The Coldest Winter Ever

“Brooklyn-born I don’t have no sob stories for you about rats and roaches and pissy-pew hallways. I came busting out of my momma’s big coochie on January 28, 1977, during one of New York’s worst snowstorms. So my mother named me Winter.” 

This is the beginning line of Chapter 1 and sets the tone for the rest of the novel. Winter is the first-person protagonist, and her mother was 14 when she gave birth to her. During this time Santiaga, her father, was just rising to drug lord fame, which meant Winter was born into luxury.  

“All the ladies loved him but he wasn’t what I would call a ladies’ man. He never had no girlfriend, at least no female ever called the house trying to front on my moms. I can’t recall any incidents involving other women, accusations or any uncomfortableness. He was a family man.”

Winter is describing her father, Santiaga. Her perception of her father here is thwarted later when she realizes he cheated on her mom and had a baby with another woman. This moment demonstrates that Winter doesn’t know her father, whom she idolizes, as well as she thinks he does 

“Now a bad bitch is a woman who handles her business without making it seem like business. Only dumb girls let love get them delirious to the point where they let things that really count go undone.” 

Winter’s Momma considers herself a “bad bitch,” and Winter grows up trying to be one as well. For Winter, this means that she never shows her feelings to any man, but rather portrays herself as a completely sexual being, full of beauty and class. She never says that she loves any man, but she uses sex to get what she wants from men.