Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Spare

An honest, funny and moving account of Prince Harry’s life and the challenges that come with being the spare. I thought the book particularly picked up in the third section, talking about Meghan and recent events. Took me a while to get through but I ended up being very moved. Appreciated having an insight into a life completely different from my own.

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mer_lovestoread2023's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

4.25

I wouldn't say I'm a Royal fanatic, by any means, but I remember vividly watching the marriage of Charles and Diana when I was in middle-school, being shocked by Diana's death twenty-some years later, and saddened to see history begin to repeat itself through the treatment of Meghan Markle by the press. I resisted reading Spare until a friend told me that his wife had disappeared for two days so she could finish reading (her kids were like, "Where's Mom?"). I had the same experience--while Spare has some issues, I found it a compulsive read. It's hard not to feel for Harry: a traumatized child, a young man struggling to find his purpose, and finally, a loyal Englishman who has to leave his country to start anew. It's an archetypal narrative in a way, as his quotes from Shakespeare throughout remind us.

It must be hard for a writer like Prince Harry to determine what he should reveal and what should remain private, given how visible his entire life has been to the press. Ironically, his only tool to fight against the press is to tell it all, with a level of intimacy that is at times, well, a bit uncomfortable. We learn about the "frostnip" of Harry's private parts, which led one friend to create a "cock cushion"; we learn about the V-shaped ermine thong he gave Kate Middleton as a wedding gift (psychoanalytic critics, take note). We learn about Meghan Markle's Instagram filters and her yoga practice. But so much here is genuinely sad: Harry's PTSD; his struggles with his brother and father; the hounding of Meghan Markle by the press, which led her to contemplate suicide; and the couple's excision from a family and a country that they seemingly wanted to serve. You feel for Harry in his wish to be a "normal" paterfamilias, if one with a high-grade security detail.

I was struck by Harry's note that he had been infantilized by his royal upbringing: he rarely carried keys, drove a car, or managed his own finances. This child who grew up far too soon was forced to remain a child in certain key ways, making "adulting" even more challenging. Harry and Meghan have money, talent, and connections, and their ability to push back on the forces that seek to undermine them is impressive. In the last pages of the memoir, Harry and Meghan create "Lili-land," a safe space for their daughter, who is named after her great-grandmother Elizabeth. Yet despite the couple's desire to protect their children, Lili-land can't last forever. I hope that Prince Harry's frank disclosure and willingness to battle with the demons of his past augur well for the next generation.

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beaubaggins's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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dmswack3's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

I usually avoid memoirs and biographies due to their voyeuristic feel, but something about 2023 has made me want to listen to a few, and Spare was undoubtedly one of them.

I highly enjoyed the narration Prince Harry gave, and the story itself was fun to listen to. His ghost writers was phenomenal in my opinion. I'm very glad I listened to it instead of reading it, however, because I think I would have found myself bored by some of the longer chapters had it not been read to me.

Something else for readers to be weary of besides long chapters and perhaps boring text, should you choose to read this rather than listen- this story bares all... Like ALL. You will hear a LOT about the Prince's... Todger, as he calls it. Like a LOT. Where it's been, who's seen it, how it's been injured so uh. Fair warning there.

Beyond the todger, this book really doesn't pull punches. I saw shocked at points, angered at others, cried at some. But I also felt myself thinking: is it all true? God I hope not. It's that bad.

Give it a listen.

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tdhuck's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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ladynavalon's review against another edition

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slow-paced

1.0

This book should have being a (bunch of) therepy sesión(s). The more these characters (M&H) expose themselves, the less cresibility they gain. Because, when you have such a public live, what's the point of liying over and over?
Dear reader, don't lose your time on this!

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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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