquisite sketches, and page after page, I was so glad that I picked up her book. Her journey through poetry and prose was tragic and beautiful and I look forward to reading it again.

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Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
Published by Viking on July 28, 2015
Genre(s): Fiction, Food, Adult, Contemporary
Format: Paperback
Pages: 310

Goodreads synopsis: 

When Lars Thorvald's wife, Cynthia, falls in love with wine--and a dashing sommelier--he's left to raise their baby, Eva, on his own. He's determined to pass on his love of food to his daughter--starting with puréed pork shoulder. As Eva grows, she finds her solace and salvation in the flavors of her native Minnesota. From Scandinavian lutefisk to hydroponic chocolate habaneros, each ingredient represents one part of Eva's journey as she becomes the star chef behind a legendary and secretive pop-up supper club, culminating in an opulent and emotional feast that's a testament to her spirit and resilience.

Each chapter in J. Ryan Stradal's startlingly original debut tells the story of a single dish and character, at once capturing the zeitgeist of the Midwest, the rise of foodie culture, and delving into the ways food creates community and a sense of identity. By turns quirky, hilarious, and vividly sensory, Kitchens of the Great Midwest is an unexpected mother-daughter story about the bittersweet nature of life--its missed opportunities and its joyful surprises. It marks the entry of a brilliant new talent.

I have had this book on my "to-read" shelf for such a long time and could never get ahold of a copy through the two sources I regularly use- PaperbackSwap and Audible. So when I was in NYC last week and I saw a copy at The Strand, I immediately bought it and began reading on my next subway ride.

The book tells the story of Eva Thorvald as she grows up in the midwest, gathering experiences that help to shape her future in food. Each chapter revolves around a different food and person that has an impact on Eva's life. It's unique in that each chapter tells a story from the perspective of another character, sometimes with Eva only appearing at the end or not at all. I loved how Stradal did this. It's an interesting way to construct a plot, but it worked. The layout and design of the story flowed smoothly, and learning about Eva through the eyes of multiple other people that have impacted her life really helped to develop her character as well as each supporting character involved.

Another thing I really enjoyed about the book was how it all pieced together at the end so deliberately. There were a couple of things that occurred throughout the book that were left unanswered, but I believe that was likely intentional, and the mystery to each of these pieces of the plot didn't take away from understanding the flow of the story in any way. However, at the end, in the final chapter, each chapter- having seemed so independent up until the end- finally came together in beautiful and natural way. It felt as if I, as the reader, had been leading up to the final "Dinner" all along, and the previous chapter in this book was all I needed to read in order to understand the complexity of each dish, each guest, and every other detail involved in the final story...Like there was so much more to these characters, as there is to everyone in life, but having read each of their chapters and seeing it all come together at the end, I was able to understand each of them a little better, and appreciate life and how it has a unique way of happening.

I laughed out loud more than once while reading this book, and there were parts that even brought tears to my eyes, of both happiness and sadness. It sparked so much emotion, left my mouth watering, and left my mind racing every time I had to put it down. It was a quick and easy read, but not one I will soon forget. I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in a coming-of-age tale about life, love, family, and food.

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Into The Water

Into The Water by Paula Hawkins
Published by Riverhead on May 2, 2017
Genre(s): Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Crime, Suspense, Adult, Contemporary
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 388

Goodreads synopsis: 

A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged.

Left behind is a lonely fifteen-year-old girl. Parentless and friendless, she now finds herself in the care of her mother's sister, a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from—a place to which she vowed she'd never return.

With the same propulsive writing and acute understanding of human instincts that captivated millions of readers around the world in her explosive debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins delivers an urgent, twisting, deeply satisfying read that hinges on the deceptiveness of emotion and memory, as well as the devastating ways that the past can reach a long arm into the present.

Beware a calm surface—you never know what lies beneath. 

I was hesitant to start this book because I was less than impressed by Hawkins's first novel, The Girl on the Train, but after thinking about it, I decided that was unfair. In the beginning, the story starts out pretty straight forward, giving background to the eerie history of the town setting and the deaths of women that seem to always have mystery associated with them, but always involve the water. As things move forward, you learn that the lives of the people in the town are all entwined...to an overwhelming extent.

Hawkins writes each chapter from the perspective of a different character, which in most novels adds a lot of value to the plot and to the progress of the story for the reader. However, there are so many characters that at times, the story feels so confusing, and remembering who is who becomes daunting. This made it extremely difficult for me to get through the book. I didn't want to stop reading, because I really did want to discover how the multiple twists and mysteries would unfold, but the confusing nature of the book's organization hindered my focus and interest.

Toward the end, the story got a little annoying in how things began to pan out. And, in my opinion (obviously) the final twist of the book was completely unrealistically far-fetched. This may be because I didn't really feel a connection to the character involved, but I blame Hawkins for that due to the excessive amount of characters in the story. A few storylines seemed to remain a mystery in the end, never fully explaining what happened, which was definitely disappointing, even if I did lack a connection to the character involved.

This was an easy enough read, so anyone looking for a simple, quick beach-read or otherwise will likely enjoy it. However, for my high expectations in terms of mystery/thriller/suspense, it wasn't my favorite.

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