Bookclub for Spare

[BornBlonde]

I know there are loads of threads, but thought it may be useful to set up a bookclub thread ahead of the release date fir those interested. I've ordered the audiobook as struggling to find time to read at the moment but love I can listen to an Audiobook while cooking etc

I do feel I wasted time and money, I’d rather have known before I’d purchased about his problems with recollections. I felt at the time reading huge empathy for his memories and felt anger towards other parties but as a reader I’m being invited to choose his truths to the detriment of others. If I left a review, it would be the Queens simply sentence “recollections may vary”.

Would suggest you stop reading the Daily Mail, which has that as a top headline, and start reading the book which puts the sentences into their context, including mood, is it lighthearted, is it heavy, is it meant to be satirical. How can you tell from just a headline?

We have to disagree on whether you would call this memoir literary, because to me, it reads like one and employs all the devices of literary memoirs, while being very much in Harry's voice.

You may be confusing voice with style: style being the vehicle, and voice the viewpoint. Slang can be found in literary works too, see the Glaswegian Booker winners by James Kelman and Douglas Stuart.

But it's okay, happy to disagree.

Yes but I didn't really see it as neglect as this is the upper class lifestyle. I just thought they were having great fun and it's similar to how we played in the 70s in parks and woods rather than sprawling family land, with lots of freedom instead of over anxious parents standing at the sideline and with bicycles abs sticks rather than ranger rovers and shotguns

@Aspiringmatriarch
That same chapter is sad when he mentions how he loved to rescue William - but suddenly remembered that William should have been rescuing him.

I've been sent a pdf of the book by a mate, she was forwarding it to anyone who wanted it.

I've read over 60 pages. Totally disagree with @MrsMaxDeWinter ,it's not well written or literary in the slightest. It's conversational, yes, but mawkish and clumsy in places. And the literary touches (like the swan gliding across the lake in the prologue) feel very contrived and jar with the overall tone - it's like the ghostwriter added them in, but it's not Harry's voice.

He talks a lot about memory and how his memory cannot be trusted. At least he's honest about that, but it also means we have to take every single thing he says with a massive pinch of salt. A self-confessed unreliable narrator.

The audio book must be a treat to listen to.

I'm on the audio and yes it's nice to hear his voice as the narrator.

If that extract that @Milti posted is from the actual book some people must have a very low bar of what they consider well written

@MrsMaxDeWinter whether it's a headline or not, is it not a line in the book though? It's really poor. Like a 15 year old had written it.

I downloaded the audio book this morning and just finished Chapter 27.

I'm enjoying it and finding that I can really picture the scenes as he tells them. You can tell a lot from the tone of his voice as well - such as the box room story, he's telling it like it is but there's no hint in his voice that he finds this a problem or that he felt hard done by - just that he had the smaller room. You could tell the difference too when he speaks about the press, still a calm voice, but you can tell the hint of anger there. And my heart is aching for the little boy who convinced himself his mummy had disappeared.

I think there's right and wrong on both sides of this, and no doubt there will be inaccuracies in the book to what really happened - but that's life really. I just hope he can find peace now.

Not sure that I can take seriously anyone who promotes theft and piracy by circulating free PDFs.

The money may not mean much to Harry, but as an author, I take strong exception to what you have done, with is theft, because intellectual property is property.

Piracy is illegal, it is unethical, and it robs authors of revenue. It's honestly better not to buy any books than circulate them in this way.

Yes, I felt this too. I can kind of understand the others in the family not being too upset, but there just seems to be a complete lack of empathy for what the Prince's were going through.

I can’t help feeling that Meghan’s pen has trailed across some of it…

The tone and pace with which he speaks makes it more interesting for me. Yes he really didn't mind - he was still in the same room as Willy just Willy has the bigger side. He understood why and I think he was just happy he was in the same room as his big brother. As mentioned below he was describing other areas and ended with the boys bedroom.

Am now listening to the audio while reading at the same time, thanks to all who recommended it.
You are so right. Multiple levels of trauma going on here. Not only losing his mother, but a boarding school survivor with all that comes with it, then the military.
Anger issues, drugs, alcohol ... I am surprised he is still standing to be honest.

One common thread is his deep insecurity fragility and self-esteem issues. He admits he is not academic, was not good in school, he clearly did not see himself as attractive, bought into the whole ginger thing, clearly compared himself against William. And when he meets Meghan, and discovers she likes books, he thinks that's it then, and is intimidated by her. He really is just a lost boy who was desperate for love.

@toomuchlaundry there’s worse than that as well - 😂 there’s no way a Pulitzer author has written that - the ghost writer was liking some negative tweets about hazno so maybe he’s peed off like most who become involved with the dastardly duo

@MrsMaxDeWinter he’s a man child who can’t behave and is obsessed with his penis

@MrsMaxDeWinter

I agree. A few times, a single sentence stood out to me. It is really telling about how he felt about himself at the time. For example, ch 14

"Abandoned children don’t care about a bell.

@onlylarkin have you ever read a book before - it’s shit - you and max de wot not are as mad as he is

😂

Abandoned children don’t care about a bell.

What on earth is he referring to? His bike? School?

Yep. Luckily. I learned not to be nasty. You should try it. It doesn't make you look superior or smart. It makes you look immature.

When you want to have an actual conversation about a book and not try to insult me and other readers who don't share your opinion, we can do that.

In the mean time, have a nice day. I won't be pulled into whatever it is you need.

@onlylarkin

Listening to him talk about Charles makes me feel sorry for all of them. He is actually quite compassionate about his father's limitations and inability to show emotion.

He is actually really kind about Charles, he comes across as vivid, interested in ideas, engaged. Just really stunted emotionally.

Looks like British upper lip thing is a real thing in this family.

@onlylarkin

Be warned" @milti is a known to come to these threads with the sole purpose of derailing them.

I recommend you keep your focus on the book.

I’m probably about half way through part 2 of the book. These are the main things I have took from it so far:

• He was never able to grieve and properly process what happened to his mother because he refused to believe she was really dead. This has led to clear mental health issues
• he has an unhealthy obsession and hatred of the media (not unwarranted but still not healthy) and he blames them for ALL of his problems even when that’s not always the case (ie he blames them solely for Diana’s death, not the fact that she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and the driver was drunk/he’s bitter they exposed him as a drug user when he was actually using drugs albeit not to the level they claimed etc)
• He has abandonment issues (again understandable considering what happened to his mum) which is why he was hurt William tried to ditch him at Eton and why he was so affected when Charles and Harry got married (he knew he wouldn’t see them as much because they now had their own lives that didn’t revolve around him)
• Charles seems like a very sweet, loving man but he’s slightly useless and doesn’t live in the real world (like asking Harry to write letters rather than call home when he was in the army) and has his own emotional problems (he can’t praise his son face to face, he writes it in a letter and leaves it on his bed)
• William just seems like a typical older brother. They love each other and there is concern for each other but he clearly wants to hang out with other people. Harry seems a little jealous (in a little brother type of way) and thinks William is also jealous of him (he has more freedom to do what he does) but I would say that this idea seems more like Harry projecting his feelings rather than based on any evidence in anecdotes (so far at least). Also, he has also changed the narrative and says that looking back, what he thought was brotherly banter was actually William being jealous, which smacks of revisionism to me.
• He has (or at least had) very warm feelings for Kate. He loves her like a sister, thinks she’s sweet and always wants to make her laugh. He dreams about the day when they will be the Fab Four (which makes me wonder if the subsequent issues between William, Kate & Meghan hurt him more than we realise)
• The army was the best place for him. He felt focused, energised and that he had a purpose. It afforded him the privacy he wanted. He also clearly enjoyed the camaraderie, which again makes me think he has abandonment issues.

It’s an interesting read, I feel more sorry for him that I thought I would, but I think he is very paranoid and vulnerable, he isn’t always a reliable narrator and it looks like there’s an element of revisionism in his stories.

Haven't got to Kate or the army yet, but your reading is the same as mine on the first three points @Harrysfrostbittentodger .

Harry desperately needed counselling, very early on, both to deal with grief and his obsessive hatred for the press.

The magical thinking about his mother was damaging, meaning grieving was delayed for too long and came out in destructive ways.