"A Moment of Silence" by Sister Souljah
I feel like Midnight’s story is just DRAGGING on and on and on- and never really answering the main questions that fans of her work have been wondering. The novel started out talking about how he has his new wife Chiasa, who is his second wife, and then does a continuous back-and-forth between flashback and present scenes (with what he was doing in the past with his wives and everyday life, to “now” (1986) which is him being in jail for committing a murder in defense of his little sister.) But it’s only briefly mentioned throughout, how he came across Santiaga and began their relationship/interaction- but AGAIN, never really goes into depth of how he began working for him. And as stated, this is the MAIN thing most readers really wanted to know! When you read TCWE, Winter asks her dad (Santiaga) how did Midnight began working for him; he explains “oh he got into some trouble, I helped him out, and he’s a good dude- a good worker.”
But in Midnight III we never really get clear answers on how Midnight started selling drugs and working the streets. It’s quite frustrating to be honest. As the reader, you understand the relationship the two men have- where Ricky came on kind of as a mentor and guide for him, and was like a father-figure, but questions are still unanswered.
I was pretty disappointed with the ending of the book, because S.Souljah opened up a whole new story line without closing off the FIRST story line she introduced. In The Coldest Winter Ever AND in the Porscha Santiaga Story, the books wrapped up at a safe spot. There was no real cliffhanger. There are THREE “Midnight” books with a bunch of cliffhangers. We’re still sitting here trying to figure out what exactly happened (and is happening.)
I think the book was well written, it had a lot of good points, and interesting plots- but as mentioned (repeatedly) there are a lot of unanswered questions. My biggest problem with the book is: to everyone’s understanding Midnight is a 16-year-old teenager; a black kid living in Brooklyn with his mom, sister, and two wives. And the sex scenes described are something that I would expect coming from maybe someone who is at least 25 years old. I’ve read a LOT of romantic novels/urban fiction (for example: Zane fiction books, where there are a lot of graphic sex scenes, but she never goes crazy in depth with the children/teenage characters, simply because realistically it’s just NOT that intense.) But in this novel it is very intense, the way she was describing different things between him and his wives- it was a bit much knowing that he is 16, and to our understanding, his wives are somewhere between 15 and 18 years old depending on the time of the book. I just think that was just a little strange and I just wish she was a little bit more realistic.
But again the book was well written, I just wish Sister Souljah had answered a lot of the current questions and not started a whole new storyline and introducing new characters, without wrapping up and closing off previous story lines. What we really just wanted to know: how did Midnight and Santiaga begin working together as far as hustling and dealing with the streets/drugs?! Come on sis.
If she does decide to create a fourth installment for this series, which is what I’m guessing is going to happen- being that she left the book on a cliffhanger, I’m hoping that she finally will wrap up and at least explain this connection. Just make it go full circle so we can close off the book, and maybe start a new series or introduce a different character to go more in depth about. But just close off this never-ending circle of Midnight’s books. It’s almost to the point of making him seem super romanticized and just unrealistic; taking away from that mystery and rawness that he was introduced as- and dragging it out and making him into this teenage black ninja/warrior/prince. It’s enough.
We just want the questions answered, and simply wrapped up! -Nina Michelle
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