Goodreads Project, part 13: Memoir and Autobiography

January 16, 2024 Dorothy A. Winsor Comments 0 Comment

I’m now reading from the last three categories of my project to read a book from each of the 15 categories Goodreads uses in its Best Book of the Year contest. The winners are listed here. If you click back through my last 12 entries, you’ll see my reviews of previous categories.

Category 13 is Memoir and Autobiography. I run into a lot of people who are writing memoirs. I can’t imagine doing it. Why would anyone want to read that level of detail about my life? But some people do draw that kind of interest, and one of them would be Prince Harry. So, from the semi-finalist list, I chose his memoir, Spare.

The Ghostwriter

Spare was ghostwritten by J.R. Moehringer, who is good at this. His own memoir, The Tender Bar won numerous awards and was made into a movie in 2022. He’s ghostwritten other memoirs including one for Andre Agassi. He also worked as a reporter and did work for which he won a Pulitzer.

So, no surprise, the book is extremely well-written.

The Story

Prince Harry essentially starts his story with his mother’s death. The themes that run through this book are there: the omnipresent paparazzi, the performance of royalty, the emotional isolation. I didn’t know that for years afterwards, Harry convinced himself Diana wasn’t dead, but rather had gone into hiding.

This is a tale of an abusive tabloid press by which Harry feels hounded, as his mother was. Among the events he mentions is Rupert Murdoch’s phone hacking scandal. My impression is that the UK papers are far worse at this than the US ones are, but I could be mistaken. He talks about what it’s like to have paparazzi watching his every move, and making up stories when they can’t find one that’s sufficiently interesting.

For him, this book is chance to tell his side of the story. Of course, we’re all biased when we tell our own stories, so I’m not sure I’d call this book the Truth with a capital T. But constant, not always truthful press coverage is a maddening aspect to his life, and I don’t blame him for his anger.

I was most interested in his account of his time in the army. He was deployed to Afghanistan twice, and not in comfy positions at a safe place. He seemed to do well in the army.

Stories of Celebrities

I found myself wondering if I should feel guilty for reading what is essentially royal gossip. Does that feed the appetite of the paparazzi?

What is this interest we have in the lives of celebrities anyway? These are real people, not characters in a novel. Somehow the reality makes some people enjoy the story more. Celebrities seem to function as stories we make up for ourselves. I find it a little voyeuristic.

The next category is History. I’m reading The Wager, written by David Grann, who wrote Killers of the Flower Moon.

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