The Coldest Winter Ever, by Sister Souljah, is a work of urban and literary fiction, published in 1999. The novel chronicles the life of Winter Santiaga, the young daughter of a prominent and extremely wealthy drug lord. While the Santiaga family originally lives in the Brooklyn housing projects, they soon move to a mansion in Long Island. Winter is used to living a life of opulence; she wears the latest designer fashions, gets her nails and hair done every few days, and drives her mom’s luxury car. However, after federal agents arrest her father and take all the family’s belongings and mansion, Winter is left with little money and nowhere to call home. With her little sisters in foster care, her father sentenced to life in prison, and her mom roaming the streets looking for crack, Winter is left alone and attempts to make a name for herself. 

Told from Winter’s point of view, the language in the novel often reflects hip hop and street culture colloquialisms. Winter is best described as self-absorbed and highly carnal. She is acutely aware of her sexuality and how best to use it to get what she wants. As a result, much of the novel details Winter’s most intimate thoughts and moments with men; she doesn’t shy away from describing men’s genitals or her physical sensations during sex. In this way, Winter’s sexuality is as much a focus of the novel as her family’s involvement in the dealing of drugs.

Much urban fiction deals with themes such as prison, drugs, and violence, and The Coldest Winter Ever is no different. Selling drugs is what makes Winter’s family wealthy, but it’s also what leads to her family’s ultimate downfall. Inherent to the drug-dealing lifestyle comes a level of violence and the constant threat of prison time. Early in the novel, Winter’s mother is shot in the face by a rival drug-dealing gang, and her father is imprisoned. By the end of the novel, Winter ends up sentenced to 15 years in prison for helping her drug dealing and illegal gun selling boyfriend. In this way, it’s clear that drugs, violence, and prison are inextricably linked in the novel.

While the novel is a work of fiction, the author makes herself a nonfiction character. Both on and off the page, Sister Souljah is a prominent activist. In the novel, Souljah is the antithesis of Winter. While Winter thinks only of herself and what she can do to individually survive, Souljah thinks of the Black community as a whole and what she can do to bring unity to her people. In this way, the author makes a larger commentary about the nature of poverty and life in the projects. On the one hand, people, like Winter, feel individualistic, like they must do what they need to survive, even if it means selling drugs to a neighbor. But on the other hand, Souljah points out that if only everyone in the projects united, what little they had could amount to a lot collectively. While Winter’s point of view, like so many others throughout the novel, perpetuates the cycle of drug selling, violence, and prison time for the people living in the projects, Souljah’s ideas demonstrate that there is a better way, but it takes a collective change of mind.

The novel ends with Winter in prison, just like her father. After she’s imprisoned, she briefly sees one of her little sisters, Porsche, during their mother’s funeral, and it’s clear that her sister is following in her footsteps. Just like Winter, Porsche is concerned with wearing the most expensive designer clothing and driving the most luxurious car. And like Winter, Porsche is getting her money from her boyfriend, who is presumed to be engaged in illegal activities. In this way, the novel’s ending seems to be commenting on the cyclic nature of life in the projects.