Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Spare by Prince Harry

152 reviews

loloburns's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.5

This book almost broke me. Its not often it takes me 4 months to finish a book, especially one that I'm interested in, however this book was so narratively dense, with so many details and side tangents that I had to keep stopping to digest it.

As a tell all memoir, I didn't immensely enjoy it, instead, reading it with the mind that it was written by a person. Just a person. Its heartbreaking.

I have never cried as much reading a non fiction book as reading this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, War, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Vomit, and Kidnapping

alliejm00's review

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death and Drug use

theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective slow-paced

5.0

I am the same age as Prince Harry and always felt a affinity for him. Admittedly, I don’t know much about the royal family, but Harry’s memoir discusses the absurdity of everything the press have ever said about the royal family. This book was also Harry’s chance to tell his side of the story about how his family has treated him and Megan. 

This is a very heavy book and I cried many times listening to his recount of very painful topics: his mother’s death, 9/11, self medicating with drugs and alcohol, going to war, racism against his wife and children, threats against their lives, the loss of an unborn child, the toxicity of his family, the death of the Queen, and the paparazzi who refuse(d) to let them live their lives. 

This was a highly enjoyable and deeply moving memoir, even for an anti-monarchist living in the colonized commonwealth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, and Colonisation

lisasilv's review

emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

An interesting look into Royal life, although I am sure the truth lies somewhere between what this book says, and with what actually happened. I like that the chapters were short, and that it moved quickly. I listened to the audio book version, and you could hear the emotion from the prince as he read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Car accident, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and War

kaiciemesser's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racism, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Colonisation

aloy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

kshertz's review

adventurous informative sad medium-paced

4.75

Listen, I judged this book so hard but… I loved it. His love for his mom, he doesn’t shy away from tough topics. He’s actually been through a lot. I felt like I will never fully understand his life, but
I get it. Now I know why he made the choices he did. Definitely see both sides in many of the situations though. Which is why it’s not 5 stars. You know it’s super biased 😂 but I still really loved it and will recommend it

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

norwegianforestreader's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

rainbowyeticorn's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

I could really identify with the sibling aspects of this book. It really reminded me of the fraught interactions I've had with my own siblings, of my own feelings of wanting that bonded closeness but being rejected over and over again for whatever unknown reasons. I also really appreciated Prince Harry's honesty about his struggles with mental health, his inherent racism and the steps he took to address it, and examining the dehumanization of war. If I had one critique it was the Prince's streetstre aversion to using pharmaceuticals while also experimenting with street drugs. This narrative in no way helps fight the ableist stigma against taking prescribed medications for mental health support. Medications are researched and tested and they can improve and save lives. I just would have appreciated if Prince Harry had acknowledged that somewhere in his narrative, even if that is or isn't what eventually helped him. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, and Medical content

ka_ke's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Yep, it’s a memoir. There isn’t much else to say, I probably would have enjoyed it more if had been an academic reflection on the affects of everything instead of one gigantic trauma dump. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, and Abandonment

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Suicidal thoughts