Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Spare by Prince Harry

86 reviews

tdhuck's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Drug use, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Racism, Death of parent, Death, and Stalking

Moderate: Alcohol, Car accident, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Antisemitism, Addiction, and Bullying

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

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

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

kbairbooks's review

challenging emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I did not grow up knowing anything about the Royals, and for many years of my teenage and young adult life did not understand the appeal of learning and speaking about these people. I remember times in my life seeing headlines and wondering, how could they possibly be true and how could they possibly talk about other human beings like that no matter what their status is. Over the past couple of years, more or less since Megan‘s entrance into the Royal family, I became more interested and learned more about the royal family and their dynamic and so forth. The amount of empathy and sorrow I feel for Harry and Meghan, and also the pride and joy of their strength of character, their strength of heart, and their love for each other is just beautiful to witness. And overall I appreciate the vulnerability and honesty of writing a book such as this which is so open and vulnerable. It takes a courageous person to be vulnerable and speak their truth regardless of others’ perceptions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Misogyny, War, Abandonment, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Pregnancy, Racism, Car accident, and Racial slurs

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

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

ladynavalon's review

slow-paced

1.0

This book should have being a (bunch of) therepy sesión(s). The more these characters (M&H) expose themselves, the less cresibility they gain. Because, when you have such a public live, what's the point of liying over and over? 
Dear reader, don't lose your time on this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Classism, Alcoholism, Alcohol, War, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Grief, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

kimveach's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, War, Classism, Grief, Pregnancy, Car accident, and Cursing

issyd23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.0

You know his life is fucked when he’d enter a war zone to escape the paps. Vive la république! 3🎳

NB This was actually quite boring as I’ve read 3 Royal bios & knew everything already. The Palace Papers is 100x better! Kate Middleton’s chapter is tantalising. However, this did make me want to go to Botswana. 

Other thoughts:

• I cannot believe I now know that Prince Harry is circumcised 
• Find it hilarious that according to Haz Charles is in his ‘Camilla era’ - Taylor take note! ✍️
• On a serious note his hatred of the media (especially Murdoch) is palpable - I wonder if he’ll pursue them in court
• On a personal note I don’t love that Harry is convinced we (US + allies) were the ‘good guys’ in Afghanistan - and his refusal to think critically about the wider implications and complexities of the war/occupation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Stalking, Violence, War, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Body horror, Car accident, Classism, Colonisation, and Grief

sydneynorman's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Self harm, Car accident, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Racism, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Gun violence, and Hate crime