Spare Us!: A Harrody

by Bruno Vincent

'All I had ever wanted was privacy. In order to get it, it seemed that an exceptionally detailed 500,000-word book was in order...'

He was born into an ancient powerful dynasty and, through no fault of his own, became one of the most recognisable men on the planet.

His life was a constant barrage of press intrusion and manipulation. Until finally, he demanded that it stop. In order to get the privacy he so craved, he has written a warts-and-all book that goes deep inside the castle walls and exposes every shouting match, fist-fight, betrayal, teddy bear, awkward hug and tear-stained wedding rehearsal for the world to feast their eyes on. All for privacy!

This is his story.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, British Literature

112 pages, Hardcover

Published April 6, 2023

About the author

Bruno Vincent was a bookseller and book editor before he was an author. His humour books for grown-ups, co-authored with Jon Butler, were national bestsellers and have been translated into seven languages. The TUMBLEWATER books are his first for children.

Reviews

[Alan (the Lone Librarian) Teder · Rating 2 out of 5]

What the Title Said
Review of the Abacus Kindle ebook (April 6, 2023).

I wanted a quick laugh, and that is about all you get here. The cover and the title are probably the best part. The best lines are written in a self-un-aware mode and most of those could be caught by my several Kindle highlights.

The rest was completely absurd fiction which possibly parallels with the actual autobiography (which I haven't read). The only other LOL moment was when the stint in the British armed forces involves him being put in a room and told that he is to accumulate bundles of data intelligence via a computer interface. The following description sounds like he then plays through a series of games of Tetris.

This is pretty low-ball parody when the truth itself is already pathetic enough.

[Frances Langston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humour instead of "poor, poor me"

After the utter dross of Waagh, this was a breath of laugh aloud humour! Hopefully this may make the spare think again about a second wingefest book.

[Noah de Campos Neto · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright!!

[Yukyee69 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically, this bk was the cliff notes version of spare, with a sarcastic twist. It said what we were all thinking - Harry just wanted to blame wills & Kate for his ill-advised Halloween costume or that he & meghan literally had nothing in common. It is a very quick & cheeky read so if u want to know more Harry & want to be spared of spare then read this bk!

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny book - I'd recommend reading 'Spare' first though

[Annina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The humor of the book did not overlap with my humor...at all... There were about 3 jokes I found funny, the rest of them seemed uncreative or far fetched.

[Laura]

I assume it is a short version of Harry's own book Spare. Don't think I would ever manage to read that, so this was ok, with a pinch of humor.

[Lauma Gurgone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nekādu lielo vērtību šī plānā parodija par prinča Harija grāmatu nenes, bet jāatzīst, ka parodēts bija pietiekami labi un “ak es nabadziņš” lika man griezt acis arī pašai, kad lasīju viņa biogrāfiju.

[Leslie Greenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusing

I confess that I have not read Harry's book Spare. I wouldn't dignify his betrayal with a purchase. But, like the rest of the world, I'm aware of a large part of the content. I found this parody amusing (Harry is an easy target), but slipshod. It seems to have been written in a hurried weekend. The last chapters written in an hour, with the publisher haranguing him for a quick deadline. How else to explain the obvious errors in chronology? Charles and Camilla married long before Harry met his wife. Likewise, his sojourn in Courtney Cox's home. And the alleged scuffle with William was before Harry's "privacy tour" of betrayal with television pundits. As an American, I'm sure I didn't guffaw as enthusiastically as the British would over the colloquialisms. Nonetheless, I recommend buying this book, if only to rub Harry and his wife's noses in some well-deserved excrement. Harry is so obtuse, pathetic, and lacking in self-awareness, that it's hard to mock him in an uproarious manner. But the book is amusing. Probably more than Harry's.

[Diana Kudsk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great parody! Exactly what I think goes on in his head!

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Last week, in response to a friend's comment that she needed a break from sad and serious books, I undertook a hunt for a comic novel to read and review. I’ve read quite a few though the most recent laugh-out-loud Australian one was a while ago in May last year when I read Naked Ambition (2023) by Robert Gott. It’s about a politician who commissions a full length portrait of himself in his birthday suit, and the artist wants to enter it in the Archibald Portrait Prize.

It turned out to be surprisingly difficult to find something to fit the bill. I checked bookstore websites, and Goodreads lists, and Wikipedia, but there seemed to be very little available. Publishing is going through a morbid phase…

Eventually I came across a parody of a recently published royal memoir. It rejoices in the title Spare Us! A Harrody…

Alas, the title and the book description seem to have exhausted the author’s capacity for humour. I’m sorry, Pam, Spare Us! is spectacularly unfunny with pitifully weak one-liners that fall flat in chapter after chapter.

Chapter 47

She was even more ravishing in person than she had seemed from her pictures. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

What was best about her was that she couldn’t care twopence that I was a royal. It was perfect.

‘I hear that you are in the hit US TV drama Suits, I said.

‘It’s a seemingly never-ending soap opera about tiresome, privileged people bitching, manipulating and betraying each other for power,’ she replied.

‘Let’s not talk about my family,’ I said. ‘Tell me about Suits.’ (p.75)

*Yawn*

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/08/11/s...

[wendy schutze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than SPARE

I had just completed Spare before reading this book which is far more enjoyable……and possibly more realistic.
The writing style was fun, all the awful, floral overdone work by the Ghostwriter of Spare was utilised in a much better way by this Author.
I did not feel like I wanted to be sick once, unlike whilst reading Spare, I found myself nauseous.
It is very clever, and entertaining, well worth reading, thank- you Writer. We needed this.

[Nick C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heavily ironic and deadly sarcastic... do not read if you don't like that style, otherwise even the fiercest royalist will raise a smile or three.
The bonus is that it's light and will take you as long as a ladybird book to read.....😃

[Hanane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious

I wish he had done the wedding and tiara gate but! If you want a fast fun read! Go for it!

[StinaStaffymum · Rating 4 out of 5]

'All I had ever wanted was privacy. In order to get it, it seemed that an exceptionally detailed 500,000-word book was in order...'

I wanted a laugh and that's what you get here. This brief 112 page hilarious "harrody" (with its own sarcastic twist) poke at the royal spare whose exploits we are so often regaled with through the media and, quite ironically, via his own claim for privacy. I have never ever seen anyone so intent on privacy flouncing their apparent need for such privacy and shouting it from the rooftops of Buckingham Palace and later the mountains of California where he and the wife who must be obeyed migrated to after their harrowing brush with the British media and even bloodier Royal family.

Prince Harry and his concubine, aka Ginger and Whinger or Hank and Skank, are the most publicly known private couple ever to walk to face of this earth. His obvious harrowing upbringing is alluded to highlighting the fact that he is none other than an entitled privileged "spare" that lives only second to his (apparent) bullying older brother William. The author cleverly weaves his own version of Harry's perception of his entitled upbringing and subsequent life in the shadow of the death of their mother Princess Diana. Yes, he does wear his victimhood like a badge of honour and it gets somewhat wearing to those of us who also have troubled lives and difficulties we must navigate without the benefit of money and royal titles.

I read the letter "Spare Us, Prince Hassle" prior to this which serves to speak for much of the public who at one time thought Harry to be a loveable rogue and now only sees him as a whiny entitled millennial snowflake seeking to shift the blame for his own misdeeds onto others. A quick read that took about an hour. Which is more than I can devote to the immigrant formerly known as Prince Harry.

My favourite part of the book (besides the quirky anedotes) is the cover. Yes, spare us please Harry!

(NOTE: this review is pretty much the same as the one for Spare us, Prince Hassle since I read them one after the other and they both tended to blend into the other.)

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read the actual book that's parodied here or Harrodied as the cover claims. I heard excerpts and watched videos that covered it chapter by chapter. I did try to listen to the audio book that someone downloaded onto YouTube but his voice is like nails on a chalkboard. But this came recommended and it looked amusing. I've always believed Harry to be not the brightest, his own mother even said so. Harry is a bit thick like me, or something along those lines. This book definitely illustrates this. From getting PTSD from Afghanistan by staring at a cork board to playing Tetris as they try to keep him away from major operations, the names of the Queen's corgis being various alcoholic beverages "probably to remind her of her own mother" arguing with himself in a mirror while high and talking to a toilet. Vowing over and over to never bring down the family name. My favourite part that I laughed out loud was his doctor visit after his unfortunate injury at the South Pole. What a sensitive dick he said, the doctor is excellent at diagnosing things. Even though I didn't read Spare I knew enough about it to follow along. I did wish they'd covered his courtship with Meghan more like the boys trip he took after they met where he was more interested in being able to keep in touch with her than he was enjoying being with his buddies. Or the fiasco of the wedding and tiara gate. But overall this was worth it for me. Meghan's not in the book much and when she is just comes across as a mother annoyed by her slow witted child. It did amuse me throughout and I hope if Meghan does write her book (post divorce life if you believe Vanity Fair) he gives her the same treatment.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was vaguely amusing I did not go on for too long, although the text is 100 pages that are probably less than 50 when you remove the blank spaces and the pictures.

It does parody specific moments in the original book, sometimes in quite an amusing and childish way (I do have a childish sense of humour, so this did not worry me in the slightest) but it did just suddenly stop, and you do wonder if an editor decided the final moments, which in the original covered the death of her Majesty, the Queen, were perhaps a little too much and too soon and removed them.

Harmless fun, with a couple of good jokes, especially if you have read the original, but if it had been much longer it would’ve become tedious.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a constant giggle! It was short but pretty much covered every important (and/or absurd) bit of information mentioned in Spare. The funniest aspect being that none of it was made up! All of the absurdities are pretty much taken directly from Spare. I wish I have skipped Spare altogether and only read Spare Us! 😍😂

[Agnese Zariņa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The irony of the book is that it proves, that prince Harry wasn't quite wrong about the atitude comming from the press.
In many episodes i had the same feelings, but the fact, that someone really made the effort to read the book in the first place and than wrote another book in this ridicule manner somehow feels so wrong on so many levels..

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a good parody and this “Harrody” hit all the right notes. I read it in one setting, laughing out loud in parts or smiling silly in others. I must also admit that it does kinda make me want to read Spare as well which is quite interesting 🫣

[Jeske Strik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty funny book, had a few laughs here and there! Probably gets even funnier if you actually read spare, but not necessary. It is nice to have some knowledge about prince Harry’s life to appreciate the jokes. Fun, quick and easy read!!

[Elīna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Izlasīju, lai jums nav jālasa un jātērē naudu. Absolūti nesmieklīga un tizla.

[Deniz Lindenbergh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used the original podcast of Spare that's read out by Harry himself to fall asleep to for some nights, it worked great. And this harrody worked great for a.... silly little chuckle 🤭

[Dianne Landry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, silly little book.

[Coralie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A parody of the recent biography "Spare," I wanted to read this because there needs to be some levity to this ongoing dumpster fire of self-involvement.

I was a huge fan of the Sussexes: had so much hope for the diversity represented, the opportunity to again open up the monarchy to the commoner and the hope that finally Harry would stop 'blowing hither and yon' according to his whims.

Their marriage recalled memories of the Diana / Fergie times, and the youth that infused the then fairly unapproachable monarchy. Now, I respect the need for the unapproachable monarchy - publicly, it is a state institution, not a family of individuals. And this is important because of the way it needs to function as an element of state. (This is not the Disney princesses, people).

But, after Mexit and the cries of wanting their 'freedom' and their 'privacy,' I lost a lot of respect when every action that followed seemed to be rooted in 'creating celebrity' and monetizing connections to an institution of state. That was even before the stripping of any privacy from a family that suffers from a distinct lack of it (as Harry is so keen to remind everyone at al times).
And yet, he stripped away that privacy and monetized that betrayal for his own personal 'gain.'

Call me "not amused."

So, instead of reading the original work, I decided to start with this....

It was eminently readable, amusing (sorry: public figures certainly can be parodied, and most need to take themselves less seriously), and cathartic. A necessary alternative to a book, written for financial gain, that existed solely to violate the very core of what Harry believed he had a right to be free of.

The hypocrisy prevents me from seeking out the original.

My complaint for this was that it is very short: easy read of short chapters that takes maybe an hour. I'm not saying that I wanted it to be longer, but it surprised me. Think of it as a "Cliffs Notes" in parody format.

[Leila Danielsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very quick read (I got through it in about an hour). And, yes, there were some funny bits. But I get the feeling it was rushed out in about the course of a week. There was an opportunity for it to have been significantly better.

[Ophelia Gold · Rating 1 out of 5]

Erm..... not brilliant, very quick read, could have been way more hilarious to be honest.

[katasokolov · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5*

“Do not begin your book with a serious quotation, it doesn’t make you sound more clever.”
- Julius Caesar

A taky si vyber ghostwritera, který nebude psát lépe než ty 😂😂🤔🤔🤔.



Autor reaguje na zprofanovanou knihu Spare/Náhradník a v krátkých kapitolkách představuje Harryho, slovy, z kterých ironie a sarkasmus přímo čiší. Je to prostě parodie jako Scary Movie, akorát z paláce a funguje to.

Kupříkladu princova často opakovaná slova “chci soukromí”, která mu přesto nezabránila v poskytování rozhovorů a participaci na jiných placených spolupracích, které vynesly na světlo světa mnohé detaily ze soukromého života Harryho, jeho rodiny i známých - ta jsou zde kousavě použita v rozmanitých situacích, stejně jako jeho postavení a privilegia, kterých se mu po celý život dostávalo a rovněž jako jeho “nezasloužená” pověst rebela. Harry za nic nebere odpovědnost a vše špatné hodí na hrb jiným.

Je to krátké, vtipné a naprosto dostačující. Ano, je to uvedeno do extrému, ale to by se pravděpodobně dalo říci i o originále, pokud mohu soudit z těch několika ukázek, jež jsem četla - třeba omrzliny na intimních partiích - celkově tam Harry mluví hodně o této části těla a nejen svojí, což je, dle mého skromného názoru, dost ujeté 😂😅🫣.

Doporučuji těm, kteří umí brát věci s nadhledem (dnes se vše bere doslova a strašně vážně, a to je ubíjející🫣😏) a nechtějí se prokousávat náhradníkovo bichlí, stěžejní body Harryho života najdete i zde 🤔😂✌🏽. I když časová posloupnost tady občas zakolísá. Svatba Charlese a Camilly byla mnohem dříve, než Harry potkal Meghan. Ale co už …😂

[Teresa Tignola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parto dicendo che non ho ancora letto il libro originale scritto da lui, ma non potevo perdermi la parodia.
Parlo OVVIAMENTE di "Spare Us! A Harrody".

Chiedo scusa anticipatamente per tutti quelli che amano, rispettano e tutte le altre parole che volete, la famiglia reale, ma io me la sono fatta addosso dalle risate una riga sì e l'altra pure.

Letto in lingua originale, quindi con tutto lo humor inglese del caso, e nel carosello troverete le parti che mi sono piaciute di più.
Contrariamente a quanto mi sarei aspettata però, non l'ho trovato offensivo nei confronti del "principeharry quindi tanto di cappello all'autore che è riuscito a trasmettere ilarità senza cadere nel ridicolo.

Avete presente un classico libro di barzellette? Potremmo quasi dire che si tratta di una cosa simile. Solo 100 pagine, quindi leggibile in due ore senza problemi.

Di una cosa sono certa però, ora (appena il tempo lo permetterà ovviamente) leggerò sicuramente l'originale.

[Dace Bluke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this book disappointed me. The biggest issue is the translation quality. The Latvian edition feels poorly edited: missing commas, awkward repetitions, and sentences that simply don’t flow naturally.

The diary-style format could have worked well, but there are no dates and no clear structural anchor, which makes it feel scattered. Some parts about school life might still appeal to younger readers. For my 11-year-old sun certain sections could be engaging enough to spark interest in reading.

Overall, an interesting concept, but the execution – especially in translation – significantly weakens the experience.