The Coldest Winter Ever

The Coldest Winter Ever #1

by Sister Souljah

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read .

Renowned hip-hop artist, writer, and activist Sister Souljah brings the streets of New York to life in a powerful and utterly unforgettable first novel.

I came busting into the world during one of New York's worst snowstorms, so my mother named me Winter.

Ghetto-born, Winter is the young, wealthy daughter of a prominent Brooklyn drug-dealing family. Quick-witted, sexy, and business-minded, she knows and loves the streets like the curves of her own body. But when a cold Winter wind blows her life in a direction she doesn't want to go, her street smarts and seductive skills are put to the test of a lifetime. Unwilling to lose, this ghetto girl will do anything to stay on top.

The Coldest Winter Ever marks the debut of a gifted storyteller. You will never forget this Winter's tale.

Genres: Fiction, African American, Urban, Young Adult, Contemporary, Book Club, Adult

351 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1999

About the author

Sister Souljah (born Lisa Williamson) was born in 1964 in New York City. She attended Cornell University's advanced placement summer program and Spain's University of Salamanca study-abroad program. She later majored in American history and African studies at Rutgers University. Her travels and lectures have taken her all over America, Europe, and Africa. In the mid-1980s, she founded, in cooperation with the United Church of Christ, the African Youth Survival Camp, located in Enfield, North Carolina, for children of homeless families. In 1992, her rap album, 360 Degrees of Power, and video, "Slavery's Back in Effect," catapulted her to national attention. She lives in New York with her husband and son.

Reviews

[Diane Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely read! A classic,ruthless,blunt with lots of cliffhangers in the storyline and is exceptionally written. I encourage everyone to read this book (paperback!)

[Jahmilla2010 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winter Santiaga is a spoiled, materialistic, troubled teenager. Throughout the novel, she is constantly trying to "stay on top". She grows up in the ghetto with a father who is a drug kingpin. Her father spoils her rotten and her mother feeds into this. They finally move out of the ghetto and into a rich, suburban area. Winter feels isolated and needs to go back to the ghetto and brag to her friends and complete strangers.

Winter also sees no problem with spending a few hundred dollars on an outfit and other luxuries. This mentality brings her to the destructive point in her life. She uses her good looks and her game to manipulate everyone (including her immediate family) into getting what she wants. The book mainly discusses her problems with spending money on ridiculous items and how she never realizes the problem with it. Winter never sees her downfall until the very end. And in the end it also shows how history repeats itself or how life is a cycle when Winter's sister has fallen into the same trap."

She is the girl many young girls want to be in life. You know, a video-hoe in the making. When tragedy strikes her family, her pops is locked up, and no one else is willing to help. A girl, who is accustomed to the "best", has to figure out how to live a life without it, as though she never had any more than anyone else.
I loved the book. Everything that was said and done was shockingly real. I wouldn't be surprised if it someone's real life story. If there are young girls out there who are misguided by all of the glitz and glitter of the drug game, this is an excellent story to set them straight.

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

David has insinuated that this novel is in some way comparable to Hitler or Mariah Carey, which I think is unfair. This book has been responsible neither for the attempted extinction of a race of people, nor for Glitter and dog-whistle mimicry. It is not a book that is going to stay in my heart for a long period of time, but one does care about the characters, and she writes vividly and is never boring. And that is enough for three stars, considering this was not a book I chose to read myself, so I had no real expectations. If you are a fan of The Wire, (and why wouldn't you be, since it is the best non-Bluth television show to have been put on the air since Manimal)
this will mostly be old hat to you. But if you are wicked sheltered and don't know that drugs are bad and destroy communities, check this out, because like The Wire, it shows all aspects: the users, the dealers, the way communities are divided as people die, are jailed, and betray each other. I don't think there is (still) a lot of literature about women caught up in all of this, so even though it is chock full of early nineties slang, it is still a relevant book, but probably more appropriate for teen girls than David. (How are my capitals so far, do you approve??)

I loved that Sister Souljah was a character in her own book, as the voice of reason and the angel of the projects, saving lives and making a difference and showing the alternative path to a life of crime... And I know that she really is an activist and does do a lot of work for urban communities, but it just comes across as arrogant, doesn't it?? That the author is also in the book, with all the answers while the characters around her flounder if they do not heed her advice. I kind of want other celebrities to write novels in which they give practical advice like this. Like if Keith Richards wrote a novel, dispensing advice about how to pickle your insides so you live forever, or Britney Spears cautioned her characters, "Hey, maybe wear some panties before you go outside, it's windy". Sage advice from celebrity pens.

All in all, it was in no way as painful as reading those romance novels, and the scene in the abortion clinic waiting room was effective and depressing.

Oh, and also this:



come to my blog!

[Mary ~Ravager of Tomes~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 4.5 Stars!

This was unexpectedly brilliant, and I only say unexpectedly because my stupid ass didn't do any research & thought this was a vampire novel when she first started.

SPOILER ALERT THIS IS NOT ABOUT VAMPIRES IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM.

But you should fuckin' read it because wow, what a ride?

Damn.

This novel is raw.

This novel is deep.

This novel is authentic.

Honestly, after I pulled my head out of my ass & realized this IS NOT a vampire novel, I was shocked at how quickly I read this. I am a notoriously slow reader when I am forced to physically read, and I know taking 10 days to read 500 pages will seem like a long time to many readers here, but for me personally that is making great time.

I was so wrapped up in the twists & turns, I was so invested in how things would turn out & spent a lot of my time being shocked. I would sit down to read before bed, and suddenly I was 50 pages in & having to force myself to stop reading for the sake of not being sleepy the next day.

Being treated to an interview with the author at the end of the story was a particular treat for me, because she explains how personal writing this story was for her. How she sought to depict realistic black girls & fill in a space that had previously only been occupied by exaggerated & fantastical versions that didn't ring true to her own experience.

While reading, it's so easy to get a sense of the well of passion & emotion the author is drawing from when she crafted these characters & situations. It's fiction, but it feels like nonfiction.

I wasn't even aware of this book before I saw it on the Great American Read list, and I'm so glad it came onto my radar. I would absolutely recommend this book & I can't wait to read more from Sister Souljah!

[Bookishrealm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Updated Review 09.2020

TW: rape (graphic description of after affects), drug use, drug dealing, homelessness, explicit sex, teenage pregnancy, abortion, gun violence, misogyny, underage drinking, abuse

So...this is a classic book. Not classic in the traditional sense, but classic to the Black community. It's a pivotal book to the Black community. A lot of us grew up with this book reading it at a time when we had no business reading it. It's a book that is heavily circulated in the prison system. It's a book that makes the Black community question what values and traditions we are willing to pass on to our children and our children's children. This isn't an easy read. Winter, the main character, will piss you off. Do realize, that is the ultimate intention of the book.

One of the most amazing aspects of this book is examining Winter as a character. She grows up wealthy, the daughter of a big time drug dealer. She is taught to value looks over education, wealth over true relationships. In all honesty, Winter is a bitch. And I promise you as a reader you will not like her. Reading her as an adult made me cringe. Her internal monologue drove me crazy. There were decisions that she made that were beyond nonsensical. For example, if you knew you only had a couple of hundred dollars why the hell would you go and spend most of that money on clothes. She has no sense of survival skills. She is willing to back stab and hurt anyone (family included) to make it to the top. Winter consistently puts herself in harmful situations involving drugs, the police, unsafe sex, and more. In fact, there was one night that I had to put the book down because Winter pissed me off that badly. I kept thinking that her life could have been so simple if she wasn't so stupid and actually listened to someone. HOWEVER, I checked myself. Winter is supposed to be unlikable. Her character is the epitome of the conversation that the Black community faces time and time again. What are we teaching our children to value? What cycles are we putting them through? Are they learning to help each other and to build each other up? Or are we giving them this false get rich quick scheme because we have to "get ours?"

One thing that you will notice is that Sister Souljah writes herself into the book. At first I thought that this would bother me; however, she becomes that voice of reason. She asks the very questions to Winter that she demands her readers to answer. What is your purpose? She asks young Black individuals to become more aware of how they move in society and that there are certain aspects of systemic racism that can be dismantled if we work together as a community. She tackles tough issues like drug use, drug dealing, the prison system, rape, homelessness, abandonment, generational cycles/curses, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, teen pregnancy. She covers it all in connection to the Black community. And it makes this book very difficult to read especially when Winter gives in to the very things that Sister Souljah is attempting to fight against. Of course, the huge question that most people ask is if Winter ever learns her lesson. And quite frankly, to this day I don't even know if I can answer that question.

What I do know is that this book is fast paced. It's an easy and quick read. The plot will have you wondering "what stupid decision is Winter going to make next?" I flew through it so quickly. I only gave it four stars because there were some plot holes that I couldn't exactly put together. Quite a few things happened to Winter's mom without true explanation. And quite a bit of those things didn't make sense. Overall, I enjoyed my second read of this book and I'm excited for the followup that is set to come out next year.

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Oh boy I completely devoured this book. It was so much better than I expected. It takes real life situations and makes them accessible to everyone. I didn't like Winter as a character but boyyy is her story like so many other young women who get caught up in an endless cycle of trying to keep up with a lifestyle that's not realistic especially when it's funded by drug money. I definitely will be checking out the next book in this series even though it's not necessarily a direct sequel.

[Zanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would be rating this book more highly if I hadn't read the explanatory notes at the back! It had me struggling to drop off at night as I couldn't wait to find out what Winter would do next to recover from the disintegration of her life as the over-indulged daughter of a very rich Brooklyn drug dealer. Despite being almost a caricature of materialism and self-interest, Winter is so inventive and sharp I found it impossible not to root for her through most of her exploits, though she hurt many people terribly along the way. The tale is transparently cautionary, but boldly told entirely from the viewpoint of the sinner.

Sinner is the right word: Souljah's position is one of religious morality, as became clearer in the endnotes. Knowing sanctimony wouldn't entice readers, she took a smarter tack. There is little overt moralising and certainly no misplaced institutional sympathy. This in the voice of Souljah herself, who appears as herself in the book:

Drugs is a government game… A way to rob us of our best black men, our army. Everyone who plays the game loses. Then they get you right back where we started, in slavery! Then they get to say "This time you did it to yourself."

Quite.

I did find it much too easy to forget that Winter is a rape victim: telling the story from her viewpoint meant that her hypersexualisation was naturalized somewhat. Sure, teenagers may have raging libidos and maybe I'm the one being sanctimonious, but… were all the sex scenes and descriptions of teenage black girls' bodies needed?

I was impressed with one scene in particular. Winter, at sixteen, is an expert self-stylist, clad in designer fashion, expensive accessories, and fancy feminine underwear, with 'good hair', well-kept hands and feet, no make up on her flawless skin (just lipstick). Her mother has taught her that 'beauty is a full time occupation'. I've heard feminists describe the standards of appearance women are expected to meet as 'the patriarchal fuckability test' (though discussions around this often lack recognition of the way black women are dehumanised and othered by the construction of femininity, female desirability and beauty standards) and when such a test literally happens in the book, it's a dramatic demonstration of how Winter's personal standards of self-presentation are maintained by white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.

I also thought that the book was making a nuanced critique of the way hypermasculinity for young black males is reinforced: not only do we see so many of them behaving in accordance with the stereotype, we also have Winter's voice defining male requirements and brutally, poignantly enforcing them where she has the power to. Her real crush is a different matter: Midnight is above the game, self-contained, disciplined, and apparently not interested in Winter, who firmly believes she is irresistable. Yet Midnight makes some severe, aridly misogynistic remarks, so I figured Souljah had in mind a mutually redemptive meeting of souls for them.

I was wrong though; in the endnotes Souljah reveals that Midnight is her ideal of masculinity and 'the heart of the novel'. There's a disturbing section after her notes written from his viewpoint in which he says 'homosexuality never existed in my country' which underlines a homophobic comment from Souljah within the novel, and another horribly erasing remark in the notes about black men being led astray from 'natural sexuality and gender'. I think my heart would be broken if I were a queer black man who'd enjoyed the book up to that point. He also says 'my father taught me women are 100% emotion' so their advice and opinions should be ignored. In short, some seriously indigestible matter at the end thoroughly spoiled the meal for me.

[Crumb · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fire that could not be extinguished from within..

Winter is the it girl from Brooklyn. She has it all. Clothes, Money, and Popularity. And then.. BOOM..it's ripped right out from under her.

This book was written like a memoir. Maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much. It felt real. There were deep, aching wounds that I felt, as if it were happening to myself. This book in it's nature explored the culture of street life in NY during the 1990s. There was discussion about the fashion, music, and celebrities of that era. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a work of fiction, not non-fiction.

I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I was initially put off by the protagonist, but as I kept turning the pages, my heart started to warm to her. Her struggles, experiences, and family shaped her into the person she was. I couldn't fault her for that. This was a heartbreaking tale that happens more often than we might assume. This isn't my usual 'go-to' book, but I'm super happy that I discovered it. I'm going to have to drift off course more often.. it's worth it when you find a diamond in the rough.

[3Fatima · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overrated that’s what I first thought when I finished reading the Coldest Winter Ever by sister souljah. I thought the book was a let down for all the people thinking they are going to read the greatest novel in urban literature. I could not stand the naive ness of the character’s Winter, Ricky Santiaga and her mother. I believe she made it seem like all black people from the hood didn’t know any better. It was a stupid idea for her to add her own self in the story. Sister Souljah was mentioned through out the whole book. Lastly, the only thing I liked about the book was the character midnight. He was the only smart one that made me want the story to be more about him.
“ That’s the shit that makes me want to kick my own as for letting this happen.” Winter’s father Ricky did not look out for his family when stuff got rough. His mistress on the side was living lavishly while his daughter was running wild, his other kids in foster care and his wife-smoking crack. Any man in there right mind would make sure home is taking care of first. He didn’t prepare the mom for a downfall, as if he thought it would never happen. Winter gave African American women a bad name. she thought she could just get by in life with her looks and sexual appeal. She didn’t attend school she made school a last priority and only attended to show off a new outfit. The mother who should have been the backbone of the family let everything fall apart just because her husband wasn’t in the picture anymore.
“ So what else did souljah say?” Through out the long dragging book Sister Souljah decided to add her own self into the story, that just upset me even more. She made her and midnight has a relationship, which I thought was stupid. Then she seemed very judgmental and wanted everything to go her way. She wanted to be this spoke person for women maybe that’s why she made the character winter seem so naïve to make her self seem better. I really didn’t like how she made every somewhat decent man in the book wanted her but she wouldn’t give him the time of the day, that just started to irritate me. She was so afro centric that it seem as though she thought everybody from America was bad, killing off there race.
“ Yo shorty-tough, two more days, that’s it. Then you’ll be back home. Try to sty cool, you know?” The way the character midnight acted made me like the story even more. I liked the way that he talked with such dominance and controlled things. He seemed like he kept to himself and kept his circle tight of close friends. He was the only one that made a change in his life. He was even man enough to take Ricky’s children adopt and take care of them. That made me like his character even more. The mystery he had with him was so intriguing that it made me want to actually get to know him.
Next time sister souljah decide to write a book I think she shouldn’t make her characters so dumb founded that loses the reader and makes them not want to finish the book. She does not need to add her self in a fictional book if she wants to tell her story then she should write a biography.

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I remember why this is my all time fav!

My opinion of Souljah dwindled after reading the three books that followed this in the series. (Two of the Midnight books and Porsche's book) I found her writing style to be all over the place and heavily laced with personal and sometimes offensive opinions. Re-reading this story made me fall in love with the characters and the author all over again.

What I love about this novel over the others is while the opinions are still there, it is not as blatant as in the Midnight books. With the ongoing popularity this story has generated over the past decade, I'm surprised it hasn't been picked up for the big screen yet.

[Lynecia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the ultimate "hood lit" novel, but Souljah does it with such style, not amateurism.

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oooo, Winter Santiaga is so mean! Yet, so likeable. She's a total Scarlett O'Hara character.

Also, way to drop some crazy metafiction in there, Sister Souljah! And feminism. This book is a classic in the making. It's probably the next A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

[Maritza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book because it was very real...not that I know anything about the ghetto, but it kept my interest because it was written from a real life perspective. I was always yelling at the main character in the book for being a complete idiot, but that's why I loved it too.

[Chandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book definitely moves along quickly and makes you wanna know what happens next. However, in order for me to like a book I either have to like the character or at least feel sympathy for the character. I neither liked nor felt sorry for Winter. She got everything she deserved and the end really didn’t state whether she really learned from her mistakes...and some of what happened to her — there was no reasoning behind it.

She got an abortion, so what? She didn’t learn anything. She got to live with Sista Souljah, so what? She didn’t learn anything. She found out what prison her father was in after all these years. So what, she never went to visit him, and didn’t see him until her mom’s funeral. She was reunite,d in a way, with Midnight, the man she truly loved. So what? They barely spoke at the funeral. And then all her friends ended up in jail...the end just seemed really abrupt and I didn’t understand what the whole point of her going through all that stuff was...

I’m used to the characters being more developed. Sista Soulja wrote the character of Winter in a very superficial manner. We never got to see what Winter was really thinking...we just saw her react. Or perhaps she didn’t think enough and that was her problem, but I can’t say.

[Quana (the black regina george) · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, let me just say this book was dope as hell. Sister Souljah snapped with this one. It had me feeling all kinds of ways—angry, sad, and even ready to square up with some of these characters.

☆☆☆☆ (4 stars)

Let’s talk about Winter Santiaga. Whew, chile, this girl is selfish on a level I didn’t even know was possible. The world could’ve been burning, and sis would’ve been worried about her designer clothes not catching fire. She made so many dumb decisions that I found myself yelling at the book like, “Girl, sit down somewhere and THINK for once!” She’s the type who will have you shaking your head because she never learns until it’s too late—and even then, it’s debatable.

Now, her mom? Whew, her mom had me mad, too. Like, ma’am, your man is locked up, your kids are struggling, and your big plan is… drugs? Really? You could’ve gotten a job, maybe cleaned up, and tried to get your kids back. Instead, you chose the pipe and left them to fend for themselves. Honestly, I hope she’s okay in the fictional universe because that spiral was tragic.

Speaking of the siblings, where are they now? I’m genuinely worried about them. Winter wasn’t exactly the “big sister of the year” type, and the way they got caught up in the fallout of their parents’ mess was heartbreaking. I hope they’re thriving, maybe with some therapy and good foster parents who actually care.

And then there’s Sister Souljah’s cameo in her own book. She really said, “Let me step in and sprinkle some wisdom on this hot mess.” I love how she’s just there as the voice of reason that Winter completely ignored. The contrast between them was wild—Sister Souljah was out here trying to inspire the youth, while Winter was plotting on how to get money for her next outfit.

Despite all the drama and the frustrating characters, this book was so good. The story pulled me in, made me feel like I was right there in Brooklyn, and kept me turning pages to see what kind of trouble Winter would get into next. Sister Souljah’s writing is raw and real, and even when the characters got on my nerves, I couldn’t stop reading.

If you haven’t read this book, what are you doing with your life? Just be prepared to yell at Winter every other chapter, side-eye her parents, and hope for the best for those poor siblings. But trust me, you’ll love every second of it.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like to read outside of my comfort zone. But this far out I probably needed a bathysphere. And now I got the bends.

Imagine you're reading On Cheshil Beach by Ian McEwan, and after the famous wedding night scene a friend of Florence told her that her and Edward should really go and see this highly recommended marriage guidance councellor, so they decide to give it a shot, and it turns out to be a guy called Ian McEwan, who is this lovely wise person who they instantly trust. And he dispenses his wisdom to them. And their lives are better. Then imagine Ian McEwan writes an 80 page commentary on his novel and includes it as an appendix, pointing out for less perspicacious readers who represents what and the moral inferences you should be – er – inferring as you read.

Would we be telling Ian McEwan that he had an ego the size of the Titanic and clearly just as fragile? And that he had zero trust in his readers? And that he'll never win the Booker Prize again? Yes, I think so.

So all of these things are true about The Coldest Winter Ever but as well as being true they're completely irrelevant. When Sister Souljah writes herself into her own novel as a character and then explains point by point what her novel means and what all the characters represent in the appendix at the back, your jaw drops and you realise you're not in Kansas anymore. (When I say Kansas, I don't mean literally Kansas, you see, I mean we're not having the usual novel-as-art reading experience. Did you understand that's what I meant? Good, let's hurry on then.)

So this book is Moll Flanders meets The Wire. Street-smart young hussy has to hustle like crazy when her entire family is taken into custody because her daddy is a drug baron, and she's left high & dry with no dough and nowhere to stay. Much hilarity ensues, life lessons are learned. And when Sister Souljah is around, boy, those lessons are LEARNED and there will be QUESTIONS AFTERWARDS.

I DIDN'T KNOW WHO SISTER SOULJAH WAS BUT NOW I DO


I did some googling and holy shit! Where have I been all this time? Don't I read the papers?

SS turns out to be an amazing and extremely formidable intellect who is not just a novelist but a major social activist, former hip hop artist (which is where the daft name came from, she's really Lisa Williamson), film producer, lecturer, and all round 24-hour opinionator about race relations in America, as for instance in the following well known quote

"I have never met a good white person."

In 1992 she was interviewed after the LA riots in April 1992 :

SS : Black people from the underclass and the so-called lower class do not respect the institutions of white America, which is why you can cart as many black people out on the television as you want to tell people in the lower and underclass that that was stupid, but they don't care what you say. You don't care about THEIR lives, haven't added anything to the quality of their lives, haven't affectuated anything for the quality of their lives, and then expect them to respond to your opinions which mean absolutely nothing? Why would they?

Q: But even the people themselves who were perpetrating that
violence, did they think it was wise? Was that wise, reasoned
action?

A: Yeah, it was wise. I mean, if black people kill black
people every day, why not have a week and kill white people? You
understand what I'm saying? In other words, white people, this
government, and that mayor were well aware of the fact that black
people were dying every day in Los Angeles under gang violence.
So if you're a gang member and you would normally be killing
somebody, why not kill a white person?

No surprise, this got her into so much trouble and I can imagine invitation lists were quickly examined and if her name was found on them a big bold line was drawn through it. Vilified by all and sundry, she made her one and only album, 360 Degrees of Power, later the same year, which contains this track – MTV banned it and I can kind of see why!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcWgPE...

And finally!

I found this one youtube clip of her in some towering rant, as usual, and you have to check it out. I don't think I've ever heard a public speaker so articulately reducing a room full of the great and the good to trembling awestruck silence. This woman is truly amazing.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-Dzei...

[Tanya Urban Fantasy Freak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book back in my early twenties, Like one reviewer states Winter is like Scarlett O'hara - a mean bitch but you can't help but to root for her! She's vain, spoiled, selfish and will do anything to make it - But I have to respect her survival skills.

Winter is the beautiful first born daughter of a drug kingpin in Brooklyn, She's treated like a ghetto princess. Of course you know what usually happens with drug kingpins - the father goes to jail and all their bank accounts & valuable property is seized. Winter's younger siblings are put in foster homes of course Winter is too foine, fiesty & fabulous to be put in foster care so she runs aways. The rest of the novel is basically Winter trying to hook up with Hood Royalty - aka rappers, drug dealers any brotha enough with money to float her extravagant lifestyle that she was accustomed to.

I had hoped she would see the error of her ways before she ended up in jail, but "C'est la vie" - That's Life. If you are fascinated by hood life and the fools that partake in it you should read this book.


p.s. As a geeky black woman with a middle class upbringing I never liked girls like Winter and they have never liked me either lol. I think she would have classified me as a 'stuck up college bitch' that is fat & boring like Sterling's cuckolded girlfriend Judy (or should I say Cuckquean? lol)

[Lydia Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone knows that one friend who should have seen their future coming. This is that story. Winter is a very bright girl that you want to save but just doesn't seem to understand or want to understand the destruction of her own making. Very well written and equally as captivating Sister Souljah has written a novel that forces you to turn the page. You won't get any sleep because you can't stop reading this book, that is how great it is.

[Shanae · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Updated review *
Now I remember why I started to explore books by Black authors. I tried to remember what made me enjoy reading so much and, after rereading The Coldest Winter Ever, now I've got it. I always enjoyed reading but there was a time when books seemed to come alive for me and it is marked by Sister Souljah's first novel. I grew up in the suburbs and know nothing of life in New York, the drug game, etc. But I've always felt The Coldest Winter Ever. I learned the importance of connecting with my Black brothers and sisters; I learned that unity and selflessness are essential to my progress, they're what make me useful to the Black community; and I learned that my life is in my hands - I can choose to be Winter or Sister Souljah - a product of my environment or one who changes my environment for the better. I'm not sure Sister Souljah meant for The Coldest Winter to be such a dynamic literary work, as I know it has impacted the lives of MANY young Black men and women who felt shut out of literature. I appreciate her writing. I read a lot of urban lit and I truly believe that every urban lit writer has tried to recreate Winter's character, yet none have come close. While I haven't been so enthused by her Midnight series, it, too, served a significant literary purpose and her work continues to grow, touching the lives of young Blacks. I still encourage everyone to read The Coldest Winter Ever and be changed, have your mind opened and receive a true account of the calculated post slavery denigration of the Black male and the destruction of the Black family with the drug trade. Sister Souljah's The Coldest Winter Ever is insightful, educational and entertaining.

*Initial review *
An amazing literary work...while the novel is set in an urbane environment, I think everyone has much to learn from the characters in this novel.

[BookOfCinz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think if I had read this book back when I was a teenager I would feel differently but reading this book as an “adult” I just cannot relate. I know, I know, you are probably judging me because I didn’t read this book when it initially came out, but over 10 years later I did get a chance to and I see why there is such a big hype when it was release and why people felt so strongly about it. I do think if they re-read the book now, their feelings may change.

The Coldest Winter Ever is fast paced, filled with drama (a whole lot) and is told from the very fierce perspective of the main character, Winter. There is A LOT happening in this book- A LOT. Some of them don’t make sense, and others just did not pan out and the author did not address it. Winter grew up in Brooklyn with her mother, father and sisters. Her father is a drug dealer who got busted and things went down in fast for her and her family.

Also, how WEIRD is it that the author included herself in her own book… can we talk about that please? No seriously, I have read A LOT of books in my life and I cannot ever remember the author writing about herself, in her own book… I do not have the words…

Overall, it was a wild read and I think I need to be a teen again to actually “appreciate” this book. With that said… I do want to read what comes next… I feel a bit invested…

Seriously though… why did the author put herself in her own book? I need answers.

[Tyla Rodriguez · Rating 1 out of 5]

One word: OVERRATED. I expected something with twists and a great plot. At least for the character to learn something from all that she went through, and believe me, it was a bunch of dumb, unnecessary BS. Almost as if the author just needed filler material for her "novel". The writing was weak and don't even get me started on the grammatical errors.

Winter Santiaga, the books protagonist, is EXTREMELY unlikable. She's materialistic and self consumed. To really get into a book, I have to like the characters or feel pity for them. I didn't like anyone from this book, which made it hard to push through. I didn't even like Sister Souljah and found her character to be really pointless because she did not contribute anything to the story. It's not like Winter learned anything from her, which is what you would expect. She was just another part of the book that could have easily been excluded. In a word, this book was terrible. Terrible writing, character development, dialogue, just terrible. I'm just glad to be done with it.

[Myesha-Tiara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite Quote: "Momma didn't work 'cause beauty, she said, was a full time occupation that left no room for anything else...She made it clear to me that beautiful women are supposed to be taken care of. She would whisper in my ear "I'm just a bad bitch!""~Winter

I read this book years ago when I was in college and it still stands the test of times. Winter's family is heavy into the drug game, her father is the king pen and her mother had her at 14 years old. Setting up for a story about the cycle of generational curses and a young girl trying to find her way in the world she thought she knew.

Her father is the first love of her life and he makes sure no one crosses her, him or his family but that doesn't stop Winter from having fun with "worthless n*ggas" as she calls them. However the man she truly wants, Midnight, who is five years her senior, mind you she is 13, doesn't even look her way. He works for her father and focuses on his job alone.

Winter's life does a 180 when her father, Santiaga, moves the family from Brooklyn to Long Island. The community she felt in Brooklyn is no where to be found in Long Island. Throughout the book you realize even more so that Winter is just a child in a big big world that she doesn't understand. As well as how corruption mixed with the drug market and the police force can push a never ending cycle of despair into the black and brown communities through the eyes of a child.

Reading this book back again makes me also realize that in general Winter is not a good person, she double crosses everyon who genuinely wants to help her and unfortunately her parents taught her how to do that. We could chalk it up to her being young however it is more than that. Her father taught her to trust no one but himself and her mother and throughout the book she shows how loyal to this advice she can be.

Overall a definite MUST READ.

[Brittni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winter? Stupid as hell, pissed me off. The book? A chaotic mess. Entertaining? Yes.

TWs ⚠️: underage sex, SA, rape, rape of a child, murder, drugs, violence, abuse, misogyny, abortion

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading the Coldest Winter Ever and to my amazement I was displeased with the ending but I understand the message clearly. I can not get the sting of how she captured the essence of how clothes, hair, jewelry, houses, and cars are just materialistic dust. Winter is the prime example of everything I've seen and have promised myself never to become. That means working long hours and spending way too much time angry over a B I might receive for a paper. I want better for my child and unlike the characters in this book I will give her more the RIGHT WAY. It is waaayyyyy to easy to open my legs for what I want to some high roller who probably has AIDS or isn't worth the space he's taking up. The hard part is resisting the easy way out and keep striving even when you feel like giving up. This book was definitely not what I expected! It puts a pain that you can't erase in your gut. It's sad that the world has to be such a cold, superficial, and cut throat place. BUT that's the way it is, you can be on top today but if the foundation your standing on isn't built on solid ground you can sink in the very place you started to build. ~I will continue to build a solid foundation even if it takes me a while to find the soil and even harder to finally carry the building tools~

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5. This was a much better book when I hadn't hardly read any books

[snowgray · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hated this book. It was "compelling" in the sense that I felt a compulsion to read it, because I had to know what was going to happen. But the main character was a jerk. Throughout the whole book, she made incredibly stupid choices. She was proud of her drug-dealing father. She turned on her mother and sisters once they lost their house to seizure by the FBI. She blew all of her money, lied, cheated, stole, etc. She was just... a jerk.

The author argues, in her "Reader's Guide" at the end, that Winter is realistic based on women in jail, and I do believe that's true. But I'm assuming that she wrote the book to offer Winter as a negative example. And if you have a few braincells to rub together, she is. But I can imagine a lot of high school students getting to the end of the book (when Winter FINALLY sees some consequences) and reacting as if Winter's arrest is something she could have avoided, as if she'd chosen a *mostly* fabulous lifestyle, but then made a mistake. Of course, if a reader doesn't make it to the end, Winter's life doesn't even look bad, to a shallow person: she has fresh, expensive clothes, and looks attractive; she is held in high esteem by many people; she manages to make money even while she's in a teenage group home, mostly by selling stolen goods. I think that's my real problem with the book: the author doesn't make it obvious enough that Winter is dumb, because Winter is the narrator. The tone is off somehow.

Plus, who wants to read 430 pages about a dumb person?

[Mo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this book down, no matter what was going on around me. This world was far from my world, yet it was so real. How long does it take to learn a lesson?

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this years ago (it is THE book that made me want to be a writer) and loved it. Reading it again with my Teens Book Club.

[Tricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unimpressive. Stereotypical. Unimaginative. It's sad she wrote a sequel to this...

[Nikita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me 65 pg to get in to it.... But so worth it!!

[Sidik Fofana · Rating 4 out of 5]

(six word review #3) if literary street fiction exists, this is...