Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Spare by Prince Harry

11 reviews

qp_reads's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Abandonment, Stalking, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Cursing, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, War, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Grief, and Miscarriage

dev921's review

emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Drug use, Medical trauma, Cursing, Stalking, Blood, Classism, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Self harm, War, Infidelity, and Mental illness

dmswack3's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Suicide, Car accident, Infertility, Child death, Islamophobia, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death, Miscarriage, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Alcohol, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Hate crime, Addiction, Racial slurs, and Sexual harassment

ash_bees's review

informative slow-paced

3.0

Living life under a microscope has it's consequences.  A young prince loses his mother at a tender age and is haunted--literally and figuratively--by the cause of her death.

Other reviewers commented that this reads as if written by multiple authors, I'd suggest at least three.  The writing could have benefitted from a really heavy editor, and would have been more effective if it was cut down to half or a third.  But that seems to be par for the course for books I've read from people with celebrity status.

The takeaways from this are two-fold:  (1) the importance of speaking up to right wrongs, especially when you're an ally and not the target; and (2) knowing that speaking up may not change the offender's future actions but can gain you more allies or let other similarly situated people know they're not alone.

Lots of trigger warnings for this book.  I wouldn't necessarily say it's spilling the tea, but it does cover lots of death, feelings of abandonment and betrayal, and stalking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Car accident, Classism, Racial slurs, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Miscarriage

bookbird's review

dark emotional funny hopeful informative fast-paced

3.25

Look, like everyone else, I read this predominantly for the tea ("It's all the drama, Mick!" etc etc). But this thing is devastating, and it's tragic Harry felt the need to write it all.

Fame is, often, just abuse in a glittery package. Hereditary fame even more so. Harry has survived an incredible amount.

He's also surprisingly naive, though. He talks about a trip to the North Pole like it was a lads weekend, and not something millions of people dream about doing. One line towards the end really rubbed me up the wrong way - he talks about security at his wedding being a necessity (valid), but cites one of the reasons for this as the press "stirring up racism and class resentment". I certainly don't mean to defend the abhorrent tabloid press here, because they absolutely contributed to (or even created) the racist vitriol aimed at Meghan, but class resentment? Really? In a country where 1 in 5 children live in poverty (even more are food insecure), but we still spend millions on a monarchy that are increasingly out of touch? I don't think that's resentment - I think that's justified anger.

Ultimately, it feels weird to rate this book, but I'm basing my rating purely on how much I actually enjoyed it. Much of it is incredibly interesting, much of it is baffling, but I'm ultimately glad I read it. 

Lastly - and I'm saying this as someone who was born here and has only ever lived here - the UK is truly bonkers. What a weird, fucked up country.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and War

tiakoko's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

Listened via Audible

The Details:
Narrated by Prince Harry
Unabridged

This was surprisingly interesting! 

I was initially roped in by the strange snippet about his nether regions but I found quite a lot of interesting stories in here.

One of the bigger controversies I was intrigued to hear about was his thoughts behind dressing up as a Nazi and the other brainless things he did as a youth, to get him dubbed as "Prince Harry, the Thicko", but I was most invested when he was talking about how he met Megan and the relationships and difficulties that grew there.

Hearing about his struggles with how he handled emotion after the death of his mum was quite heartbreaking to hear. Being in a similar situation I couldn't help but empathise.

There were a lot of instances were he sounded so far removed from reality and woe is me, but for the most part this was absorbing.

Overall, a fascinating insight into the Prince's tell-all.

Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<

Gén

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Hate crime, Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Drug abuse, Grief, Child death, Death of parent, Bullying, Racial slurs, Racism, War, Drug use, and Violence

frostrr's review

adventurous emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Props to Harry for having the courage to tell his own story. He doesn’t hold back on his feelings about his brother, father and especially the press. The book felt like a long answer to “why we left the royal family”. I loved he and Meg’s love story, but I wish he had talked more about his children, as he mentions always wanting to be a father. Much of part 3 was a breathless account of the furor leading to their departure from their royal roles with brief mentions of the birth of the babies, especially Archie. His account of his time at war was enlightening as I don’t normally read firsthand descriptions of modern warfare. I did have to skip/skim a few pages tat touched on hunting and animal cruelty (poaching). His grief for his mother is palpable throughout and I’m sad that the adults in his life failed him in dealing with it as a child. I don’t see how there will be any reconciliation between Harry and his family after this book. William in particular comes across like a jealous, distant, self-absorbed man. I would recommend this book to those interested in the inner-workings of the royal family, the complicated dynamics between family members, and their relationship with truth and the press. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and War

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Animal death, Violence, and Animal cruelty

haleybre's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, War, Child death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Car accident, Animal death, and Drug use

ghostmoth's review against another edition

informative

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Child death