Kafka said that what we need are books that hit us like a most painful misfortune, like the death of someone we loved more than we love ourselves, that make us feel as though we had been banished to the woods, far from any human presence, like a suicide. A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us. Few Urban Lit novels ever really set out to achieve anything beyond the usual exploitative fulfillments of quick sex, fast living, fast cars, and bling-dreams. Rarely do these types of books provide any real food for thought, or give us any kind of life lessons, present real moral dilemmas, or present us with anything that help us to critically reflect on the world around us. So, in a sense, they become worthless reading pursuits because they do little to stimulate us at the intellectual level. Yusef Shakur’s new novel, The Window 2 My Soul: My Transformation From A Zone 8 Thug To A Father & Freedom Fighter, is an exception to the rule…(cont)..
