Reviews tagging 'Death'

Spare by Prince Harry

152 reviews

chronicallyplotting's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

The saying “An heir and a spare” is one that haunts Prince Harry. It is one that his father referred to him when he was born and one that has haunted him his entire life. Feeling as though he his existence is to always be a backup in the eyes of his family, a formality.
 
I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. I do not follow the royal family close, I am a person who is very thankful to not live under a monarchy and after reading this I am even more thankful not to live under one. 
It is sad how much Harry and William went through growing up with the death of their mother, and the lack of mental health help provided to them was shameful. Prince Harry spent his life tortured and haunted by the media. 
The only thing about the book that Prince Harry contradicted himself on was he hated people who wrote “tell alls “exposing things. And this book was a “tell all”. 
I hope Harry and Megan find peace away from the monarchy and press like the hope. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Racism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Death, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug use

alicer718's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I felt I had to read this being a monarchist and having seen most of the Harry and Meghan stuff first hand and being absolutely horrified by it. The book was really interesting and informative it has made me see the entire situation in a different light and has really killed what little trust I had in the press and the ‘truths’ they tell 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death of parent, Cursing, Grief, Racial slurs, and Drug use

Moderate: Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Death, Bullying, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

notanniewarren's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

Oh bloody HELL. Look, except for occasionally getting tearful when I think about how much Princess Diana would have made an amazing Drag Race judge, I'm not really interested in Price Harry or any of the monarchy. HOWEVER. For better or for worse, I am a citizen of the UK and therefore the monarchy does affect me and so while I don't have an opinion on Prince Harry as a person, I think it probably does serve me to be informed about the royal family, at least in a broad sense. There were a lot of things in here that I didn't need to know but in general it was actually better than I thought it would be. I have so many thoughts about this book, too many to write down here - there were bits that amused me and moved me, bits that bored me, shocked me, and bits I rolled my eyes at - but mostly it made me sure that being born into the monarchy is a human rights violation. Haz went further than I thought he would with his condemnations, but not as far as I would have liked.

PS. Absolutely hilarious that he wanted to start his book with a quote and admits in the introduction that he found it on brainyquote.com

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, War, Racism, and Racial slurs

siankrb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Violence, and War

Moderate: Antisemitism, Gore, Abortion, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Medical content

Minor: Racism, Addiction, Confinement, Alcohol, Classism, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Infidelity, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs

shyleek's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

Okay, first of all I listened to the audiobook because... Well... Who doesn't want to say a prince read them a story? 

Anyway, parts of this were slow and I definitely found myself zoning out at times. Such is life though, being a prince doesn't exempt you from high and low points. But I guess that's the theme of the whole book isn't it? Even as a royal he didn't live some perfect life. 

If you don't like memoirs, don't touch this book. If you do, then I'd say this is definitely a decent one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Stalking, and Death of parent

Moderate: Miscarriage, Animal cruelty, and War

Minor: Death

mcarabooboo's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Violence, Alcohol, Sexism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, Cursing, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Vomit, Suicide, Racism, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Death, Car accident, Animal death, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, and Miscarriage

mj_86's review

informative sad tense slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, War, Death, Bullying, Racism, Death of parent, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Drug use

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

bootrat's review against another edition

challenging funny reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I'm not really a fan of the royals at all, so I've put off reading this, but I actually ended up really enjoying it! It's a very interesting and reflective take on living your live in the ultimate spotlight, the effect the loss of a parent has on you (especially at a young age), the pressures of family, and the absolutely horrible beast that is the British press. I'd recommend reading this, even if you're like me and hold no love for Prince Harry or any of the royal family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death of parent, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Death, Racism, Violence, Drug use, and Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy and Miscarriage

kiwichill's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Grief, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Drug use, and Racism

Minor: Gun violence, Bullying, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Deportation, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Hate crime