Midnight and the Meaning of Love by Sister Souljah

The story of Midnight, who is a side character in the book The Coldest Winter Ever, begins in Midnight and then continues here.

To begin reading his story you need to put aside any credibility issues his age will cause you to feel. Yes, it could feel like there is no way someone as young as him could do these things. Put try not to focus on the number and just think of him as young. It is also the 1980's and the world was a different place then. A young person could get on a plane and travel alone with very little trouble then. Trust me, I know, after all when I was 10, in 1981, I ran away from home and managed to buy a ticket, get on a plane, and fly from NY to CA alone. I have been on my own since I was 15. So just put aside the 2015 mindset that a 14-15 year old couldn't live the life Midnight was living.

You also need to put aside your own world view, thought on religion, thoughts on women's independence...this isn't a story about if it is right to have more than one wife, if the Muslim faith is good or bad...it is the story of how one young man lives and loves as he feel the things young men feel and he tries to live according to his faith the way he knows it, the way he was taught it from birth, which was not in America but rather in Sudan.

Also, religion and lifestyle aside, some of what he is capable also defies what one would think possible, but there this is much like other fictional character, they are able to do things we air breathing mortals who do not live on the pages of a book only wish we could do.

And lastly, Sister Souljah could be called the hip-hop version of Jane Austen or George R. R. Martin, in that she will write as Austin did, many paragraphs about the color of the sky or the decoration of a room, or like Martin 6 pages about every damn meal. But it isn't crippling. For instance when she writes about what Akemi's room looks like, the stained glass, you can really see it.

If you can do those things you will enjoy Midnight's story. It is erotic, violent, heartfelt, and filled with love at its heart. He is a young man who loves and respects women even if it seems like he is out to be in control of them. He is just doing and thinking what his faith tells him is the right way. It can be jarring if you hold different beliefs, but it gives insight to a lifestyle that may be different than anything you know. And isn't that a good thing? A story that is entertaining but also could be a window into a world that is not your own?


(Finished July 17, 2015)


P.S. There is a liberal use of the "n" word in both books telling Midnight's story. As a white woman, even though I am the mother of a young black man, it never felt comfortable to read it because I felt like I was saying it in my head, but in the context of the story is fits, but I still won't ever use the word.