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Prince Harry, "Spare"

What I'm Reading: 


Laura Zigman, "Small World." This is a book about two adult siblings who reunite after divorce. In childhood, these girls were neglected; a third daughter had serious developmental issues, and there wasn't enough love to go around. 

Zigman's brilliant plot has the sisters sharing space uneasily--until rude neighbors open up an illegal yoga studio upstairs. That's actually the novel. Loud noises from the yoga studio cause various family crises--and the sisters find that they must begin to talk to each other. I've never read a book like this; I really felt for these (fictional) people.


Boynton, "Blue Hat, Green Hat." This is about a turkey who can't wear clothing in a proper way. He puts shoes on his head; he wears a coat on his beak. And that's the entire story; he doesn't learn anything. He forgets to strip to his skivvies before throwing himself in a deep, deep pool. I think I love this turkey as much as I love any other character in all of literary history.


Prince Harry, "Spare." Some critics say this book is a triumph; others say it is petty and worthy of condemnation. I think both groups are slightly wrong.

I think Harry is the strongest member of his family--and I think his decision to "exit" was the right choice to make. Good for him. Cosmically, this is not a big deal; Harry is not Paul Farmer, of "Mountains Beyond Mountains." Still: I think the move to America must have been "difficult," in a rich-person world of difficulty.

At the same time, I think people who don't read should opt out of the world of book-writing. Harry tells us more than once that he doesn't have an appetite for books--so I find the Harry memoir irritating. I think Reagan's daughter is right in suggesting that Harry would benefit from distance and silence; you can't tell a great story until you really try to understand each of the characters in the story. Harry's self-regard--and his baffled impatience with his relatives--becomes very, very wearying. 

Also, it's a major privilege to write and sell a book. "Normal" people don't get to collaborate with Random House just because they want to "heal a father/son bond." If Harry had written with advocacy in mind, this work could have been so much stronger. Exactly how would he advise someone who is considering therapy? Someone who is confronting racism in school, or in a workplace? Someone who is mourning a significant loss?

An interesting misfire....at the least, I'm happy to think about the mechanics.
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