Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Spare by Prince Harry

13 reviews

chronicallyplotting's review against another edition

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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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kiwichill's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

3.0


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hannahcstocks's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.75


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kimveach's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I rarely read memoirs, so I don't know how to critique them.  Instead, I'll share a few thoughts.  I listened to this, which is the best approach to this work.  It would be best if you listened (at regular speed) to Harry speaking to understand how sincerely he feels about his story.  It's hard to know if all the conflicts in his life, especially with his father and brother, happened as he tells it.  Do two people ever tell the same story about a situation?  

This is a story of a boy without a stable home life whose mother dies tragically.  That trauma carries into war zones and his search for a relationship that can withstand the scrutiny of the press.  With the help of therapy, he's able to move forward.

Some of the best parts for me were learning about life in the palace, at Eton, and in the army.  It was also fascinating to learn how Prince Charles divided royal duties and access to money between the brothers.

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vaguely_pink's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

2.5

I'm fascinated by the royals in the same way I'm fascinated by cults. As an American, it's just a wild and supremely fucked up institution. So I was interested to hear what Harry had to say in this memoir. Unfortunately, I fear he has said too much.

And not too much about the monarchy or whatever. But perhaps too much about the war. And his frostbitten penis. 

I suppose I can sympathize with having a hard time editing out bits of your life when composing a memoir, especially when that life has been lived so publicly and with such scrutiny over events that were inaccurately reported. And when you've endured so much trauma. But this book was entirely too long and often felt disjointed. I often tuned out during the middle section of the book where he goes on for eons about how much he loved the war. 

Which is a shame because he has some very poignant and important things to say about how we treat those in the public eye. You just have to endure many stories about flying helicopters and camping in Botswana that you might not be interested in and paragraphs of the former Prince of Wales reminding you of all the "great work" he's done.

At the end of the day, if you're at all intrigued by the inner workings of the British monarchy and Harry specifically, Spare is probably worth a read. Just be aware that it definitely needed a more discerning editor. 

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genevieve_eggleston's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

I found this book to be extremely interesting, even as someone who hasn’t paid much prior attention to the royal family. It provided a lot of insight and was full of emotional moments and funny stories alike. I would highly recommend it for anyone who is looking for an intriguing memoir.

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sydapel's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.5


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amelianotthepilot's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad slow-paced

1.0

Truly every chapter is wilder than the last and it's all read by him. I do not fathom how these stories made it past editors but also past his wife. Most of the memoir is a jarring juxtaposition of a deeply mentally unwell child who craves empathy from his family while being delusional about his mother's death contrasted with him talking about his "todger". I really don't know why he talks about it so much but so far it has made an appearance at least 7 times in the first 03:30 hours. Certainly an iconic read.

The audiobook is also unnecessarily 15.5 hours long but honestly all due to the fact that this man reads at a snails pace with a breath in between every other word. 

It’s a psychiatrists playground with not only generational trauma but also family trauma but also war PTSD but also stalker trauma but also maternal death trauma topped off with royal trauma. Truly a wild time. I’m sorry to this man.


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iinasomnia's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0


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caitlincooper03's review

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1.0


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