Book Review: “Midnight A Gangster Love Story” by Sister Souljah
Sister Souljah is a talented writer and the idea of writing a novel based on a character (Midnight) from her best-seller “The Coldest Winter Ever” sounds like a great idea. However, there are a few things that prevent this novel from being great. One thing is that it’s just too long. There are lots of really great books that are hundreds and hundreds of pages long, but what makes “Midnight: A Gangster Love Story” different is that the ending is incredibly unsatisfying. A book of this length should have taken readers right up to the beginning of Midnight’s emergence in “The Coldest Winter Ever” or at least left the readers off on a point where we feel satisfied about where life is generally headed for this character. I really didn’t like the cliffhanger treatment in this at all. I also didn’t like the fact that there are pictures in the book. I don’t need pictures. Seriously.
Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of the book is looking at Black America through the eyes of an African Muslim. There’s definitely some valid criticism of the Black community in this novel, but it’s a bit extreme. There’s not one Black American female who is even remotely sane. But then again, coming from the perspective of an adolescent boy, that just might appear to be the case. The writing was good, but I feel like this could have been a much more concise story with a much better ending. I’m glad I checked this out at the library instead of buying it.
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Greetings, I also read this book… I have written 2 reviews on it at http://www.ginnysthoughts.com. I’d like your feedback, if you’d not mind. Thanks.
I wanted to read this book because I thought that Winter and Midnight eventually would reunite and I wanted to see what would come of it. However midway through the book I realized that Winter would never appear in this book because it was taking tooooo loooong to get to that point. I also noticed some inconsistencies with this book and “The Coldest Winter Ever”. Like the little sister, her name was Effe in “The Coldest Winter Ever” and in this book her name is Naja. Also Midnight went to jail when he was 14 for killing someone who malested his sister and while he was in jail his mother went to jail for smuggling drugs, which was not the case in this book. Towards the end of the book I began to enjoy the love that Midnight had for Akemi and there relationship until the book ended abruptly. I hope she is planning on writing a senquel to this book and she needs to find some kind of way tie in Midnights relationship with Akemi and how he ended up meeting Vega and working for him and wrap up the series.
It was DEFINITELY too long! I will not be checking for the sequel to this book because this one was so poorly executed in terms of reader satisfaction. I don’t recall the name of Midnight’s little sis in TCWE, but this book ends RIGHT before Midnight’s actions that cause him to be put in jail. That’s one of the reasons why I wasn’t feeling it. This book was unsatisfying as a stand-alone book AND as a prequel to TCWE. I will say though that at the end of TCWE Midnight is with an Asian woman (presumably Akemi) at the funeral, so in a way, we do know that they end up together eventually.
I TOO WAS DISAPOINTED WITH THE BOOK. EVEN THOUGH I READ THE WHOLE THING I WAS WAITING FOR THE TIE TO TCWE AND IT NEVER HAPPENED. THE BOOK WAS EXTREMELY LONG. I DID NOT EXPECT HER TO PUT THE WHOLE STORY OF TCWE IN THE BOOK BUT COME ON THAT IS WHAT HAD DRAWN US TO MIDNIGHT,
i havent been able to finissh the book because its tooo long and tooo boring…
it was just a waste…
i really thought it would be better
The book was not what I was expecting like many i was hoping it will link to “the coldest winter ever” not even once was a character from tcwe showed up and i was kinda disappointed. The book itself was a good book, it has a lot of valuable lesson which we give us another outlook on the way we live and the beliefs we have in America. IT WAS TOO MUCH WISDOM COMING FROM A 14 YR OLD, THAT’S ODD AND MADE THE STORY VERY HARD TO BELIEVE. I DID ENJOY LEARNING ABOUT THE MUSLIM CULTURE AND BELIEFS AS WELL AS THE JAPANESE ONE, HOWEVER I DID NOT LIKE THE WAY SISTER SOULJAH MADE MIDNIGHT THINK ABOUT AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN OR JUST AMERICAN WOMAN IN GENERAL. IT KINDA MADE ME FEEL JUST A LITTLE BIT LESS VALUABLE AT LEAST WHILE READING THE BOOK LOL. I REALLY LIKED THE CHARACTER BANGS, I WAS HOPING SHE MADE HIM CHANGE HIS MIND ABOUT THE WAY HE THOUGH ABOUT AMERICAN WOMEN AND BE WITH HER, BUT IT DID NOT HAPPEN SO I WAS LIKE “OMG THATS WACK” LOL.
I actually really enjoyed reading this story. I got the feeling reading “TCWE” and “Midnight” that Sister Souljah is trying to prove a point that you are a product of your environment. I hope she is telling these stories to encourage people to better them self’s. I read “TCWE” and also was expecting to be taken to the point where he at least gets out of jail. I honestly broke down crying while reading this book, all the while knowing what ends up happening to his family. His entire purpose in life was to keep his family safe. We know after reading “TCWE” that he fails. I am from the South, and have been one of those very fortunate people that were not raised in conditions some of these characters were brought up in. These books have opened my eyes to a lot of things. I do hope she writes another story. I have so many questions that weren’t answered. Hopefully she is in the middle of writing us another one so that we can get more closure on this story. I enjoyed this book, and I would recommend reading it, but read “The Coldest Winter Ever” first.
Loved the book it was an oppurtunity to see brooklyn through the eyes of a young muslim, male growing up… there is a code of honor that is continuously tested and I think S.Souljah raised the bar challenging her readers to rethink how they move their chess pieces… this book reminded me of the matrix…. now that you know which pill do you take? S
sister souljah is an exceptional writer, i enjoyed the book even though it started a little slow..it’s very interesting to learn about different cultures and religions, however, midnight’s take on life at such an early age and coming from such a privileged background was unbelievable..i realize that the book was fiction, but when i read fiction i like to read it with a sense that things could really happen…i mean come on the boy was only seven when he came to the us..
WOW ! THANK YOU WE REALLY NEED TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK WITHIN OURSELVES . TO SEE JUST HOW OTHER PEOPLE FROM DISTANT LANDS SEE WHAT WE ARE AFRAID TO ADMITT . OMG AWESOME AGAIN THANK YOU BLESSINGS ……..
I too read the book and was sadly dissapointed. i tried to root for the author since i was such a big fan of the first novel but coming from an Islamic background myself and actually being from West Africa, i must say a lot of the information was inaccurate. i do however realize that this is fiction and appreciate the idea. In addition i would have like to see some tie to tcwe and i also noted the inconsistancies in the stories. I was sadly not satisied but would definatly read a third part in hope that it all ties in.