Sister Souljah Message Board
Jaz posts on 8/3/2009 3:50:18 AM
I just finished the book Midnight. I read CWE a long while back but thanks to Wikipedia and reading some of the posts I got a nice refresher. Although I am dissapointed in how the story ended and how the heck did he go from getting his family out of Brooklyn to working for old dude in CWE, it did give me an understanding of the Muslim religion and why he was so stand offish to Winter. Yea there were some condradictions with him murdering two dudes but he couldn't bring himself to sleep with the girls that threw themselves at him. But I also understand that he has a lot of conflictions with him being a 14 year old boy having to deal with his beliefs and living in America. I see that alot of yall are upset at how mainly african american girls are portrayed in the story I too feel that there should have been many sides of american girls that Midnight should have been exposed to. Not every girl wants to sleep with every guy she meets, there are trashy white girls, hispanic girls, etc too; some of u have forgotten how the Susanese girls was coming on to him too. Although I think she could have had a girl in the book to set him straight and make him realize that those girls that do act like that are just a product of thier environment, it's not thier fault they were born in the US, if they were brought up in the same up bringing as he was there wouldn't be a problem. But I will not not fault him for his views, they are just that HIS views. And besides IT'S JUST A BOOK!!! Alot of yall need grasp the concept of stepping in someone elses shoes and seeing thier point of view and that is exactly what SS did with Midnight's story, if u don't like it OH WELL, maybe u should tell your own story. I'm pretty sure that however you view something is not the same way someone else views it. All in all I would love to read the sequel to this story, atleast I hope it will be the sequel, and maybe some of her tracks that some people have ever so politely pointed out will be covered up ;-)
OCO posts on 7/27/2009 6:31:01 PM
to agree to someone beneath me that posted back in the month of may sometime, i too find it funny yet with no irony that those praising the story line and character pull of CWE look down upon the plot and character views of Midnight. Sister Souljah wrote an awesome off the wall, completely compelling book that was sooo hard to put down and so easy to reread time and again with CWE. there is certainly no doubt in that, but i think ppl are being overly harsh for this reason, when it comes to the slower paced completely opposite perpectived story of Midnight.
yes, it is questionable if some of the events match up with the time periods, or if all of these things could be done by a 14 yr old boy, but that is the allure of the plot in one way, this boy is from a different land and raised with different surroundings and given different responsibilities than the average 14 yr old around your way.
i read a review in which a woman said she would not let her daughters read the novel because SS spends her paragraphs belittling black american women with such hate, but i believe that she very carefully played devils advocate with this story. she has challenged the black community to take a look at themselves from the eyes of the foreigner, african european or whatever, and to reconsider some of the behavior that is not 100% false in the way we are represented at times. the same behavior or similar was portrayed in CWE but made glamorous and celebrated, and there were half as many complaints. I feel that if you live a much more conservate life or have a quality in ur everyday style you should find no offense, because like it does not to me, this view does not pertain to you. Just b/c it does not pertain to you does not mean it is not out there for the foreign eye to see and believe as true.
also, i suggest this book to couples and families as a whole. i encouraged my boyfriend to give this book a try altho he does not regularly indulge in books, and so we read this book together. It created a new sense of love and admiration between us because there are alot of values and strongpoints mentioned where love comes into play. It gives you many things to think and talk about on the subject of loyalty and value in a relationship. no matter the religion, i think that everyone who holds someone dear and respects or cherishes another (even themselves) with the highest esteem can take something from this book.
Stop seeking surface material from what youve read, letting only that be it and then putting the book down. when you look for the simple things to jump at you, you'll b mad because simple is all it will seem to you. Dig deeper, you will definitely find deeper meaning. and this is coming from someone who has certainly read the book two times before it appealed to me. the first time i read it i immediately passed it on to a friend and cared nothin more about it feeling that it was a huge let down. If u cant relate, then it may not be of interest....
...mayb thats why the vast majority of her fans were so put on by CWE...
...and that may be something to reconsider about ones self.
blaziin169@yahoo.com feel free to add or disagree. i loved this book. and personally meeting SS, she is an amazing thought provoking woman. Dont sleep on that.
LUVS2READ posts on 7/21/2009 1:17:04 AM
I totally AGREE with everything JayBird stated!!! You said everything i wanted to say. I am very disappointed in this book so far. So unrealistic and superficial for a 14 yr old boy to do such things. The time periods were way OFF! I stopped reading the book after Midnight met Akemi's folks. I lost interest, it just did not move me!! I never thought Midnight was a sequel to the Coldest Winter Ever, not with the way that book ended. But Sister Souljah always has an IMPORTANT messgae in each of her books. So i give her credit on that.
Jaybird posts on 7/14/2009 8:42:47 AM
I read Coldest Winter Ever twice. I truly enjoyed and looked forward to the movie version as other readers have stated. I bought Midnight on the strength of Coldest, and I felt that SS used that book to pump the readers up in the hope that we would believe that this book was some type of sequel. Well, we all know now that it is not, and does not have anything to do with Coldest. I had no problem learning about the Sudenese lifestyle, however, I found it a bit unrealistic that a boy of 7 through 14 would be capable of doing the things that Midnight did. Then to add insult to injury he fell in love with a woman that could barely communicate with. The time lines in the book don't add up either, as well as the style of clothing he and Akemi wore at times. I was around in the 70's and 80's, and happened to grow up in the Bronx, NY and some of the clothing she refers to in the book was definitely not in style or around during some of the time periods that she references. May seem like a little thing, but a writer has to be cognizant of those things. I, too, believe that Midnight was a bit harsh on Black American women. Most of us are a product of our environment and given the chance and the opportunity we would all like to do and act better. If he gave Bangs a chance and helped her to see a better way, she could have turned out to be a totally different person. He thinks about bedding her, but wouldn't dream of making her a wife. He judges her and doesn't really know her, and when he does find out certain things about her, he feels sorry for her, but condemns her at the same time. But, I will give it to SS, she is quite knowledgeable on the subject and is accurate. Unfortunately, Muslim men will never marry a Black American woman and they do view us as being beneath them. It's funny...what makes Akemi so much better? The only difference between Akemi and Bangs was the fact that Bangs wasn't a virgin, and Akemi was quite ready to give that up far earlier than Midnight was. It is my hope that the sequel be more realistic and that she stops making a 14 year old boy superman. And, she needs to expound on their father. Because it certainly appears as if he abandoned his family. You never heard of any letters, phone calls, or transmitalls of any money to the family that he supposedly treasured so much. Hmmmmm...just doesn't add up. I was suprised at all of this considering that Coldest was written so well. But no one is perfect, and overall I truly am a Sistah Souljah fan. I know she has it in her to write many great books that we will all enjoy!
kathy love posts on 7/10/2009 12:23:15 PM
i loved cwe and i could not put it down. i just finished reading midnight and i appreciate the education of different cultures and religions that was very good. That alone i encouraged my daughter to read it because she has a child by a muslim and this will show her what a real musilm and man is.It will also give confirmation to her about what i have been trying to tell her all along.However i think he could have done a lot more for bangs do to her circumstances. he could have put a twist on her life that would have had a very good outcome on her young confused life.A new book should be on its way out now to let us know what happened to bangs and akemma. I really dont care if he bring akemma back or not.The readers need to know what happened after that and all the way up to cwe.Again good job but please hurry. thankyou
diana posts on 6/28/2009 7:20:14 PM
I read the book 5 times and I love it sistah souljah hurry up with this movie!! I think megan good should play winter. Idk why some people say kyla pratt. I think whoever plays winter has to have the attitude!!! :-D
misstip posts on 6/19/2009 4:04:09 PM
I was such a fan of CWE, I can't even believe that Sista Souljah wrote Midnight!!! Its such a departure from her past work. The writing was mediocre at best and the story.... God don't even get me started on the story. Me and my mother read this book in about 2 days and wanted our money back lol. Full of trite sterotypes about African Americans and a completly UNbelievable storyline. Please dont waste your time with this novel, especially if you are looking for the character to tie in with CWE at all.!!!
Anonymous posts on 6/18/2009 2:36:05 PM
Midnightwas awful. Total waste of writing. Really didn't care for depiction of blacks. Fed into the sterotypes. You lost a fan SS.
Tracey Love posts on 6/12/2009 10:34:05 PM
I was a little put off by Midnights choice in women but overall the book was ok. CWE is a classic and I reread it just so I could prepare myself for this novel. This novel lacked continuity from the CWE. I hope SS is able to redeam so of Midnights attributes from CWE in her next novel.
reggie posts on 5/28/2009 11:20:28 AM
Its absolutely ironic that those criticizing Sister Souljah for her depiction of young black women in "Midnight" seem to be satisfied with her depection of a young black woman in "Coldest Winter Ever". Yes the book is an unforgiving statement about some of the women in the black community but it isn't at all inaccurate. Through the eyes of a 14y/o foreigner... yes this is what you get.. especially when he was raised around much more honorable men and women... "Midnight" was a great character and described the struggles of a young man... this book should be required reading for all young blacks.
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