Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah

10 reviews

doomluz's review

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Winter is one of the most infuriating protagonists I’ve read, but she’s also not the worst. She’s selfish, but she knows what she wants. Though she's willing to use other people to get it. A raw story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Abortion, Biphobia, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Fatphobia, Drug abuse, Rape, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Infidelity

Minor: Death of parent

uglypopcorn's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Child abuse

Moderate: Homophobia, Drug use, and Abortion

professorbadger's review

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

A truly fantastic read, held back from 5 stars by a (purposely) unlikeable narrator, bouts of homophobia, and some questionable views on masculinity and femininity. I recommend reading, or at least skimming, the extra materials at the end of the book — lots of insight into the characters and their world and thoughts from Sister Souljah on the book and on readers’ reactions to it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Homophobia

Moderate: Abortion, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Murder, Infidelity, Alcohol, Body shaming, Death of parent, Drug use, and Sexual harassment

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Sexism

briasmith's review

adventurous emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Misogyny, Drug use, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Fatphobia and Homophobia

chloemia's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Abortion, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Homophobia

miak2's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

 

“Now I realized that me and him were just alike. We were both born to win. And, when we were not winning, it was OK 'cause we were busy planning to win.”

There's a lot to like about this book. As other reviewers have shared, it was raw and authentic, with a quick pace and lots of highs and lows.

Unfortunately, the things that frustrated me about this book greatly overshadowed the things that I appreciated. Winter was an incredibly fun character to follow, but many of her choices were so mind-boggling and selfish that it was hard for me to root for her at all. While I appreciated her sharp wit and strategic thinking, she'd contradict her own plans the page later with some irrational action. Certainly realistic, given that she was a teenager fighting to make it during such a tumultuous time, but frustrating to read nonetheless. And, I think, that's where my biggest issue with the book lies. After everything Winter endured, it doesn't appear that she'd learned anything at all. Sure we as readers could walk away having learned from Winter's actions, but it's less than satisfying that Winter herself had very little growth.

Actually, scratch that. My biggest issue with the book was it's constant depictions of sex. I completely understand that sex is a major part of Winter's life, and sharing all of those details is part of what makes this book so authentic. But I both couldn't relate and also had no interest in reading about a teenager's explicit sexual activities. (Especially when so many of them were non-consensual and the book just brushes that off. Yikes).

I'm glad that I read this book, it certainly has a lot of value. But it just didn't resonate with me for a multitude of reasons.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Drug use

ellekhupe's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gun violence

Moderate: Abortion, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

hellalibrary's review

emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Considered an urban classic, this was my first time reading The Coldest Winter Ever and, I’ve got to say, it was WILD but I really enjoyed it! It’s fast and the story of Winter Santiaga completely sucked me in. 

Sister Souljah has delivered a terrific story that delves deep into greed, drugs, the prison system, rape, homelessness, abandonment, generational cycles/curses, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, teen pregnancy, and ties it all to the Black community.

Winter is the daughter of Ricky Santiaga, drug king pin of Brooklyn, and she is the SHIT. Money, clothes, cars, bling, Winter has it all and isn’t afraid to show it off. She’s self-absorbed, arrogant, greedy, and truly unlikeable. But I also kind of felt bad for her? I know, I know, but I can’t help it!

After her father is sent to jail, and her family falls apart, Winter has to learn how to survive on her own, and she  does so by hustling her way through various schemes in order to become a drug queen. Guess what happens?

What I also found interesting was how Sister Souljah wrote herself into the book, the voice of reason, the  conscious that we all want Winter to develop. Asking questions like, what are your values? What’s more important, money or community?

This edition I read, also included some character analyses and a discussion with Sister Souljah where she explains her reasons for writing the book.

I highly recommend this teaching novel, because behind the bling, there are some lessons buried within.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, and Violence

wordsbyclaire's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Child death