I did not give this book 5 stars for the same reasons that I gave a lot of other books on my Goodreads 5 stars. For me, this book was a dense and difficult read that I sometimes struggled to get through. Reading this required a lot of focus on the language and what the author was trying to communicate. I was listening to the audiobook, and often had to rewind to re-listen to a passage I didn’t fully understand. However, the fact that this book is such a challenge is precisely why it deserves 5 stars. The language is beautiful and complex, and it is very clear that Ta-Nehisi Coates put an enormous amount of sincere thought, passion, and heart into this book. Coates lays out his beliefs about the world and about himself, and delineates the reality of our country and the discrimination and ignorance that still exists in society, and does so in his own complex, beautiful, striking, and remarkable way. He writes with unflinching courage and brutal honesty, and narrates from a fascinating, extraordinary, and thoughtful perspective that I have never gotten to experience before. Would highly recommend.