Between people watching Harry & Meghan, reading the leaks from Prince Harry’s memoir Spare and now being able to read the entire book, his stories about the Royal Family have taken the internet by storm. However, what do the book critics think about this book from the Duke of Sussex? The reviews are mixed and complex, and many noted, even those who liked the book, how for a prince who desires privacy he sure does reveal a lot.
Prince Harry’s Book Spare Has Taken The Internet By Storm
Before this book even came out there were lots of stories leaked from Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, and the revelations, allegations, and stories have been wild.
For context, about a week before the book came out, an excerpt from it about the time Prince Harry wore a controversial Nazi uniform to a party went viral. The internet was ablaze with the updated version of this story as Prince Harry explained that William and Kate were involved. Other stories about the two brothers fighting also came up, as well as one story about how Camilla reportedly wanted Catherine to change her name after she married William. In the book, and in interviews Prince Harry has also spoken about his relationship with Camilla, and claimed she “sacrificed” him to the press. Those are only scratching the surface of the stories Prince Harry tells and the claims he makes in Spare.
However, while the internet is all over these stories and revelations, the critics have now voiced their opinions on the book as a whole.
What The Critics Think Of Prince Harry’s Spare
The New York Times critic Alexandra Jacobs explained that she wanted to like the memoir, especially since J.R. Moehringer helped write it, and he is a writer she adores. She then wrote that she did end up enjoying parts of it, but did not like others.
Like its author, “Spare” is all over the map — emotionally as well as physically. He does not, in other words, keep it tight.
Over at the BBC, the review has a headline that calls Spare, “the weirdest book ever written by a royal." Sean Coughlan, a royal correspondent, went on to call the book “the longest angry drunk text ever sent.” He also described the “ghost-written” book as a “fast-paced, quickfire account” of Prince Harry’s story, he also noted what he thinks is missing from the memoir:
What's missing from the book is any sense of awareness of any wider context of the rest of the world outside. It's as if he has been blinded by the paparazzi flashlights.
After this, Coughlan noted that he thinks readers will be irritated by the book’s “self-absorption.” He wrote that while so many stories came out in this book that we’ve never heard before it all might be too much, making the last words of the review “TMI. Too much information…”
Joanne Kaufman at WSJ also talked about the immense detail Prince Harry goes into, noting that his “over-sharing” is a problem in the book. She referenced the frostbitten penis story that both aforementioned journalists also brought up, using the title of the book to make her point, the critic wrote:
In his score-settling, setting-the-record-straight, ghost-written memoir, “Spare”—perhaps you’ve heard about it, then heard about it some more—Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, spills his tea about his frostbitten penis (spare us), the loss of his virginity (please, spare us) and his copious youthful drug use and alcohol consumption (who would have guessed?).
She also explained an opinion that many on the internet, especially those who criticized the docuseries Harry & Meghan, think, which is:
What may gall the reader most is the hypocrisy. Harry claims to want privacy, but there he is putting it all out there for Oprah, Anderson and others.
Meanwhile, The Independent gave the book four out of five stars. Lucy Pavia wrote about the uncovering of many new stories, and thought it was well done and “breathtakingly frank.” She explained:
This book doesn’t so much lift the curtain on private royal life than rip it off and shake out its contents. But it’s also richly detailed and at times beautifully written; if Harry is going to set fire to his family, he has at least done it with some style.
However, at the end of the review, Pavia noted something many critics also pointed out, including Victoria Murphy at Town and Country who wrote:
There is no doubt that Harry’s story is heartbreaking at times and it would be hard to come away from reading Spare without feeling some compassion for him. If you do end up caring about him when you finish this book, you may find yourself turning the last page and hoping that he does not wake up one day and wish he could take it all back.
I’ll leave you with a snippet from Charlotte Higgins review in The Guardian, which explains the mixed opinion many critics have, which includes seriously questioning how much information Prince Harry revealed. She wrote:
Spare is by turns compassion-inducing, frustrating, oddly compelling and absurd. Harry is myopic as he sits at the centre of his truth, simultaneously loathing and locked into the tropes of tabloid storytelling, the style of which his ghostwritten autobiography echoes.
It seems clear that many who reviewed this book are aware of the juxtaposition of Prince Harry wanting to not be the center of attention, but then doing all these interviews and releasing a book. While the reviews all talked about how Spare reveals many interesting unheard stories about the Royal Family, the ones mentioned here also seemed to question how much is too much.
Spare is now available to read, and you can watch Harry & Meghan with a Netflix subscription.
