Title: Spare
Author: Prince Harry
Publisher/Year: Random House Publishing 1/10/23
Length: 416 pages
Overview
Little boy, beloved son, brother, husband and father, prince, soldier, and advocate for social causes, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex has lived a life staged in the public eye, and who he really is has been the subject of second guesses, speculation, and projection. But no more. Spare is the up-close, behind the scenes, intimate, and forthright memoir of a man reclaiming his own story – its joys, sorrows, aspirations, conflicts, writ small and large. Pick it up for an unsparing glimpse into an extraordinary life!
My Thoughts
I’ll preface this by saying I USED to be a fan of Prince Harry, but I am no longer. So…if you like him, then perhaps stop reading now. Now…for those of you who decided to stick it out, I have to say something about this book. I have never and will never let a book beat me. Meaning no matter how bad a book is, i’ll finish it. It took me THREE WEEKS to finish this book, and there’s no reason that it should have. it’s 400 pages and that’s really nothing special in my eyes. what the issue was in my mind is that there was no story. It was poorly written and it’s incredibly whiny. For a man who was born into a life with no real struggles, it sure sounds like he wasn’t content, isn’t content with any opportunity that he has been provided and wants the world to pity him.
The book starts on the day of his mothers death. Not the night, but the day – where he makes you feel like he’s been living the best life ever – he says it was his happiest day. and then BOOM. That’s the day that his life went to shit. I don’t believe that’s the case – yes it was traumatic, but he was actually given all the means to cope and survive and chose to whine and blame instead.
From there we get glimpses into other aspects of his life. relationships, his time in school and his time in the army. More about the same stories that we heard about in the Netflix series telling us about how he met Meg and how their relationship evolved. Ironically there were inconsistencies AGAIN from what they shared in initial interviews and then in the series and now in the book. That’s probably one of my biggest issues with them too. But this is a review of the book and not the person.
Anyhow, what you have to suffer through here are recounting of all the wonderful things that he was provided. Houses, opportunities to travel the world and do charity work. Opportunities to provide safety in areas that were under attack and opportunities to provide light to people who were suffering. Yet, what we get in this slow reading, poorly written work is detail that makes him seem far less intelligent than we all wanted to believe he was, and stories that you begged to skip ahead because the level of detail just wasn’t worth the page it was written on.
So, if you feel the need to contribute to their family fortune, get this book, but only if you also want something to bang your head against rather than a wall. It’s not worth it…but that’s just me. Enjoy (or not!)