MixedPIttsburgh Post-GazetteIt is more an exercise in childhood nostalgia than an exploration of a brilliant career ... If the reader can get past Prince’s barely legible handwritten entries, the intro is the closest you get to any type of recent activity by \'The Artist,\' as he was sometimes known. Prince loosely touches on his career from the late ’70s until 1986, but the intro goes up until his death in 2016. That’s the most frustrating aspect of The Beautiful Ones from a reader’s standpoint. It doesn’t make sense that the 44-page intro chronicles his career until his death, but Prince’s own recounting of his life goes only until 1986. This decision turns what was supposed to be a long awaited autobiography into a not very informative one at 288 pages. Still, the book isn’t a complete waste. It gives readers insight into Prince’s tempestuous relationship with his father, his conflict with religion, growing up biracial and how he developed as an artist during his early days in Minneapolis ... The Beautiful Ones serves its purpose as a celebration of a unique talent, but falls short in advancing our understanding of the magnitude of Prince Rogers Nelson’s life and career overall.
