The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Published by Delacorte Press on January 12, 2021
ISBN: 1984894021
Pages: 176
Goodreads

This is an adaptation of Coates’s adult memoir The Beautiful Struggle (2008). The book focuses on Coates’s relationship with his father, Paul, and the lessons he taught his sons.  It is a coming of age story and one that proceeds in a fluid, stream-of-conscious style that makes for dense pages. The setting is Baltimore and the writing is woven through with slang and allusion and a writing style that is not for the reluctant or hesitant reader.  Adaptations are hot right now and for those teens, grades 10 and up, interested in #ownvoices stories and the Black Lives Matter movement, this may have appeal, but I am not sure why a strong reader, interested in Coates and his writing and his story would not just read the original book.

Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth