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rose_peterson 's review for:
The Coldest Winter Ever
by Sister Souljah
I felt obligated to read this book because it claims to represent the "real ghetto experience" (featuring that 1999 terminology). I was largely underwhelmed, though.
I was offput by the inclusion of the author as a character. I thought it was tacky; maybe it was better received at the time when she was still more prominent? It also bothered me that Sister Souljah wrote about a reality that was not something she herself experienced with the express purpose of revealing why she finds it egregious. She did detail different types of women, as she states she set out to in the extensive Q&A in the back of the book, but she clearly valorizes some and demonizes others instead of allowing the reader to embrace ambiguity and come to their own conclusions. It rubbed me the wrong way that someone who is not intimately acquainted with this reality would also write statements like this: "Through [Midnight] is delivered the strongest and most relevant message to black men ever delivered in the form of literature." In my opinion, that is a wholly unfounded statement that insults the writers who came before Sister Souljah.
This book will find a home on my classroom shelves because it's a quick and engaging read that I know my kids will like, but I have lots of reservations about the agenda behind the story and seek to problematize that for them, too.
I was offput by the inclusion of the author as a character. I thought it was tacky; maybe it was better received at the time when she was still more prominent? It also bothered me that Sister Souljah wrote about a reality that was not something she herself experienced with the express purpose of revealing why she finds it egregious. She did detail different types of women, as she states she set out to in the extensive Q&A in the back of the book, but she clearly valorizes some and demonizes others instead of allowing the reader to embrace ambiguity and come to their own conclusions. It rubbed me the wrong way that someone who is not intimately acquainted with this reality would also write statements like this: "Through [Midnight] is delivered the strongest and most relevant message to black men ever delivered in the form of literature." In my opinion, that is a wholly unfounded statement that insults the writers who came before Sister Souljah.
This book will find a home on my classroom shelves because it's a quick and engaging read that I know my kids will like, but I have lots of reservations about the agenda behind the story and seek to problematize that for them, too.