Book Babblings

The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah

The Nitty Gritty: Winter Santiaga is the undisputed Princess of the Ghetto. The oldest daughter to drug kingpin Ricky Santiaga, Winter is used to having the best and being the best.

Things have never been better, until her mother is shot in the face and things quickly crumbled in Palace de Santiaga. Winter's mother is no longer the beautiful queen of the hood, her father is thrown into jail with no release in sight, her sisters are swept up into the system, and worse Winter is left without the money to maintain her Princess tiara.

Left without her king and her baubles, Winter only has her street savvy and her money maker to get herself back on top of things, and she will stop at nothing, spare no one to get her tiara back.

Opening Line: "I never liked Sister Soulja, straight up."

The Good: Love her or hate her Winter is one of the strongest female characters in literary history. Her voice is crystal clear and it rings with all the Brooklyn authority that Jay-Z would be proud to find. When faced with the annihilation of her entire family much like a cat Winter landed on all fours.


The Coldest Winter Ever is to urban fiction what gangster rap was to hip hop. It was a pioneering book that blazed a trail into Barnes and Nobel for other African American urban authors. it have even been the very book that helped to usher in the new book genre.

That is about all the credit I am willing to give Souljah with this book. And her book was groundbreaking just as gangster rap gave a musical voice to the disenfranchised black men of the inner city Winter gave voice to the black females of the inner city.


The Bad: Where do I start? Maybe the beginning would be best. I take issue with the fact that Soujah placed herself in the book. Not as a caricature of herself or as comic relief. She put herself into the story as Winter's foil. She was the sole voice of reason in this twisted tale.

I find that highly arrogant of Souljah. Here is a woman with no formal training and no dog in the fight save her desire to influence. For me that is not enough. I fail to see her love for the very people she is claiming she is trying to help. There is one scene in the book where Winter sits in on one of Souljah's "therapy" sessions. One of the women who happened to be a lady of the night, supporting her family as a stripper is reprimanded by Souljah. She acts the woman how much money she makes. I  believe the answer was about $500 a night. And Souljah asks, "does it take $500 a night to support your family?"

Here is a woman who is living rent free in a large town home owned by a doctor. Who pays all the bills, keeps the fridge stocked with food, and living in New York there isn't a need to own a car. So she is sitting up in her palace without a care in the world trying to verbal spank another woman because she tries to provide for her family the only way she knows how.

But perhaps by biggest bone of contention is the fact that Souljah looks down her nose at this people, points out their flaws and misdeeds without offering an avenue of change. I am certain that woman knew what she was doing was not only dangerous and harmful to herself, but also her family on top of being embarrassing. What she was looking for was a way out of her situation not a reminder of what situation she was in.

I find Souljah self righteous with no reason to be.

Moving on to her Midnight. Now I understand that someone women find this man sexy, charming, alluring and possibly the best man in the book. Sad to say that he is probably the best man in the book. Insofar as being compared someone like Bullet. However no one mentions the fact that Midnight is a coldblooded drug dealing killer. I don't care how pretty the package he is still a murderer and a drug pusher. Just because he can string together a semi-intelligent sentence we are suppose to forgive the sons he has killed. The fathers he laid to rest? The mothers he sold crack to? The orphans he made of families?

For all his posturing about how he loves and cherishes woman he left a sixteen year old girl to the mercies of the streets. Sure the said girl was Winter Santiaga, but she was still a minor female without direction. He had the means to take her away from her environment and if nothing else give her a chance at normalcy and change. Instead her abandoned her saying it was her ghettoish ways that pushed him out the door.

I call BS on that. Midnight is worse the the other men in this book. He is a wold in sheep clothing. The other man know who they are and they embrace it. They didn't try to hide it. Midnight hid his nature under a cute smile and the Quran.

My Final Say: I do think this is a book worth reading. However much I may dislike it. I did read her other books with caution and again with disappointment. Simply for its pioneering nature i give it