We have waited years for Sister Souljah to give us the sequel to her hood masterpiece, The Coldest Winter Ever, but does the sequel live up to the hype?
It seems that all Black girls experienced the joy of reading The Coldest Winter Ever during high school and sharing a tattered copy with other friends. Everyone loved Winter Santiaga. She was the fly girl that had it all! Nearly twenty years later, readers are finally getting the sequel to Winter’s story with Life After Death.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Winter Santiaga is killed after a 15-year prison bid. Throughout the entire book, readers are experiencing life after Winter’s death. A bizarre concept that could have been dope if it had been done right. Unfortunately, Sister Souljah did not do it right. Finishing this book was so difficult. I had to see it through.
My Review
Before her release, Winter was negotiating a reality TV show contract to show her life after prison. This was so on-brand for the type of character I envisioned for Winter. I thought that was a good touch to bring the character into more modern times. However, she is killed immediately upon her release.
For most of the book, Winter is navigating the tensions of heaven and hell. There’s also the looming conversation of whether or not religion is real. There’s a lot of strange experiences throughout the book. I lost interest when she was a dog having sex with Satan. When I tell you things were weird, they were weird! For whatever reason, anal sex is the preferred option on your way to hell. Another reason unknown, is that when you have sex with these spawns you turn into an animal. Things were extremely weird. The entire time that I was reading this book, I was unsure of what the hell was going on.
It was not until nearly the end of the book where we learn that Winter was just in a coma after fighting for her life. I had a feeling that Sister Souljah was going to do something of the sort when I started this book because of how sudden her death was. However, all the mess in between didn’t even make it worth it.
It seems as though Sister Souljah is trying to push the narrative that you have to be honest with yourself in order to make it to heaven. I completely understand this point but how it’s delivered is extremely questionable.
This book could have been a few hundred pages shorter. It dragged on for way too long. Second, after learning that Sister Souljah is 57-years-old, I was in shock that her writing hasn’t matured over the years. I was 13 reading The Coldest Winter Ever. At 30, I was just expecting more. I can see what she was trying to accomplish with this but the execution just was not there. I hope she doesn’t receive too harsh criticism for this book, but it just is not what I was hoping for.
Life After Death is set to be released March 2nd at all major retailers.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster for an advanced copy. Check out what other books I’ve read here.
