This book was engaging from the start and would likely be fantastic for a high school audience. The honesty and truth came out in the story with each word. I felt like he was allowing me into his childhood and by doing so I gain a better understanding of not only his specific situation but of kids who also had a similar background.

The original book is so lovely, but I feel a lot of magic is lost in this novel. Still accessible for students, but an awkward level where it is too complex for emerging readers and too reductive for confident readers.

The Beautiful Struggle (Adapted for Young Adults) by Ta-Nehisi Coates is adapted from his bestselling memoir of the same title. As the story unfolds we get a glimpse of what being a teen in urban Baltimore is like. It is a strong coming of age story and also a book about father-son relationships.

I enjoyed the language and rhythm of the prose, but, as it is adapted for younger readers, I have to review it with that audience in mind. The vocabulary is advanced and there is a lot of slang interwoven throughout the book that the author assumes the reader knows. One has to be well read and deeply interested in the topic to fully appreciate the narrative, and even as an adult, I found myself daydreaming and bogged down at times. I don't know how much of an adaptation from the original this is, but it definitely skews to a more mature, well-educated audience. My recommendation is for ages 18 and up. I can easily see it being chosen as required reading for a college-level literature course.

3.5 stars / 5 due to the reading level required for a young adult reader.

Advanced e-ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I got almost 50% finished before I waved my methaphorical white flag and conceeded that I needed a translator. I could have just let the story flow over me, but it deserves more respect than that. I was sorely out of my realm of experience, and vocabulary, and this was an advanced course in a culture foreign to me. I so wanted to finish, but I admit I was lost.

Growing up in Baltimore (aka, Murder Capital) as a Black youth, Coates brings to life his childhood and the push-pull he experienced with his family as he figured out who he was.

There are poetic moments to this memoir, especially around Ta-Nehisi's relationship with his father and with music--both of which formed him into the man he is now.

I opened "The Beautiful Struggle" with an open mind. I love what Mr. Coates's "Black Panther" means to our culture. I struggled with his autobiography, to be honest, at first. However, I then considered this was the awesome Mr. Coates's story. HIS way of telling it. When viewing the story through that lens, I understood it was not for me to follow but just to learn about his perspective, personal growth and struggles as he walked into adulthood and toward the storyteller he became.

Ta-Nehisi Coates has such a lyrical, beautiful way of writing, it almost feels like beat poetry. You can feel the rhythm and melody.

I'm glad younger readers will have a chance to read one of the best writers working today.. What a powerful work!

Ta-Nehisi grew up in Baltimore in a time when --"Teen pregnancy was the fashion. Husbands were outies. Fathers were ghosts." -- He and his siblings really were not sure what to make of their Vietnam vet and Black Panther Dad who had seven kids by four different women. "We held him in this weird place, somewhere between hatred and complete reverence." Yet, when they looked around, they saw that their friends had absentee fathers, so the Coates' kids were lucky. Their father was strict, ensured they were street smart, and that they understood he was in charge. Can this relationship between father and sons give Ta-Nehisi and his siblings what they need!? This novel was real and smartly written; I didn't want to put it down.