Blood Sistas: The Chronicals of Black Uptown Girlz Growing Up in the Hood

As a White girl growing up in rural Wisconsin, I had no idea what city life was like. Post-college, I traveled, hoping to broaden my horizons and learn a bit about urban living. After that, I thought I had some pretty good ideas about what growing up in the city was like: living in an apartment, going to the laundromat, shopping at the small supermarket down the street, and hearing traffic and sirens twenty-four hours a day. After reading this book, I can tell you I know absolutely nothing about the intricacies of inner-city life.

Author Munesta Faulkner tells the story of best friends Sabrina, Rochelle, Gabriele, and Dominique. Personally, when I call someone a best friend, I mean that I trust, love, and share with that person. This is not the case in Blood Sistas. The four girls have turbulent relationships with one another, often involving hatred, betrayal, and revenge. Their friendship is put to the test again and again, forcing them to determine whether they are true friends (“blood sistas”) or not. Told from the point of view of Gabrielle, this extremely graphic story takes the reader on a journey complete with drugs, sex, swearing, mental illness, and violence.

If you are looking for an eye-opening fictional account of inner-city life, this book doesn’t leave anything out or cut any corners. From the front cover, featuring a gun, cash, and scantily-clad women, to the author’s heartfelt note on the final page, the story is intriguing and complex. However, if you are looking for a book with correct (or even consistent) spelling, punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure, this book cannot be recommended. For many readers, looking past technical mistakes is very difficult; few will push through the swamp of mistakes in this book to get to the story underneath. A good editor would have a great impact on this book.

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