A review by ellementary
Spare by Prince Harry

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

I found this fascinating and terribly sad. Is the ending even that hopeful given all we know about where the story has gone from there? It is often said that public figures must endure the invasion of their privacy as a trade-off and while I believe everyone deserves their bit of privacy, I can understand some level of logic in this. In the case of Prince Harry, though, I really felt for him in this respect. He was born into this. He never chose it. And how much has he ever really profited from it? This is a man who has spent a great many years of his life dedicated to service and charity, not a performer or elected official who chose his field. If you are looking for juicy tidbits about his more recent and very publicized familial squabbles, you're likely to be disappointed. There isn't really anything that revelatory here and that period of his life is a rather small chunk of the book at the end. There are suggestions of jealousy, grudges, and family turmoil peppered in here and there but a lot of the book focuses on his life before meeting and marrying Meghan Markle. I thought he spoke honestly about his privilege while also acknowledging the difficulties that come from a public life inherited at birth. It was interesting to get an insider's peek into the mystery behind the monarchy, but all in all, this was just really a sad tale.
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