…where YOU DECIDE what you think is good, bad, or otherwise writing. This was the excerpt you were asked to critique:
“Every right decision brings us blessings. Every wrong decision brings us pain. And then, when times get hard, our struggle and our pain shows on our faces and our bodies. When people see our pain and weakness in our face, they say, ‘She used to be fine, she used to be this, she used to be that.’ When men feel our beauty has faded we become shocked at how well they ignore us and forget us. We’ll do anything to get their attention, money, love. Can I suck your dick? Can I do anything, can I, can I?”
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66% of you (245 votes) thought it was Really Good; 18% (66 votes) thought it was Excellent!!!; 14% (50 votes) thought Meh, it was okay; 2% (7 votes) felt it was Really Shitty; and the piece apparently made 1 person’s eyes bleed.
As for the excerpt itself, it is from the much-loved, now-classic work that launched the avalanche of street fiction you’ve seen in the past eight years since its original publication. The book is…
I absolutely love this novel. It’s good to see most people (at least, the ones who participated) agree.
Be on the lookout for another installment of Really Good Or Really Shitty!!! tomorrow!!!
The Lo Zone 
>I have an interesting (well at least to me) story about Sister S.We met at a party that was held after the screening of HBO's production of A Lesson Before Dying. I had a reserved table with only one guest so I invited S.S. and her publicist to share our table. There was room for one more on the banquet so up comes Chris Noth (aka Mr. Big from Sex and the City) and asks if he could sit with us. I had never seen that show or Law and Order so had no idea who he was and he obviously didn't know who S.S. was.Not only is S.S. extremely down to earth but the sistah is one of the most intelligent women (next to Lo, of course) that I have ever met. She proceeded to dazzle Chris N. to the point of after her car had arrived and she left he looked at us and said, "she needs to be mayor of this City."As it turned out I used to work for her publicist's dad when I was in college so I received a signed copy of the book a week or so later. Unfortunately I haven't read it but when my daughter saw that I had a hardcopy signed she freaked. The book has obtained a cult-lke following and is still making the rounds.Interestingly though — and perhaps because it was out of context — I didn't give it the highest rating but wil have to add it to my pile of "must reads."
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>Juan, I didn't rank the quote too favorably either. When the book was revealed, I laughed a little. This was actually one book that I picked up and never finish (and I always finish books). I was very excited to read the book when it was given to me… But, I just could not read it at all.
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>I never read it, but I was introduced to it by some teenagers when I was subbing in high schools back in 2001. All of them loved it.
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>wow, never read the book but i heard it was a great piece of work.as far as the quote: uhhhhh, nevermind.
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>Sistah Souljah did the street fiction first, and did it best.
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>I love "The Coldest Winter Ever." It was downright riveting and I didn't expect to be so hooked by it.That being said, seeing a random piece of unidentified writing pulled out and placed before you without any context whatsoever is really challenging, isn't it?It can make all the difference in how you judge the writing versus the overall work itself.
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You’ve hit the ball out the park! Irnecdbile!
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>Yes, this was my first taste of street fiction, and i loved it too! The story was engrossing. It's like a cult favorite, and people have diverse opinions about it, either they love it or they hate it!
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