Vidya Pai

I started this book as a quick toilet read, but it has left me thinking and empathizing. I feel for Harry and his unique kind of suffering. I found his candour refreshing and enjoyed the real-talk glimpse into his life and those of others around him. Rather than trashing his family, I feel he has filled them out with human traits which make them more relatable and forgivable. Especially Charles is painted in a quite endearing light. This book, to me, was about grief, loss, family, mental health struggles, the seeking of freedom, the dark side of power and fame, and the ridiculousness of the existence of monarchy in today's day and age. Each person can only speak their truth, for the life that they have known and lived. While I didn't love the entitled side of him that he shared, nor his black-and-white, good/bad thinking... I do appreciate his sharing the various hues of his life with vulnerability. I do think we are all _people_ first, before we are our roles and titles and qualifications. Everybody thrives best in the safe comfort of a loving family. The way things are set up for the monarchy does not seem to give them a very good chance to have this very basic human need met. I wish him well as also the other humans mentioned in this book. Hope everybody finds their healing and ultimately, peace.

The framework is alright, but the VERY Christian and old-fashioned way-of-life preachiness is quite distracting. Examples are rather dumbed down and over-simplified in black and white before and after, there's not much nuance. I can see how this would work for some, but I don't really think there's anything much to be gained from reading it that a one-pager that gives 2-3 sentence summaries of the 5 love languages can't give you. I don't recommend this book for queer folks, feminists, atheists, non-western people - you wont see your lives reflected in this book. This one is really not inclusive and feels quite dated.