Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Spare by Prince Harry

121 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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jedore's review

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informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.0

“When is someone in this family going to break free and live?”

My interest in the royals doesn’t run deep. I read a lot of historical fiction about Britain so I have a decent grasp of royal history, I thought Diana was an amazing human and was horrifically mistreated by the family (and the paparazzi, of course), and I’ve watched every season of The Crown. That’s pretty much it. But, it’s enough for me to know that if I was forced to pick a team, I’d definitely be on Team Harry (which, by the way, would be Team Diana-Harry were she still alive). 

Harry took a lot of flack in my online book groups when the book was released…and, now that I’ve finished it, my suspicions are confirmed. Harry isn’t a stellar writer, so he doesn’t always convey his totally justifiable feelings in the most ideal possible way. I believe those who viciously criticized him lack empathy, a basic grasp of psychology, and are very likely the ones who keep the paparazzi in business by reading and believing their trash. 

Speaking from firsthand experience, I can confirm 100% that money and privilege do not excuse ANY human being from the emotional repercussions of a lack of love and abuse. Love is in very short supply in the royal family…that’s clear in every single thing I’ve ever read or watched about them, not just from Harry’s story. Appearances, power, pettiness, and manipulation totally trump love and that creates pain for those who value love more. The paparazzi is beyond abusive and unbelievably racist. What they do is not a price anyone should EVER have to pay. I feel deeply for Harry and Meghan and am SO glad that they were brave enough to break free and live. 

Despite there being a lot more pages of the book dedicated to Harry’s military experiences than I expected, I totally enjoyed spending the last few days with him. If we’re in a relationship, whether we’re male or female, may we all be so lucky to have a partner that is willing to do whatever it takes to protect us. Harry is a good man. I hope that he is able to build a better and safer life for his family…and I hope karma works it’s magic on a few  particular members of his family. 

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bessadams's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.75


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tdhuck's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25


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laurenabeth's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0


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anasf21's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative lighthearted reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5


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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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kim_lommaert's review

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dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.0


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dogoodwithbooks's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

CW: death/grief, car accident, recreational drug and alcohol use, divorce, warfare, 9/11 attacks (recounted), animal death, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, harassment, suicidal ideation, suicide, heart attack 

While this book deals with a lot of heavy topics, Prince Harry is brilliantly able to tell his side of the story for the first time ever. 

Over the course of 15 hours and 40 minutes, Prince Harry’s memoir felt more like a long podcast than a book, which I thought was interesting. Don’t be put off by the total duration as the chapters are very short and you can breeze through them very quickly if you want to. 

After hearing Prince Harry’s point of view, I think that the reasons behind things he did made a bit more sense. I’m not going to lie because I wasn’t a huge royal family observer prior to Spare, but I do think that this book brought more insight on who the royal family might actually be. Add that to the poignant and illustrative writing style going over Prince Harry’s life story, this is a book worth investing in and especially through an audiobook.

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kbairbooks's review

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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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