Week-14 African American - Mugg

Author:                                                    Sister Souljah

Title:                                                        The Coldest Winter Ever

Genre:                                                     Urban Fiction

Publication Date:                                      1999

Number of Pages:                                    544

Geographical Setting:                               Brooklyn Ghetto

Time Period:                                            Contemporary

Series (If applicable):                               One of a series of Three

Subject Headings:

Plot Summary:

I came busting into the world during one of New York's worst snowstorms, so my mother named me Winter. And with this we start our journey learning about Winter Santiaga. 

This is a story of the inner city, women boosting, men selling drugs, women getting by on looks and schemes.  We  have characters with names like Porsche, Lexus, Mercedes (Winter’s sisters) and Midnight and Santiaga.  This world is gritty, filled with the lingo of the 1990’s and characters that follow the genre line set by Donald Goines so many years before in his novels. 

Sister Souljah takes us from the richness of the suburbs to foster homes, from alleyways to drug dens and beauty shops.  There is a lot of teenage angst mixed with the lust for clothes and “bling.”  What took away from the novel, for me, was Sister Souljah inserting herself as a moral character, a sort of ghetto angel with wisdom and nurture to give to the “hood.” 

Appeal: The book is gritty, filled with urban lingo and has some unexpected additions and the gangster lifestyle and drug life.  

3 terms that best describe this book:   graphic, sexist, drug life 

Similar Authors and Works (why are they similar?):

 Push by Sapphire – Reason:  This book is gritty, and shares: the genre 'Urban fiction' and the subject 'Street life' and is about teenagers also.

 

 Confessions of a wild child by Jackie Collins - Reason:  Defiant crime family daughter grows up tough in both fast-paced, high-drama reads, stubborn teen heroines with expensive tastes, with varying degrees of success. 

 

Dirty to the grave by Karen Williams - Reason:   - Gritty and dark urban fiction with young adults struggling to determine how to escape, or live with, their surroundings. 

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors -
Terry McMillan's characters are intelligent, attractive, successful people, primarily women, who are dealing with life's everyday problems at work and home. 

Nella Larsen, a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, wrote affecting stories of the fate of women who suffered because of their race and their sex.  

 Donald Goines' books are fast-paced, with lots of colloquial dialogue and free-wheeling action. The tension never lets up, and graphic violence is omnipresent, as well as a good deal of sex, profanity and drug use.

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania  by Erik Larson – Erick Larson tells a thrilling tale of a sea attack.

Moody Bitches: The Truth About the Drugs You're Taking, The Sleep You're Missing, The Sex You're Not Having, and What's Really Making You Crazy by Julie Holland

Cranky Ladies of History by Tehani Wessel

Sources of Information for Read A-Likes

NoveList – (IMCPL.org)

Goodreads.com Non-Fiction genre