Over the past two years, a platitudinous book of poems unexpectedly became one of the bestselling books in the US. Now it has its very own parody, which has itself, improbably, become a top seller on Amazon.
In 2015, Rupi Kaur released a book of breathless Hallmark cards written in verse, based on her popular Instagram account. Milk and Honey has since spent 82 weeks on the New York Times bestselling paperback trade fiction list and is Amazon US’ bestselling book of 2017 thus far. But haters love to hate on Milk and Honey, so two college students in Philadelphia created a parody book, Milk and Vine, which has been a top-seller on Amazon for the past week.
Milk and Vine was written, illustrated, and self-published on Oct. 22 by Emily Beck and Adam Gasiewski, freshmen at Temple University. In the same self-serious voice as Kaur, their parody quotes “classic” posts from Vine, the much-loved and now defunct six-second-video platform.
Combining the pseudo-profundity of Milk and Honey with the irreverent buffoonery of America’s Funniest Home Videos, crude drawings, and a $5 price tag (up from the original $3) has somehow, inexplicably, worked. The book hit No. 1 on Amazon last week, and has hovered near the top since. On the site’s hourly rankings, it has even surpassed Milk and Honey.