Okay – I caved and now I’m going to rave. This is such a fine, fine book.  It’s so fun in so many ways.  It’s real, it’s informative, it’s funny. It’s tension-packed, it’s sad and it’s a page-turner, it’s award material. I loved it.  I laughed and cried and held my breath. If I had known I’d appreciated it this much I’d have bought both versions in a heartbeat.  

Spare
by Prince Harry 
2023 / 410 pages
Read by Prince Harry 15h 39m
Rating: 9 / Memoir 
(Both read and listened)

The thing is I got both the Kindle and the Audio from the library within 24 hours of when I put myself on the list. I really wasn’t sure if I’d appreciate the book or not. It seems that either people are getting to chapter 3 and skipping the book or they’re getting to Chapter 3 and digging in. I definitely dug in (And I returned them pronto.)

All that said, it’s a long book – especially if you listen to it as I did, reading some paragraphs or pages from the Kindle if I needed to and then getting ahead in the Kindle and listening again to catch up.    

I found it to be, for the most part, a very honest book. He loved his mother, Diana, and has loathed the press ever after Diana’s death. He loves his family, dysfunctional though it is while despising the leakers and creators of palace gossip. I admire his dedication to service whether it be in the military or for children in Africa. .

Fwiw, I had no particular “side” in the family/press difficulties before reading the book – I knew the press wasn’t impartial. Rupert Murdoch is in it for the money on all sides of the pond. I’m really just rather sad for the family and the people who genuinely love them. 

  The book is very nicely written in generally chronological order and with excellent pacing. It has short chapters so it seems like it’s a fast read. But it’s not – or it wasn’t for me. With 400+ pages there’s simply a lot to cover. The family dynamics are interesting, but there’s a lot to Harry’s life I had no idea of or just some bare outlines.  

 Harry is neither grandiose nor self-deprecating. He’s kind of humble, but human in that he reveals deep anger and insecurities as well as a fair amount of pride.  I was aware of how intrusive the British press was, but still I was surprised and a bit outraged for Harry, his family and friends. But trying to get the news from the tabloids is a non-starter and I don’t think they’re quite as aggressive in the US (Although these days with the politics involved it can get very hairy-scary.

The memoir is supposedly authored by Prince Harry but everyone knows (or should) that he had a ghost writer. Fortunately,  J. R. Moehringer has just the right talents and  background to create a really special book. This is one of those books which can be a gift to just about anyone over the age of 15. 

It is read by Harry and he does a superb job. The accents of English royalty are not difficult to understand- they tend to be precise about articulation, but maybe a bit fast.