Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Spare by Prince Harry

12 reviews

dmswack3's review

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

I usually avoid memoirs and biographies due to their voyeuristic feel, but something about 2023 has made me want to listen to a few, and Spare was undoubtedly one of them. 

I highly enjoyed the narration Prince Harry gave, and the story itself was fun to listen to. His ghost writers was phenomenal in my opinion. I'm very glad I listened to it instead of reading it, however, because I think I would have found myself bored by some of the longer chapters had it not been read to me. 

Something else for readers to be weary of besides long chapters and perhaps boring text, should you choose to read this rather than listen- this story bares all... Like ALL. You will hear a LOT about the Prince's... Todger, as he calls it. Like a LOT. Where it's been, who's seen it, how it's been injured so uh. Fair warning there. 

Beyond the todger, this book really doesn't pull punches. I saw shocked at points, angered at others, cried at some. But I also felt myself thinking: is it all true? God I hope not. It's that bad. 

Give it a listen. 

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itsbumley's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.5


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lexa's review against another edition

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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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loloburns's review against another edition

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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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theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition

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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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aloy's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

3.5


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norwegianforestreader's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0


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rainbowyeticorn's review against another edition

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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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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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bookcheshirecat's review

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

3.0

 “The Heir and the Spare—there was no judgment about it, but also no ambiguity. I was the shadow, the support, the Plan B. I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy. I was summoned to provide backup, distraction, diversion and, if necessary, a spare part. Kidney, perhaps. Blood transfusion. Speck of bone marrow. This was all made explicitly clear to me from the start of life’s journey and regularly reinforced thereafter.”

I don't follow the royal family at all, but I was intrigued by Prince Harry's memoir! It was interesting to learn more about his childhood, the grief over losing his mother and the role the media has played his entire life. These parts appealed the most to me, as the vicious nature of the paparazzi and the twisting of the truth by the media sound horrifying. I can't imagine being treated like an object for media attention instead of a person. Harry talks a lot about the practices of the magazines that have also turned against him and his wife, viciously ripping them apart for not fitting into the mould.

In the end, the memoir wasn't anything too impactful. The writing was basic and though I appreciated that Harry narrated his own memoir, his narration style was pretty flat. I also wasn't a big fan of the big focus on Harry's military service. In general, I'm not interested in military propaganda, so seeing Harry talk about his pride about killing others didn't feel right - especially with the Islamophobic undertones! 

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