The world's best-selling book in 2023 may already be here. That's right, at the beginning of the year.
Friends who follow the latest news trends must know. I'm talking about Prince Harry's memoir, Spare.
The highly anticipated memoir of the prince, officially released on January 10, sold more than 1.4 million on the first day of the world, and has now become the first bestseller on Amazon in the UK, and it is said that people in many parts of the UK came to the door of major bookstores at midnight to wait in line.
The last time this was published was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007.
From negative escape, to making documentaries, to publishing books, some people call it Prince Harry's Revenge series. So, what kind of material did this prince's memoir break?
A British bookstore "Spare Wheel" juxtaposed with "How to Kill Your Family"
It can only be said that a little marketing ghost is on the body
01
This must be the strangest book ever written by the royal family
Prince Harry's memoir, The Spare Wheel, contains confessions, rants, and love letters. In some places, it seems like the most lengthy and grumpy text message sent after getting drunk.
He describes his situation as a "surreal bathtub" and "The Never-ending Truman Show," and the book is about the landscape he sees from an insider's perspective.
The candid and affectionate tone frees the whole book from the burden of the prince's title, showing how strange Harry's isolated life is. Some small details of life, rather than the scene in which he lives, give us a glimpse into some of the inside story of royal life that we know little about.
He was an addict who smoked drugs after dinner and feared that the smoke would debut his elderly neighbor, the Duke of Kent.
He described the story of losing his virginity at a bar.
He was acutely aware of the many girls with "Throne Syndrome" who "felt like they had put a crown on themselves the moment they shook my hand."
He noticed that during the Golden Jubilee concert, while listening to Brian May playing on the roof at Buckingham Palace, his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, wore earplugs.
Before meeting Meghan, his London life was supersumptuous on the surface, but it made people feel that he was disguised in his own life.
He suffers from panic attacks, which are terrifying for anyone and especially fatal for someone who needs to appear and speak in public.
He described his lonely life at home, self-medicating with LSD, drying clothes on radiators, and planning shopping trips like military raids, all covert and fast.
He doesn't have an Amazon account, but buys clothes on TK Maxx, makes weekly food purchases at the supermarket, and lists exactly where to find his favorite salmon and yogurt. During a supermarket purchase, he overheard shoppers arguing whether he was gay or not.
This ghostwritten biography seems like a fast-paced, quick-cut account, and Prince Harry feels as if he is looking out from inside the door, scratching his ears and scratching his cheeks to realize that there will always be bodyguards and cameras waiting for him outside the door.
The book has a central story that permeates almost every page, and that is the immense trauma that seems to distort the rest of his life—the death of his mother, Princess Diana.
He adored her unreservedly, and after her death, an unsolvable grief overwhelmed everything and became the center of all his anxieties.
Harry hates the media very, very much, accusing them of pursuing his mother so ruthlessly, including her death in Paris and the scene of Harry returning to the scene of the crash.
His anger at the news media was widespread, but Rupert Murdoch was singled out and some were simply described in words.
She referred to the quarrel with her brother, Prince William, and their previous closeness with their mother.
In such a narrative, we get the impression that his powerless anxiety and tendency to self-destruction also seem to be a consequence of the loss of his mother. His mother was his emotional anchor, which had never been replaced until he met Megan.
The book also writes about his obsession with death. When he went to Westminster Abbey to attend his brother's wedding, he gleefully remembered the more than 3,000 people buried in the church over the centuries.
There is no sense of Harry's sense of the outside world in the wider context in the book, as if he had been blinded by the flashing lights of the paparazzi. In this book, no one worries about paying for gas. He traveled constantly to and from Africa, as if it were just a few stops on the London North Line. Only more exotic, after all, he said the only time he took the subway was on a school trip.
Although, he seems to be unobtrusive about the royal family's internal life, strangely, he does not express any views on the outside world, even though he is no longer a serving royal.
Occasionally, though, there are pieces that drop, such as Harry's reference to Prince William's "ambiguous anti-Brexit speech" that seems to annoy the tabloids. His opinion was: "Brexit is their livelihood, how dare he talk nonsense." ”
The book's leaks focus on family conflicts and Harry's resentment that he and Meghan are not supported.
When confronted by his stepmother Camilla, Prince Harry seems to be skeptical while trying to be polite, but in reality it is mostly suspicion. It feels a bit like a divorced person telling everyone he's not bitter, he doesn't mind that he gives everything, really, not bitter at all, just hoping that they are all well.
On the whole, the image of his father, King Charles, is quite warm, but the narrator always seems to be embarrassed by him.
Charles was seen walking around in slippers, listening to his audiobooks, indulging in Shakespeare, spraying Dior perfume, and falling asleep at his desk. People will think that he suffered terrible school bullying and still retains a teddy bear as a totem of his lonely childhood.
After Diana's death, his father tried to provide Harry with some emotional support, staying by his side at night until he fell asleep, but there was always a feeling that his father's kindness seemed to have to overcome some tricky obstacles.
His father left him a note trying to say something nice – but Harry questioned why he couldn't say it to his face. He went to see Harry laugh out loud at the school show and was then criticized by his son for laughing in the wrong place.
As the adult brothers quarreled, Charles began to sound a bit like Shakespeare's character, King Lear, dressed in tweed, begging his sons not to make his old age miserable.
02
Some biographical fragments
Why is my heart beating so fast? Is this what Megan really wants? Why didn't I bring a coat? Why at the funeral of a grandfather? Why so many questions?
Take it easy, I told myself. This is my responsibility. I am one of the best puppets in the world. So that it can be flattering.
It's time to pick up your spirits. I'm waiting. Await. Await. To see my enemies. My brother. The most important meeting in modern history. Megan always said she admired my humility, and Willie was so self-aware.
They appeared from around the corner. Step. The game is over. They will never understand me. I was alone and abandoned. Only a few houses and 100 million bank deposits.
Life is back. It couldn't be more normal. I'm redundant. Inconsequential. A piece of furniture that can be moved around. Dad tried his best. I think. It wasn't that he really didn't want to take on the responsibilities of his father. Only more interested in their own teddy bear. And Shakespeare and Nelson Mandela. Survival or destruction. Destroy. Willie and I begged him not to marry Camilla. Can be together, if you insist. But don't marry her. Camila just nodded and called the media. Put a long line to catch big fish. I'm just a commodity.
Africa is where I am most alive. Lesotho. Botswana. In the bushes. Look at the stars. Kiss Chelsea. No goggles. No dad. One night, in Okavango, a leopard broke into the yard. Everyone else was terrified. I hugged it. Hello, Mom, I said. I know you're waiting for me. The leopard hugged me and left. I felt like I had a connection to something old. I must get Africa for my good deeds. Harold, you can't, I'm the heir of Africa. You can take Australia. There you go.
It's time to look forward. Not only girlfriends. But what to do? It's not easy for you who are redundant. I asked my grandmother for a house and she found me an apartment at Kensington Palace. A pit. What are you expecting? We have always had a tight hand at home. Dad told me not to complain. Because he leaked another story of mine. Graduated from college, dear child. That's the army. It's a pity I've won all the medals.
Africa. Healing. North pole. South Pole. I've tried them all. But the paparazzi even disguised themselves as penguins. Willie leaked my story again. Dad is the same. And Camila. Then I met Camila, and they all changed. I'm done. My wounds healed. My compassion. You make me whole, Megan. You make me whole, Haz.