laurenabeth's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Gun violence, Pregnancy, Classism, Racism, War, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Car accident, and Bullying
Minor: Drug use, Stalking, Pandemic/Epidemic, Miscarriage, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
at806's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Mental illness, Racism, War, Death, Kidnapping, Violence, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Animal death, Car accident, Miscarriage, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders
sarah_hutchins's review
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
The story was interesting to me and it held my attention a lot more than I thought. I can’t really find anything I didn’t like about it that stood out other than I think it could've used a bit more editing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Car accident, Death, War, Islamophobia, and Stalking
Minor: Sexism, Torture, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, and Panic attacks/disorders
hannahcstocks's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Abandonment, Xenophobia, Violence, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Classism, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Child abuse, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Death, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Murder, and Miscarriage
kim_lommaert's review
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and War
Moderate: Racism and Stalking
Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Miscarriage, and Suicidal thoughts
allisonobrien's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Racism
dogoodwithbooks's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
CW: death/grief, car accident, recreational drug and alcohol use, divorce, warfare, 9/11 attacks (recounted), animal death, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, harassment, suicidal ideation, suicide, heart attack
While this book deals with a lot of heavy topics, Prince Harry is brilliantly able to tell his side of the story for the first time ever.
Over the course of 15 hours and 40 minutes, Prince Harry’s memoir felt more like a long podcast than a book, which I thought was interesting. Don’t be put off by the total duration as the chapters are very short and you can breeze through them very quickly if you want to.
After hearing Prince Harry’s point of view, I think that the reasons behind things he did made a bit more sense. I’m not going to lie because I wasn’t a huge royal family observer prior to Spare, but I do think that this book brought more insight on who the royal family might actually be. Add that to the poignant and illustrative writing style going over Prince Harry’s life story, this is a book worth investing in and especially through an audiobook.
While this book deals with a lot of heavy topics, Prince Harry is brilliantly able to tell his side of the story for the first time ever.
Over the course of 15 hours and 40 minutes, Prince Harry’s memoir felt more like a long podcast than a book, which I thought was interesting. Don’t be put off by the total duration as the chapters are very short and you can breeze through them very quickly if you want to.
After hearing Prince Harry’s point of view, I think that the reasons behind things he did made a bit more sense. I’m not going to lie because I wasn’t a huge royal family observer prior to Spare, but I do think that this book brought more insight on who the royal family might actually be. Add that to the poignant and illustrative writing style going over Prince Harry’s life story, this is a book worth investing in and especially through an audiobook.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Grief, Mental illness, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, and Suicide
Minor: Animal death
ehmannky's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.25
It's an incredibly readable, interesting and engaging memoir, if maybe a little too in-depth in some areas for my liking (good on his ghost writer for doing so well there). I think that this reveals a lot of the petty and retrograde ways that the monarchy works and it just doesn't make me feel like there's any real possibility it could be made to work in a modern era. I have a lot of thoughts after reading this but they basically boil down to:
1 - Being thrust to the level of fame that he has without someone's consent should be classified as a form of abuse, and good on Harry and Meghan for keeping their kids out of this horrible and toxic environment.
2 - it is amazing he is as normal and, like, socially conscious as he is considering he comes from the least normal and socially progressive environments. Like, he's still incredibly privileged and he's never going to, like, join the revolution, but damn at least he's tried to learn. I liked that he took ownership of the racist things he's done, and I think it shows a level of maturity to not just brush it off and blame how he was raised. I am still feeling real ambivalent about all of the war chapters.
3 - I think Meghan has earned the right to complain to the end of time I truly did not know the extent of the racism and hate spewed at her and I even had watched the documentary before this. Literally gasped in my car when he was reading off the headlines and stories about her. I cannot believe the royal family simply pretended they didn't have the money to help protect them. Like, good on Harry for shouting it from the rooftops.
4 - It feels like he is so close to realizing that the institution of the monarch and The Firm is like inherently corrupt, but can't quite get himself to admit it (which, I get, it's his family). But his anger is mostly at the press, and he can't quite get himself to damn his family (though I will, they all suck).
1 - Being thrust to the level of fame that he has without someone's consent should be classified as a form of abuse, and good on Harry and Meghan for keeping their kids out of this horrible and toxic environment.
2 - it is amazing he is as normal and, like, socially conscious as he is considering he comes from the least normal and socially progressive environments. Like, he's still incredibly privileged and he's never going to, like, join the revolution, but damn at least he's tried to learn. I liked that he took ownership of the racist things he's done, and I think it shows a level of maturity to not just brush it off and blame how he was raised. I am still feeling real ambivalent about all of the war chapters.
3 - I think Meghan has earned the right to complain to the end of time I truly did not know the extent of the racism and hate spewed at her and I even had watched the documentary before this. Literally gasped in my car when he was reading off the headlines and stories about her. I cannot believe the royal family simply pretended they didn't have the money to help protect them. Like, good on Harry for shouting it from the rooftops.
4 - It feels like he is so close to realizing that the institution of the monarch and The Firm is like inherently corrupt, but can't quite get himself to admit it (which, I get, it's his family). But his anger is mostly at the press, and he can't quite get himself to damn his family (though I will, they all suck).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Racial slurs, Sexism, War, Miscarriage, Racism, and Colonisation
ellementary's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.5
I found this fascinating and terribly sad. Is the ending even that hopeful given all we know about where the story has gone from there? It is often said that public figures must endure the invasion of their privacy as a trade-off and while I believe everyone deserves their bit of privacy, I can understand some level of logic in this. In the case of Prince Harry, though, I really felt for him in this respect. He was born into this. He never chose it. And how much has he ever really profited from it? This is a man who has spent a great many years of his life dedicated to service and charity, not a performer or elected official who chose his field. If you are looking for juicy tidbits about his more recent and very publicized familial squabbles, you're likely to be disappointed. There isn't really anything that revelatory here and that period of his life is a rather small chunk of the book at the end. There are suggestions of jealousy, grudges, and family turmoil peppered in here and there but a lot of the book focuses on his life before meeting and marrying Meghan Markle. I thought he spoke honestly about his privilege while also acknowledging the difficulties that come from a public life inherited at birth. It was interesting to get an insider's peek into the mystery behind the monarchy, but all in all, this was just really a sad tale.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and War
Minor: Miscarriage and Suicidal thoughts
ashbooks5's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
First let me say: I think Prince Harry is extremely brave for having this published especially with the way the press have eviscerated both he and Meghan in the last couple years. In this book, he lays all of his cards on the table and finally allows the world a chance to see the story from his perspective. Within these pages, Harry recounts his life from the day of his mother, Princess Diana's, death to literally only a couple months ago when he is informed that his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, has died.
I think that Harry is a deeply emotional person who has not been allowed to show or share that emotion in both public and privately among his family and I think that can do a number on a person. When he receives the news that his mother has died, no one hugs him or really comforts him. He is expected to show that infamous British stiff upper lip. I was shocked to find that for most of his life, Prince Harry thought that his mother faked her death and intended to resurface in the future. Every day he thought that he would receive a call from his mother who would tell him where to meet her. Reading about this was heartbreaking.
The first section of the book recounts how Harry acted out a lot in his teens and twenties after his mother's death. Some of these stories are hilarious such as his encounter with shrooms at Courteney Cox's house and how he had one of his school friends shave his head (I cackled) but some were also definitely disappointing like his decision to dress up as a Nazi officer to attend a costume party. I actually remember seeing those pictures and being highly disappointed in him as he was my "favorite" prince of the two.
The military section of the book was kind of boring but I appreciated it because Harry was allowed to be himself completely in the British army. Also, his position was revealed numerous times in the press when he was serving in the military in Afghanistan, and I am surprised whoever did this wasn't arrested because he ended up being targeted.
The last section was all about his love story with Meghan Markle and I loved it. (I may have thrived on the fact that I got married within a few months of this royal couple.) I am appalled at the treatment of Meghan Markle by both the British and American press. I think we can all know why she's been getting such a different treatment but there are those who pretend to not see the rampant racism. It is for this reason that Harry asked to take a step back from royal service which ended up leading to them basically being booted from the royal family (with no security, might I add).
Other things I took away from the book:
I think that Harry is a deeply emotional person who has not been allowed to show or share that emotion in both public and privately among his family and I think that can do a number on a person. When he receives the news that his mother has died, no one hugs him or really comforts him. He is expected to show that infamous British stiff upper lip. I was shocked to find that for most of his life, Prince Harry thought that his mother faked her death and intended to resurface in the future. Every day he thought that he would receive a call from his mother who would tell him where to meet her. Reading about this was heartbreaking.
The first section of the book recounts how Harry acted out a lot in his teens and twenties after his mother's death. Some of these stories are hilarious such as his encounter with shrooms at Courteney Cox's house and how he had one of his school friends shave his head (I cackled) but some were also definitely disappointing like his decision to dress up as a Nazi officer to attend a costume party. I actually remember seeing those pictures and being highly disappointed in him as he was my "favorite" prince of the two.
The military section of the book was kind of boring but I appreciated it because Harry was allowed to be himself completely in the British army. Also, his position was revealed numerous times in the press when he was serving in the military in Afghanistan, and I am surprised whoever did this wasn't arrested because he ended up being targeted.
The last section was all about his love story with Meghan Markle and I loved it. (I may have thrived on the fact that I got married within a few months of this royal couple.) I am appalled at the treatment of Meghan Markle by both the British and American press. I think we can all know why she's been getting such a different treatment but there are those who pretend to not see the rampant racism. It is for this reason that Harry asked to take a step back from royal service which ended up leading to them basically being booted from the royal family (with no security, might I add).
Other things I took away from the book:
- Harry's frostbitten...um...nether-regions after his exploit to the North Pole (I wish I could say I didn't laugh buuuuuut)
- The anger of his family when Harry speaks against the press
- How much Prince William (and Kate Middleton) needs to get over himself
- No like seriously...
- Harry's love of Botswana and his work with conservation and also his work with veterans
- How much of a boss Meghan Markle is
- My happiness when Harry started therapy
All in all, I enjoyed Spare. I wish all of the best for Harry and Meghan. Honestly, I'm happy for them both because they're living away from the limelight and as privately as they can.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Gaslighting, Car accident, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Drug use, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and War