The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah

It was an excellent book! I thoroughly enjoyed the in depth look into the life of a self proclaimed princess of the streets. One thing that kept popping into my mind as I read about all of the materialism and judgements made by the main character was, "Is that how they really think? No wonder I was made fun of for most of my middle school and high school years!"

For a long time I didn't care about labels, or even style in general. Little did I know that made me a huge target for bullying. And it was always black girls from the ghetto or rough parts of town. Clearly if you don't give a damn about the same things that they care about, something must be wrong with you. I know it's not true for everyone, but the book really opened my eyes to some things in my past.

But I digress. There were moments in the book that reminded me of American Gangster, the movie starring Denzel Washington. But overall it was a whole new world for me, a sister, who has spent most of her life in the suburbs.

There is a part 2 that my sister is reading - called Midnight!

Also- if you liked her fiction read her real life story....No Disrespect!

I started reading and did not finish it. Did her and nidnight ever hook up?

I dont know- I will have to ask my sister. i dont think they do! Just from the pics in the book!

I do know that her true life story-No Disrespect is really good!

Reading Midnight is on my to read list as well! I found him much more interesting than the main character Winter. So I can't wait to read more about him.

Will and Jada's Overbrooke Ent. has owned the rights to the movie The Coldest Winter Ever since the late 90's. Jada and Sista Soulja have been friends forever and i believe she signed the rights over to them because she didn't trust anyone else to bring the book to film. From what i remember Jada was suppose to play Winter (the older Jada gets the least likely that will be but i digress) When I found out my freshmen year of high school about the book being turned into a screen play i ran out and got the book so i would have read it before the movie started production. . .i was a freshmen during the '99-'00 school year. Its 10 yrs later and there hasn't been talk of a movie since. I hope they do something with the movie eventually. . .it would be a shame if they don't

No, Midnight isn't a sequal to Winter. Its a completely different story. It isn't even a prelude from what I can tell from reading Winter, ready the summary of the book and from what a friend said. Actually, she stopped reading Midnight because she said it was so boring.

I loved Winter and everyone who I know who read it. Its been a disappointment that it never went to film.

And Crissy...I could never give that away ha ha haha

I thought Midnight was pretty good. It gives a look into his attitude in Winter. Midnight ends when he is about 15, but the sequal is due for release in November.

Yes Midnight was so boring but I did finish reading it. I think I kept reading just see if it would get any better. Now Coldest Winter Ever is one of those I read in one day. That was back in high school, the early 2000's. I have bought 2 copies since because people borrow and never return, ugh I don't like when that happens.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a page turner. I also was interested in the cultural dynamics associated with the "street mentality" displayed in the book which emphasizes a placement of value on material things. Having grown up in the suburbs myself, I too found that aspect of the book to be interesting and wondered if it accurately depicted the way young girls in that environment think and perceive the world.

I worked with teenage girls in a socio-economically deprived neighborhood in the Washington DC are and found that to be true of most of them. I wanted to start a book club and read the book and discuss it together but never got an opportunity to. I would have been interested to hear them discuss how they found parallels in their lives with that of the main character in the book. And I would have loved to find a non-judgemental and non-preachy way to demonstrate that many of the choices that she made were not ideal. I really regret not having done that.