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alliejm00's review
3.75
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Gaslighting, Ableism, Grief, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Bullying, Car accident, Emotional abuse, and War
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
Minor: Drug use and Animal death
rainbowyeticorn's review against another edition
4.25
Moderate: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Ableism, Alcohol, Car accident, War, Death of parent, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Misogyny
Minor: Sexual assault, Medical content, and Animal cruelty
katharina90's review against another edition
2.5
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.
Moderate: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Racism, Animal death, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Bullying, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, War, Death of parent, and Colonisation
Minor: Ableism and Cultural appropriation
venetiana's review against another edition
3.75
It's in three parts: roughly, those are 1. Harry's childhood, 2. his time in the army, 3. his time with Meghan.
The childhood/yourh part is of course emotional and sad, but also interesting. The army part absolutely made me cringe, the way he talks about war and killing people etc. (also slightly racist, though I guess trying not to be). The third part was shocking in terms of the violent and racist press, the aggressions within the family/firm etc., but of course also romantic and hopeful. Harry reading the book himself certainly adds to that, and makes it much more personal.
Given how the author has spent his whole life "inside", certain views didn't surprise me, though I was kind of disappointed that he hadn't yet found the time to "adjust" them to a world less enabled by privilege. But I definitely respect how he shared all his traumata (and stories), and how he's working on them. I respect that Meghan and him left, it's a big step, and I think it was important to share and explain what led there.
That being said, one small thing, I felt the book ended quite abruptly.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Car accident, Stalking, Racism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Confinement, Ableism, Gun violence, Slavery, Islamophobia, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcohol, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Body shaming, Addiction, Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Mental illness, War, and Xenophobia
The way Harry writes about travelling to Africa isn't always done well, there are sort of mildly racist bits (also, a bit white saviour-y and tourist-y). There are islamophobic/racist bits in the army part (quite violent at times). It's within the frame of the "duty" of war etc., but still.laura_clarinets's review against another edition
3.5
Like all memoirs, this story is deeply one-sided, and I think a lot of the criticism around this book so far has been misplaced in that it's asking for a more nuanced, more all-sides view of events. But that's not what a memoir is? This is Harry's point of view on Harry's life. It should be biased and largely one-sided, and it is.
I think Harry does a lot of admirable self-reflection here and was especially pleased that he didn't leave out his more....controversial...moments. But at the same time, I think this book shows that there is still room for more growth. Especially in a book that is taking such a hard line criticizing press on racism and misogony, it seems like more care could've been taken around language towards those same and other similar issues. In particular, I bumped on:
- The ableist language around wounded veterans and Invictus (ex. "confined" to a wheelchair)
- The misogynistic language around women in the press or even tangentially related to the press, especially the way the women were described in the Vegas anecdote
- The consistent, repeated use of "Africa" to describe or explain a specific place, feeling, or topic. Africa is the second-largest continent in both land and population, filled with hugely diverse cultures, peoples, and biomes. It is not a substitute word for Botswana or any other place, just like you don't say "Europe" when you mean "London," and furthermore it has been exhaustively documented and discussed the harm that painting with such a broad brush has done throughout history and continues to do. The argument with Will about who got to "have Africa" just felt gross. If you're talking about animal conservation, just say that. It felt like such an oversight to use language like this in a book where the damages of racism and racist language are such a central theme.
In addition to the language, the other thing keeping this from four starts for me was the pacing. I understand the reasons behind telling the story in such quick anecdotes, but especially in audiobook form the constant new chapters just wasn't for me. Additionally the pacing overall felt a little off to my tastes -- anecdotes in the first third often felt exhaustively detailed and disruptive to the overall flow, while the latter third or so of the book just raced through, leaving out lots of things and dropping quick comments that felt like they deserved more attention. I felt like part three gave me whip lash!
Overall, I'm glad to have listened to it, and I'm glad that Harry put his story out in the world. Most of all, I'm glad that he seems to be finding his own peace with his family like he's wanted to for so long.
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, War, Car accident, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Animal death, Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Racism
Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Mental illness, and Drug use
mads_reads_books's review against another edition
Graphic: Gun violence, Classism, Colonisation, War, Death of parent, Death, Stalking, Pregnancy, Antisemitism, Murder, Grief, Car accident, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Slavery, Self harm, Racism, Ableism, Racial slurs, and Toxic friendship
Minor: War, Car accident, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, Violence, Addiction, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Islamophobia, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Classism, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Domestic abuse, Antisemitism, Infertility, Vomit, Xenophobia, Incest, Toxic relationship, and Religious bigotry