Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Spare by Prince Harry

148 reviews

celinececilia's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

• Sehr schnell reingekommen 
• Sogwirkung 
• Spannend
• Sehr flüssig und teils auch schön geschrieben 
• Normaler Mann muss sich einer außergewöhnlichen Situation anpassen 
• Wut auf Paparazzi und Journalisten wurde noch größer
• Besonders im 3. Teil zu sehr gekürzt
• Hätte mir Bilder gewünscht

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, and Stalking

Moderate: Gaslighting, Mental illness, War, and Drug use

Minor: Death, Miscarriage, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

peytonhhill's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.75

I listened to the audiobook and wow was it powerful to hear in the author's voice. This book was interesting and humanizing, but also incredibly sad. I learned a lot about the British monarchy, the press, and human rights I hadn't thought about before. While I can't imagine what it would feel like to be a member of the British royal family, I certainly understand more about it's complexities. I really appreciate that this book was incredibly honest and vulnerable. I hope the author and his family find peace. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, War, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Death of parent

laurenabeth's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gun violence, Pregnancy, Classism, Racism, War, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Car accident, and Bullying

Minor: Drug use, Stalking, Pandemic/Epidemic, Miscarriage, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

itsbumley's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Mental illness, Racism, War, Death, Kidnapping, Violence, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Animal death, Car accident, Miscarriage, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

sarah_hutchins's review

adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

The story was interesting to me and it held my attention a lot more than I thought. I can’t really find anything I didn’t like about it that stood out other than I think it could've used a bit more editing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: War, Stalking, Car accident, Death, and Islamophobia

Minor: Colonisation, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Misogyny

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Abandonment, Xenophobia, Violence, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Classism, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Child abuse, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Death, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Murder, and Miscarriage

dogoodwithbooks's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

CW: death/grief, car accident, recreational drug and alcohol use, divorce, warfare, 9/11 attacks (recounted), animal death, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, harassment, suicidal ideation, suicide, heart attack 

While this book deals with a lot of heavy topics, Prince Harry is brilliantly able to tell his side of the story for the first time ever. 

Over the course of 15 hours and 40 minutes, Prince Harry’s memoir felt more like a long podcast than a book, which I thought was interesting. Don’t be put off by the total duration as the chapters are very short and you can breeze through them very quickly if you want to. 

After hearing Prince Harry’s point of view, I think that the reasons behind things he did made a bit more sense. I’m not going to lie because I wasn’t a huge royal family observer prior to Spare, but I do think that this book brought more insight on who the royal family might actually be. Add that to the poignant and illustrative writing style going over Prince Harry’s life story, this is a book worth investing in and especially through an audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Grief, Mental illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, and Suicide

Minor: Animal death

gwendle_vs_literature's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

In the grand scheme of all books I would only give this about a 3.5* rating; I’m not generally the biggest fan of non-fiction, but I decided decided that I want to read at least one non-fiction book every year.  I give this 4* as far as biographies go, because it doesn’t feel fair to compare it to “Piranessi” “Pride and Prejudice” or “The Canterbury Tales”.

I was aware in general how badly the press had treated Megan and Harry (I’d witnessed some of it, and also watched the Netflix documentary) but this book goes back further in time, beginning with Diana’s death and ending (in the epilogue) a few days after the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

I struggled through the section on his military service — it was interesting, but I have a hard time viewing the military in any kind of positive light. I also felt that Harry had blinders on when he talked about how the wealth of the monarchy (and other vastly rich families) was acquired “when the system was unjust and wealth was generated by exploiting workers and thuggery, annexation and enslaved people” . . . as though the system is now just and workers are no longer exploited; as though keeping land and wealth and possessions obtained in that way could ever be moral.  But I suppose we all (or most of us) make excuses for our families. Maybe his position on that will evolve in time — it seemed to be rooted mainly in loyalty to his Granny. 

The revelation that he has no memory of ever hugging or being hugged by his father or grandmother, and that he and William have only ever hugged a few times was so sad — not just for Harry, but for all of them. 

The text is mostly well-written and well edited, with only a few examples of Harry using the wrong word — in one case the opposite word (he said “nonplussed” when he meant “un-phased”, which is a common mistake, but which any editor worth their salt should have caught).  

I can definitely recommend reading this book if you enjoy non-fiction, or are trying to challenge yourself by reading more of it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Hate crime, Drug use, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Grief

hannahpings's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

ended up liking spare a lot more than i thought i would. a moving, engaging reflection on self-actualization, liberation, and love. this is a man!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, and Racism

puglover's review

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Miscarriage, War, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

Minor: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Infidelity