Reading Response: The Coldest Winter Ever

The name of my book is called The Coldest Winter Ever. I first got interested in this book by reading a book from this same author. The author, Sister Souljah’s style is so raw, real, and honest. I enjoy reading a book about a life I do not live, so once I read the summary, I knew this was the book for me.

Sister Souljah’s style is like no other that I have read. As I read this book I can see a movie playing in my head.  I feel like a by stander in Winter’s world. Before being an author, Sister Souljah was a hip-hop artist and political activist. She grew up in the underclass urban areas in New York and knows how Winter feels. I think Winter is actually a part or side of Sister Souljah. She tells the truth and nothing but the truth. This is not a book that would be accepted into a public school library, but is still worth reading. She is the number one author of the hip-hop generation and is respected for that. Most like to read stories that sugar coat things, but not me and that’s why I love reading Sister Souljah’s novels.

The Coldest Winter Ever is Sister Souljah’s first novel. The main characters name is Winter. She is a young girl that was born and raised in Brooklyn. She is the daughter of a prominent drug dealing family. Sister Souljah describes her as “quick-witted, sexy, and business minded.” Life for Winter has always been easy, but when things started to go wrong, she is left in this world all alone to try to fend for herself. This book is about her struggle to get back to the top and re-gain her spot at the top. There are times where I wish I could speak to her. It’s like she feels the world is against her and she has to be ruthless all the time. Maybe in her world and lifestyle she does, but there are other ways of life not taught to her by her family because of the lifestyle they chose to live and follow.

Reading Response: The Coldest Winter Ever

While reading The Coldest Winter Ever, I learned a lot about what it meant to be a strong black woman or even a woman in general. I also learned what I should expect out of a man and how I should be treated. To me, Sister Souljah’s words are so strong. Everything she says has power to it. She is very aware of the community around her and is very involved in trying to better the conditions of the ghettos in New York where she came from.

            I read a passage in the book where she is asking the girls in her weekly woman group what they believe in. What Sister Souljah had to say stuck out to me because in class we were writing essays on what we believe in. Each week Souljah has women empowerment meetings held at her home. The girls are from the inner city of Brooklyn and are introducing themselves and sharing what they believe in. Souljah asks the girls to be as honest as possible. Majority of them didn’t know what they believed in. Souljah then says to the girls, “Knowing what you believe lays a foundation for your life. Then you can have principles and ideas that you follow. Things that you are unwilling to compromise. If you’re deciding what you believe everyday and everyday you believe something else, you have nothing to look forward to but chaos.” Her statement is so true. How would you know what to do in any situation if from the beginning you didn’t have any rules and regulations for yourself? She does not tell the group of girls what to believe in, but help the girls get to the core of why they do the things they do.