A review by laura_clarinets
Spare by Prince Harry

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

Proud member of team #ListenToTheBook! As expected, the context around the leaked anecdotes really changed the meaning and added a lot of nuance, and hearing it all in Harry's own voice I think added a lot of depth. It was an enjoyable, if heart-wrenching, listen and I'm glad that Harry had the courage to put this into the world to add his perspective to the record.

Like all memoirs, this story is deeply one-sided, and I think a lot of the criticism around this book so far has been misplaced in that it's asking for a more nuanced, more all-sides view of events. But that's not what a memoir is? This is Harry's point of view on Harry's life. It should be biased and largely one-sided, and it is.

I think Harry does a lot of admirable self-reflection here and was especially pleased that he didn't leave out his more....controversial...moments. But at the same time, I think this book shows that there is still room for more growth. Especially in a book that is taking such a hard line criticizing press on racism and misogony, it seems like more care could've been taken around language towards those same and other similar issues. In particular, I bumped on:

  • The ableist language around wounded veterans and Invictus (ex. "confined" to a wheelchair)
  • The misogynistic language around women in the press or even tangentially related to the press, especially the way the women were described in the Vegas anecdote
  • The consistent, repeated use of "Africa" to describe or explain a specific place, feeling, or topic. Africa is the second-largest continent in both land and population, filled with hugely diverse cultures, peoples, and biomes. It is not a substitute word for Botswana or any other place, just like you don't say "Europe" when you mean "London," and furthermore it has been exhaustively documented and discussed the harm that painting with such a broad brush has done throughout history and continues to do. The argument with Will about who got to "have Africa" just felt gross. If you're talking about animal conservation, just say that. It felt like such an oversight to use language like this in a book where the damages of racism and racist language are such a central theme.

In addition to the language, the other thing keeping this from four starts for me was the pacing. I understand the reasons behind telling the story in such quick anecdotes, but especially in audiobook form the constant new chapters just wasn't for me. Additionally the pacing overall felt a little off to my tastes -- anecdotes in the first third often felt exhaustively detailed and disruptive to the overall flow, while the latter third or so of the book just raced through, leaving out lots of things and dropping quick comments that felt like they deserved more attention. I felt like part three gave me whip lash!

Overall, I'm glad to have listened to it, and I'm glad that Harry put his story out in the world. Most of all, I'm glad that he seems to be finding his own peace with his family like he's wanted to for so long.
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