Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

Spare by Prince Harry

18 reviews

issyd23's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.0

You know his life is fucked when he’d enter a war zone to escape the paps. Vive la république! 3🎳

NB This was actually quite boring as I’ve read 3 Royal bios & knew everything already. The Palace Papers is 100x better! Kate Middleton’s chapter is tantalising. However, this did make me want to go to Botswana. 

Other thoughts:
  • I cannot believe I now know that Prince Harry is circumcised 
  • Find it hilarious that according to Haz Charles is in his ‘Camilla era’ - Taylor take note! ✍️
  • On a serious note his hatred of the media (especially Murdoch) is palpable - I wonder if he’ll pursue them in court
  • On a personal note I don’t love that Harry is convinced we (US + allies) were the ‘good guys’ in Afghanistan - and his refusal to think critically about the wider implications and complexities of the war/occupation. 

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lmy612's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective slow-paced

5.0

I am the same age as Prince Harry and always felt a affinity for him. Admittedly, I don’t know much about the royal family, but Harry’s memoir discusses the absurdity of everything the press have ever said about the royal family. This book was also Harry’s chance to tell his side of the story about how his family has treated him and Megan. 

This is a very heavy book and I cried many times listening to his recount of very painful topics: his mother’s death, 9/11, self medicating with drugs and alcohol, going to war, racism against his wife and children, threats against their lives, the loss of an unborn child, the toxicity of his family, the death of the Queen, and the paparazzi who refuse(d) to let them live their lives. 

This was a highly enjoyable and deeply moving memoir, even for an anti-monarchist living in the colonized commonwealth. 

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lisasilv's review

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emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

An interesting look into Royal life, although I am sure the truth lies somewhere between what this book says, and with what actually happened. I like that the chapters were short, and that it moved quickly. I listened to the audio book version, and you could hear the emotion from the prince as he read it.

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aloy's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

3.5


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crownoflaurel's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.75


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mhague's review

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slow-paced

2.0


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katharina90's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

2.5

Endless minutiae of military training exercises aside, this was an ok read. I almost said enjoyable but I wouldn't go that far.

The memoir is at its strongest whenever Harry provides glimpses into his emotional/mental state and his attempts at growth and healing. 

Although he doesn't dive deep, you get a good sense of the family dysfunction and Harry's toxic relationship with his father and brother. Even at surface level a lot of it is heartbreaking and I often found it pretty triggering of my own trauma.

As one would expect, there's very little criticism of British colonialism and racism and the monarchy's role in all of it. In fact, Harry decidedly refuses to take a stand and instead goes on and on about his love for Africa in a very white savior-y manner. There's also no critical analysis of the wars he willingly participated in, and no real acknowledgement of the huge amounts of privilege Harry has access to. 

Yes, I get it. He's heavily indoctrinated and has a lot to unpack. 
But also, the train is moving and Harry is late to the station. 

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sydapel's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.5


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amelianotthepilot's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad slow-paced

1.0

Truly every chapter is wilder than the last and it's all read by him. I do not fathom how these stories made it past editors but also past his wife. Most of the memoir is a jarring juxtaposition of a deeply mentally unwell child who craves empathy from his family while being delusional about his mother's death contrasted with him talking about his "todger". I really don't know why he talks about it so much but so far it has made an appearance at least 7 times in the first 03:30 hours. Certainly an iconic read.

The audiobook is also unnecessarily 15.5 hours long but honestly all due to the fact that this man reads at a snails pace with a breath in between every other word. 

It’s a psychiatrists playground with not only generational trauma but also family trauma but also war PTSD but also stalker trauma but also maternal death trauma topped off with royal trauma. Truly a wild time. I’m sorry to this man.


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emaurer21's review

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challenging emotional sad slow-paced

3.5


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