Tag: Black Literature

Book Reviews, Sister Souljah

A Deeper Love Inside: The Porsche Santiaga Story by Sister Souljah

by Darkowaa7 Comments on A Deeper Love Inside: The Porsche Santiaga Story by Sister Souljah

Date Read: January 28th 2015

Published: 2012

Publisher: Emily Bestler Books/ Washington Square Press (Simon & Schuster, Inc)

Pages: 432

Sister Souljah porsche

The Blurb

At last, mega-bestselling author Sister Souljah delivers the stunning sequel to The Coldest Winter Ever that fans have been eagerly waiting for. Frighteningly fierce, raw, and filled with completely unpredictability, this coming-of-age adventure is woven with emotional intensity.

A Deeper Love Inside is written in the words of Porsche Santiaga, Winter’s sharp-tongued, quick-witted younger sister. Porsche worships Winter. A natural born hustler, Porsche is also cut from the same cloth as her father, the infamous Ricky Santiaga.

Passionate and loyal to the extreme, Porsche refuses to accept her new life in group homes, foster care and juvenile detention after her wealthy family is torn apart. Porsche- unique, young and beautiful – cries as much as she fights and uses whatever she has to reclaim her status.

Unselfishly, she pushes to get back everything that ever belonged to her loving family. In A Deeper Love Inside, readers will encounter their favorite characters from The Coldest Winter Ever, including Winter and Midnight. Sister Souljah’s soulful writing will again move your heart and open your eyes to a shocking reality.

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Review – ★★★★ (4 stars)

This was a fun read! It was a bit slow in the beginning or first 150 pages, but it got better. I read The Coldest Winter Ever about 10 years ago and all I remember is that it was ahhh-mazing! With that said, A Deeper Love Inside: The Porsche Santiaga Story is not a sequel – this book has very little to do with Winter, Porsche’s older sister.

This book is a coming-of-age and cautionary tale that focuses on how ghetto-born, 10 year old Porsche Santiaga, coped with being sent to juvy (juvenile detention) after her family was separated by the arrest of her father- Ricky Santiaga who was a notorious drug lord from Brooklyn, New York. After spending about 2 years in juvy and forming some key friendships (The Diamond Needles) that positively influenced her life, she successfully escapes juvy with some members of the Diamond Needles and soon learns many, many, many lessons about love and life through her painful adventures.

Love is the reason behind all of Porsche’s actions- whether good or bad. She was striving to bring her separated family back together, only to realize that life outside of juvy had really changed and maybe the familial love disappeared…

Sister Souljah is the only urban fiction author I’ve read and I respect her writing sooo much. Unfortunately, books in the Urban Literature or Urban Fiction genre are not given the same respect as other literary genres. But these are stories that need to be read to possibly help end the sad cycles of drug abuse, senseless killings, alcoholism, teenage pregnancies, the spread of HIV/AIDS, etc in the Black community. There is so much to say about this book and I don’t want to give away any spoilers…but I’m glad it ends on a positive, uplifting note. I love the fact that Porsche heals and found real love in Elisha, who loved and appreciated her deeply- a love she had been craving and working hard for, to no avail from her sister and mother.

I gave this 4 stars because the beginning was quite slow and almost made me want to give up. Also, The Coldest Winter Ever and Souljah’s memoir, No Disrespect were more exciting reads compared to this book. But I highly recommend this! It’s a relevant narrative.

Other well-known Urban Fiction writers:

Sapphire (author of PUSH which was adopted into the film, ‘Precious’), Teri Woods, Zane (her books are a blend of urban fiction & erotica), Nina Foxx, Kimberla Roby, K’wan, Omar Tyree (author of the popular book, Flyy Girl), Eric Jerome Dickey, Donald Goines.

*Check out this great Youtube video by Tiffany (TiffReads) for an extensive discussion on Urban Fiction, for other recommendations and to learn more about the genre if you are interested – HERE. (This video was part of the February #ReadSoulLit Photo/Booktube Challenge on social media, organized by Didi of Brown Girl Reading)*

★★★★ (4 stars) – Great book. Highly recommend!

Purchase A Deeper Love Inside: The Porsche Santiaga Story on Amazon

Alice Walker, Book Reviews

You Can’t Keep A Good Woman Down by Alice Walker

by Darkowaa4 Comments on You Can’t Keep A Good Woman Down by Alice Walker

Date Read: January 18th 2015

Published: 1981

Publisher: Harvest Books

Pages: 180

Alice Walker

The Blurb

A natural evolution from the earlier, much acclaimed short story collection In Love & Trouble, these fourteen provocative and often humorous stories show women oppressed but not defeated. No longer do they excuse the aggression of others, no longer are they suspended in their unhappy condition. The women here claim every bit of space they make.

These are modern stories: about love, lust, fame and cultural thievery, the perils of pornography, abortion and rape; the delight of new lovers, and the rediscovery of old friends, affirmed even across self-imposed color lines.

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Review – ★★★★★ (5 stars)

Lovely, lovely, lovely collection of 14 short stories. If you want to think and learn something new, this is a must-read! You Can’t Keep A Good Woman Down is a classic. Most of the stories are pretty deep though. Alice Walker tackles issues from feminism/womanism to pornography to death to poverty to fame, abortion, the civil rights movement etc. All the women in these stories have some odds going against them, but find different ways of dealing with the prejudices. Even though these stories tug at your emotions, Walker ensures there are positive, humorous bits to all the stories allowing readers to see the light in the situations of each character in the stories.

I love how Walker makes references to Ida B. Wells, Audre Lorde and other prominent black women who have helped shape (black) American lives for the better. I also enjoyed Walker’s writing style in this collection. The sentence structures and style of writing leave room for various interpretations of her stories. When I re-read this, I will surely learn more things that I didn’t grasp from this first reading. Besides her critically acclaimed novel – The Color Purple, You Can’t Keep A Good Woman Down is another great novel showcasing Alice Walker’s versatility as a writer.

Note: Prior knowledge on the Civil Rights Movement would help you thoroughly appreciate the stories in this book. Also, I think you must be 18 years or older to read this book – some descriptions are QUITE explicit!

My favorite stories were:

“How Did I Get Away With Killing One of the Biggest Lawyers in the State? It Was Easy” – This was a sad and crazy story from beginning to end. Some women are crazy…and dangerous! Loved it.

“Coming Apart” – I think every married couple should read this story- together. It’s sooo deep! It has you thinking about sex in such a different, non-flippant way. I’ll have to read it again to fully understand the concepts discussed in the story, but I learned how pornography has terrible consequences in relationships/marriages.

“The Abortion” – I just felt sick to my stomach reading this story. There weren’t many gory descriptions, but it was just miserable. I think I resented the main character. She was a selfish woman and expected her husband to make her happy, when happiness is really from within.

“A Sudden Trip Home In The Spring” – After the death of her father, Sarah – who is the only black girl in her school, questions whether she is in the right school as she sometimes feels out of place. I loved the calmness of this story. Some bits reminded me of my undergraduate experience at Middlebury College.

Like I said, if you want to think and learn something new, read this!

Oh! Today- February 9th, is Alice Walker’s 71st birthday! Happy Birthday Alice Walker!

★★★★★ (5 stars) – Amazing book, I loved it. Absolutely recommend!

Purchase You Can’t Keep A Good Woman Down on Amazon

Book Covers

Happy Black History Month! African-American Book Covers (showcase 4)

by Darkowaa8 Comments on Happy Black History Month! African-American Book Covers (showcase 4)

Why not celebrate Black History Month by admiring lovely book covers by 30 brilliant African-American/ Black authors?

Pick up a copy of one of these to commemorate Black Literature. Enjoy!

Check out more amazing book covers by African and Caribbean writers – here.

And!! Check out (and join) #ReadSoulLit on social media (Twitter & Instagram) which was created by Didi of Brown Girl Reading (@FrenchieDeeDee). It’s a February Book Photo Challenge to celebrate Black History Month – her blog: http://browngirlreading.com

Happy Black History Month! 🙂