Life After Death by Sister Souljah

Let me just start with sis, what in the entire hell was this? Also, I'm about to drop spoilers so if you don't want to know why I gave this such a low rating, go ahead and click out, scroll past, do what you have to do.

When I read The Coldest Winter Ever back in 99, it was unlike anything I'd ever read, and I've always read a lot. Up until then, there wasn't a wide variety of street/urban lit. Donald Goines was one of the originators of the genre, but his books were most popular in the early 70s and were mostly out of print by then, as were Iceberg Slim's books. So Sister Souljah, she who inspired some and was a controversial figure for others in the 90s (revisit the role she played in Bill Clinton's 92 presidential campaign), was a fresh, new voice in the realm of urban lit.

I was 28 when I read CWE and it wasn't the amazing read others said it was, in my humble opinion, but like I said, it was a different voice. I read Midnight, based on a character from CWE, years later and was also unimpressed. So why would I read Life After Death given how underwhelmed I was by her previous work? Growth. I thought that surely 22 years later, the author would recognize that even readers who were teens when CWE first came out were grown now. Like grown, grown. Unfortunately, it appears neither the author, her characters nor her writing have grown.

Winter Santiaga is still the unlikeable, delusional chick she was in CWE. For the life of me, I can't figure out how your only claim to fame is that your father was once a big time drug dealer in the 90s and you think that should earn you respect well into your 30s? The book opens with her in jail, serving a 15 year bid because, as you'll remember from the end of CWE, she got sentenced for being in Bullet's car which was full of drugs and guns and had been rented with her credit card. She's just about to get released and has secured a reality TV show gig that will center on her release from jail, along with a few of her recently released jail crew. Girl, what? In what world would anyone care about watching that based on her? She was someone with no claim to fame other than who her father was and people are supposed to be interested 15 years later when she gets out of jail? I guess this was supposed to be like Mob Wives, right? Dealer Daughters?

Anyway, Winter makes these ridiculous requests for her reality show, including her father's release from prison where he's serving a life sentence, designer clothes with a matching white mink (I guess she's the Lisa Raye of the prison set), a red carpet from the door of the prison to a new Bentley, etc. Completely ridiculous foolishness. As she exits the jail, she's shot and this is where things go left (just in case you didn't think they'd already gone left). She "wakes" up in what seems like purgatory. First she visits her jail crew and finds out one of them shot her - same chick who held a grudge for 15 years and slashed her face in CWE. Then she visits an over the top palatial estate where she sees Midnight with one of his wives (don't ask) and instead of pondering her death, she's trying to figure out how she can have sex with him. Like, sis, don't you have more important things to worry about?

Then it really gets gets, and by good I mean even more ridiculous, she becomes the son of Satan's sidechick. Y'all. Y'ALL! She's joyriding through hell and is completely unfazed. Like on some, "he's got a nice ride and sexes me up well, what more could a girl ask for?" At some point her turns her into a snake and then a dog and then I quit, because life is short and who has time for bullshit?

I don't know how this got greenlit. What editor read this and was like this is it?!?! Did they think this would get by based on her name alone? Yes, I'm betting they did. This was some hot garbage full of a materialistic character who has learned absolutely nothing in her 33 years on earth and then takes her astounding ignorance on a roadshow through hell. I quit about 35% in because I couldn't imagine it getting any better and didn't want to see how much worse it could get. I know the bookstagram kids were really excited about this one, but nah, fam. Save your coins and your time.

Disclaimer: A copy of this book was received from the publisher.

New Books Coming Your Way, November 2015

The 'Colored Hero' of Harper's Ferry: John Anthony Copeland and the War against Slavery by Steven Lubet
282 p., (non-fiction)
Publication date: Nov. 1, 2015

On the night of Sunday, October 16, 1859, hoping to bring about the eventual end of slavery, radical abolitionist John Brown launched an armed attack at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Among his troops, there were only five black men, who have largely been treated as little more than 'spear carriers' by Brown's many biographers and other historians of the antebellum era. This book brings one such man, John Anthony Copeland, directly to center stage. Copeland played a leading role in the momentous Oberlin slave rescue, and he successfully escorted a fugitive to Canada, making him an ideal recruit for Brown's invasion of Virginia. He fought bravely at Harpers Ferry, only to be captured and charged with murder and treason. With his trademark lively prose and compelling narrative style, Steven Lubet paints a vivid portrait of this young black man who gave his life for freedom.

In His Own Words: Houston Hartsfield Holloway’s Slavery, Emancipation, and Ministry in Georgia by Houston Hartsfield Holloway
320 p. (non-fiction)
Publication date: Nov. 2, 2015

Houston Hartsfield Holloway (1844-1917) was born enslaved in upcountry Georgia, taught himself to read and write, learned the blacksmith trade, was emancipated by Union victory in 1865, and served as an ordained traveling preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church from 1870 to 1883. He devoted the remainder of his life to his family, his blacksmith trade, and his local church. Holloway's 24,000-word autobiography offers a rare working-class perspective on life during some of the most transformative years of US history.

An Introduction to Womanist Biblical Interpretation by Nyasha Junior
176 p. (non-fiction)
Publication date: Nov. 3, 2015

An Introduction to Womanist Biblical Interpretation provides a much-needed introduction to womanist approaches to biblical interpretation. It argues that womanist biblical interpretation is not simply a byproduct of feminist biblical interpretation but part of a distinctive tradition of African American women's engagement with biblical texts. While womanist biblical interpretation is relatively new in the development of academic biblical studies, African American women are not newcomers to biblical interpretation.

A Moment of Silence: Midnight III by Sister Souljah
544 p. (fiction)
Publication date: Nov. 10, 2015

Handsome, young, Muslim, and married to two women living in one house along with his mother, Umma, and sister, Naja: can Midnight manage? He is surrounded by Americans who don't share or understand his faith or culture, and adults who are offended by his maturity, intelligence, or his natural ability to make his hard work turn into real money. He is calm, confident, and cool, Ninja-trained and powerful, but one moment of rage throws this Brooklyn youth into a dark world of dirty police, gangs, guns, drugs, prisons, and prisoners. Everything he ever believed, every dollar he ever earned, and all of the women he ever loved—including his mother—are at risk.

Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes
336 p. (non-fiction)
Publication date: Nov. 10, 2015

She’s the creator and producer of some of the most groundbreaking and audacious shows on television today: Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder. Her iconic characters—Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Olivia Pope, Annalise Keating—live boldly and speak their minds. So who would suspect that Shonda Rhimes, the mega talent who owns Thursday night television (#TGIT), is an introvert? That she hired a publicist so she could avoid public appearances? That she hugged walls at splashy parties and suffered panic attacks before media interviews so severe she remembered nothing afterward?

Before her Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes was an expert at declining invitations others would leap to accept. With three children at home and three hit television shows on TV, it was easy to say that she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. Afraid of cocktail party faux pas like chucking a chicken bone across a room; petrified of live television appearances where Shonda Rhimes could trip and fall and bleed out right there in front of a live studio audience; terrified of the difficult conversations that came so easily to her characters on-screen. In the before, Shonda’s introvert life revolved around burying herself in work, snuggling her children, and comforting herself with food.

And then, on Thanksgiving 2013, Shonda’s sister muttered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms: You never say yes to anything.

The comment sat like a grenade, until it detonated. Then Shonda, the youngest of six children from a supremely competitive family, knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her.

This wildly candid and compulsively readable book reveals how the mega talented Shonda Rhimes, an unexpected introvert, achieved badassery worthy of a Shondaland character. And how you can, too.

Frantz Fanon: Toward a Revolutionary Humanism by Christopher J. Lee
264 p. (non-fiction)
Publication date: Nov. 15, 2015

Psychiatrist, philosopher, and revolutionary, Frantz Fanon is one of the most important intellectuals of the twentieth century. He presented powerful critiques of racism, colonialism, and nationalism in his classic books, Black Skin, White Masks (1952) and The Wretched of the Earth (1961). This biography reintroduces Fanon for a new generation of readers, revisiting these enduring themes while also arguing for those less appreciated—namely, his anti-Manichean sensibility and his personal ethic of radical empathy, both of which underpinned his utopian vision of a new humanism. Written with clarity and passion, Christopher J. Lee’s account ultimately argues for the pragmatic idealism of Frantz Fanon and his continued importance today.

The Emperor of Sound: A Memoir by Timbaland
240 p. (non-fiction)
Publication date: Nov. 17, 2015

In The Emperor of Sound, Timbaland offers fans an unprecedented look into his life and work, taking them backstage with 50 Cent and live on-stage with Justin Timberlake. Completely uncensored and totally honest, he reveals the magic behind the music, sharing the various creative impulses that arise while he’s producing, and the layering of sounds that have created dozens of number one hits. Cinematically written, full of revealing anecdotes and reflections from today’s most popular music icons, The Emperor of Sound showcases this master’s artistry and offers an extraordinary glimpse inside this great musical mind.

A Bad Character by Deepti Kapoor
256 p. (fiction)
Publication date: Nov. 24, 2015 (paperback)

Our narrator is ’twenty and untouched’ when her mother dies. Sent by her absentee father to live with a relative in a modest Delhi apartment, she is ill-equipped to resist the allure of the rich and rebellious young man from a different social class who approaches her one day at a cafe. As they drive around Delhi—eating, making love, falling apart—he introduces her to a gritty, thrilling India that she never knew existed…and will never be able to forget. A Bad Character is an astounding book, an intimate and raw exploration of female transformation in contemporary India.

#BookReview: Midnight - Sister Souljah

If you pick this book up thinking you're getting the sequel to the highly acclaimed "The Coldest Winter Ever", you'll be disappointed to know this book is not a sequel. That begs the question, why isn't it? I'm one of those people that will struggle through a book for days even if it's poorly written, poorly edited and the storyline is non-existent.

Midnight is the story of a young Islamic boy that immigrates to America from Africa with his mother. In the 5 years before he leaves Africa, he is taught many lessons by his father and uses all he has learned to protect his mother in America. While his mother only speaks Arabic, he was taught English and is able to translate for her. As such, he becomes the voice for her when dealing with landlords, clients, etc. He struggles to stay true to his Islamic beliefs while living in Brooklyn and dating, and eventually marrying, a Japanese artist, all at the age of 14. The end of the book finds the 14 year old boarding a plane to Japan to reclaim the hand of his 16 year old bride who has been spirited back to Japan by her father.

I smell a sequel and to this I still say, WHY? We couldn't get a sequel to "The Coldest Winter Ever", a book that truly deserved a sequel, but you're going to give us one to this?