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Reviews
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons and an Unlikely Road to Manhood by Ta-Nehisi Coates
chelseatm's review
5.0
It's another amazing books by Ta-Nehisi Coates. He writes with a poetic fervor that made me feel as though I was attending a poetry slam. It was beautifully written and despite being a very specific journey, I felt there were some universal truths to it.
I loved this book and highly recommend it.
I loved this book and highly recommend it.
footprof's review against another edition
3.0
I was looking forward to reading Between the World and Me and have enjoyed interviews with the author on the radio about his new book. BUT, maybe it was the writing style, but I couldn't get into this book. At Thomas it was a revelation, but those times were few and far between. I'll try to read Between the World and Me and approach it with an open mind.
ciapet's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
thesauraz's review
4.0
Coates brings it with the poetry and storytelling. It’s easy to get completely immersed in the whiplash of his childhood, his changing compass, his father’s moral ambiguity. I found myself most lost when he dropped references — like the artists and activists named shorthand — and I think I missed a few points occasionally.
Nevertheless, this kind of story is one that prods me to reckon with my own sense of comfort in my childhood. Coates’ eloquence illustrates a struggle I could never imagine.
Nevertheless, this kind of story is one that prods me to reckon with my own sense of comfort in my childhood. Coates’ eloquence illustrates a struggle I could never imagine.
laila4343's review
4.0
Lyrical memoir about growing up in West Baltimore in the 1980s and 90s, and Coates’s complex but loving and attentive father.
librarianboy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
4.0
sarabz's review against another edition
4.0
It was great to read a memoir from the generation that was born from actors in the freedom struggles of the 60's and 70's. I think the in between stories, as opposed to the in the heat of the struggle at its height stories, are so important in finding hope and a path forward. Coates tells his story of coming up with consciousness during the violence of the 80's and coming to terms with his family's legacy. His father was a panther, ran an afro-centric press, and struggled to find ways to bring the awareness he gained in the black liberation struggle into his life with his family, even after the panthers were destroyed and his community was being torn apart - crack and guns and prisons were hitting urban black communities hard.
The story is about boys and men, which made me a little less interested in picking it up. And its true, his mom is the only woman that's really present in the story. But he's a great writer and story teller; there's some rhetorical gems in there that hit me hard. Its an excellent addition to the catalog of personal musings on struggle and finding ones place in it.
The story is about boys and men, which made me a little less interested in picking it up. And its true, his mom is the only woman that's really present in the story. But he's a great writer and story teller; there's some rhetorical gems in there that hit me hard. Its an excellent addition to the catalog of personal musings on struggle and finding ones place in it.