Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Spare by Prince Harry

11 reviews

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

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

lexa's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective sad

4.75

While there was nothing truly groundbreaking in here, and I felt it was maybe a bit long winded, I did greatly enjoy Prince Harry’s story telling. But really, it just made me dislike the monarchy even more. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Stalking, Racism, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Death, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Miscarriage, and Car accident

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Animal death, Vomit, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Kidnapping

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

Moderate: Animal death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Alcoholism

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

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Grief, Gun violence, and War

Moderate: Death of parent, Stalking, Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Cursing, Drug use, Medical content, and Racism

Minor: Colonisation, Miscarriage, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

genevieve_eggleston's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Gore, Alcoholism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Alcohol, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, War, Mental illness, Addiction, Animal death, Death, Blood, and Cursing

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Infidelity, Bullying, Classism, Gun violence, and Sexism

Minor: Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Homophobia, Infertility, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

venetiana's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

This was interesting, even though I'm very anti-monarchy. I picked it up to hear more about the failures of its system, and of course to hear how Meghan and him got out. 

It's in three parts: roughly, those are 1. Harry's childhood, 2. his time in the army, 3. his time with Meghan.
The childhood/yourh part is of course emotional and sad, but also interesting. The army part absolutely made me cringe, the way he talks about war and killing people etc. (also slightly racist, though I guess trying not to be). The third part was shocking in terms of the violent and racist press, the aggressions within the family/firm etc., but of course also romantic and hopeful. Harry reading the book himself certainly adds to that, and makes it much more personal.

Given how the author has spent his whole life "inside", certain views didn't surprise me, though I was kind of disappointed that he hadn't yet found the time to "adjust" them to a world less enabled by privilege. But I definitely respect how he shared all his traumata (and stories), and how he's working on them. I respect that Meghan and him left, it's a big step, and I think it was important to share and explain what led there.

That being said, one small thing, I felt the book ended quite abruptly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Car accident, Stalking, Racism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Ableism, Gun violence, Slavery, Islamophobia, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcohol, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Body shaming, Addiction, Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Mental illness, War, and Xenophobia

The way Harry writes about travelling to Africa isn't always done well, there are sort of mildly racist bits (also, a bit white saviour-y and tourist-y). There are islamophobic/racist bits in the army part (quite violent at times). It's within the frame of the "duty" of war etc., but still.

haleybre's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, War, Child death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Car accident, Animal death, and Drug use

mads_reads_books's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

I wish Harry had taken more ownership of the impacts of his actions. Particularly when talking about the time he wore a Nazi uniform to a party. He simply says he feels great shame and that he spoke with a rabbi to learn more about the Holocaust. In this time of antisemitism and hate crimes I think it was dismissive of Harry not to speak further to denounce and condemn antisemitism within this work or even to apologize for and condemn the other young men in particular who likely felt emboldened and supported by him due to this costume to act on and publicly share their own antisemitic beliefs 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Classism, Colonisation, War, Death of parent, Death, Stalking, Pregnancy, Antisemitism, Murder, Grief, Car accident, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Slavery, Self harm, Racism, Ableism, Racial slurs, and Toxic friendship

Minor: War, Car accident, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, Violence, Addiction, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Islamophobia, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Classism, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Domestic abuse, Antisemitism, Infertility, Vomit, Xenophobia, Incest, Toxic relationship, and Religious bigotry

j_c_'s review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

Read the full review here: Review of Spare by Prince Harry 
I am happy for Harry that he is getting the help he needs to learn how to cope with his trauma, deeply entertained by the entire royal drama (seeing as it doesn't involve me and I am, against my better judgement, a Royal Watcher) and believe that he is, in fact, speaking the truth. For the most part. It helps that this is his face and that he doesn't shy away from names (for the most part).
It is relatively easy to read, this book. It is short and direct, and Harry's humour is intensely acidic and self-derisive. He isn't shy about making a fool of himself, touching on aspects that don't, necessarily, depict him in the most beneficial light.
No matter how much he says he wrote this book to help his family understand, that his end goal wasn't to shame them... I don't necessarily believe it. His depictions of some of his family members are eye-opening and made me think about why he would write them if not to shame them.  That being said, he does share some light on some of them, and mostly, (mostly), portrays them in a flattering way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Vomit, War, Abortion, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Car accident, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts