Finding Freedom has been out for a week now and according to reports, the book has sold 31,000 copies in the UK in the first five days. Although their Amazon reviews are strong with 3.8 out of 5 stars, 62% being 5 star reviews… there are some pretty savage reactions to the British monarchy tell-all. For instance, one user named “walnut” titled their one star review, “Strategic Planning on ‘How to Catch a Prince.’”
Here are some of the most savage Finding Freedom book reviews found on Amazon.
1. ★☆☆☆☆ “Kindle Customer” left this review titled, “PR in the form of a book,” on August 17, 2020.
The book is a collection of praise and admiration of Harry and Megan, collected from friends, charities and vendors patronized by the couple. While the fans of the couple will love this book, others might want to give it a miss. The over the top, gushing adoration, intended, per the authors, to reveal the real Harry and Megan, borders on ridiculous. And, in the end, isn’t very credible. Charities of course will provide glowing praise – they wouldn’t want to jeopardize future donations. After the first few chapters, I could barely continue. Yet, like a crash on the interstate, I couldn’t stop looking! The immense, bordering on obscene, wealth and privilege enjoyed by the couple and celebrity elites detailed throughout the book, undermines it stated goals. Despite having wealth, health, access to private clubs and estates, an adorable son, and a loving marriage, it is clear that these two are not content. Any unfairness, perceived or real, is intolerable to these two. Certainly, there is freedom outside the monarchy, but in many ways, it seemed to me power and relevance, is definitely what the couple hopes to find.
2. ★☆☆☆☆ “Magpie” was not so gentle on August 17, 2020. “Poorly written, lame. Ridiculous Title.”
Disappointing how poorly this book is written. Primary school children have better writing skills than the authors. The book is mostly about praises to how perfect and flawless Meghan Markle is. She has no shortcomings, weaknesses, or limitations. The book states that she is so perfect she makes people imply she must be fake because she is so perfect. When she enters a room everyone holds their breath and marvels at her beauty. When she does a Yoga pose, nature itself stops to admire her, and so on of cringe-worthy statements. It is ridiculous. Harry fell in love with her because she peed in the woods in Botswana and wiped her makeup off with a baby wipe, making her a “simple, low maintenance woman”. The claim that nearly made me want to put the book down was the calling Markle an Empowered Feminist, which she is not and is a false claim. Markel has no real background in Women’s and Gender Issues – in the Socio-Economics Cultural fields, or at least the book goes into no detail about it except for the advertisement in the early 90 when she was a pre-teenager. Markle’s only feminist activity was going to India once for a photo opportunity with women working on menstrual taboo. The book describes very superficially the complex world and tradition of the Royal Family and what are the demands, its historical context and what it means for the British people as well as what is expected of the members of the RF, which would be fundamental to understand as Harry and Markle are the so-called Modern Royals Finding Freedom from it. The title should read Finding Freedom from Responsibility and Tradition. The book is about praises to perfect Markle and how she saved Harry, Harry the traumatized Royal, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as the insensitive rational couple, and the British Media as evil evil evil.
3. ★☆☆☆☆ “Special Ed Teacher” titled her August 18, 2020 review, “Poorly written garbage.”
This poorly written book appeared to be a huge pity party for Meghan. I thought it would make me sympathize with her for all of her “bad press”. It didn’t. I got tired of hearing how amaaaaazing and perfect she is! And the name dropping got on my nerves as well — Oprah, George and Amal, Serena Williams, etc. She makes us American women appear brazen and bratty!
4. ★☆☆☆☆ “Ash” advises Amazon users to “Skip it” on Aug 11, 2020. Over 1,000 users have found the following review “helpful.”
This book is so terribly written. It sounds like one of them wrote it themselves…. the narrative has them perfectly crafted into these flawless human beings, going so far as to imply that they didn’t hook up on the first date. I think the public is beyond that at this point. If it was so “real” why not show some of the grittier stuff as well? Either they wrote it themselves or they paid the two that did very handsomely. Everything about it rings insincere and hollow and will most likely polarize and vilify them even further. Most highly disappointing because I’m sure they actually are very kind, genuine, sincere people, but this book did nothing for their cause in my opinion. Shame.
5. ★☆☆☆☆ “AJ” wants to save you time and money with this CliffsNotes breakdown posted on Aug 17, 2020.
After finishing this book, I felt it my duty to contribute to the 1-stars. Why? Because it was so clearly written either by Meghan or with her constant oversight, and the lack of objectivity is stunning, which reveals the low standards of the authors. However, if you are curious about who Meghan really is, the book may prove interesting to you.
Or, if you don’t wish to spend the money, I’ll tell you my assessment:
1) Meghan is a perfectionist who uses this book to prove why she was wronged and justified in bailing on the royal family. What begins with a somewhat fun love story turns into a rant of petty hurts. For example, hurt that Duchess Kate didn’t invite her to carpool when they were both going shopping on the same street, or hurt that Kate sent her flowers on her birthday because she would have preferred being asked about her wellbeing (a true sign of playing the victim. She doesn’t talk about the specific efforts she ever made to bridge the gap with Kate.)
2). Despite telling the public that she didn’t pay attention to media about her, she was (and is?) clearly obsessed with reading about herself. Now I’m not going to call her a narcissist, although she may be one, but her self-obsession seems to be her downfall, evidenced by her eventual burn-out because she couldn’t stand how the media portrayed her, and now this silly book which so many people can evidently see as coming from her.
3). She is materialistic and fame-hungry. There is constant name-dropping of name brands as well as celebrities. It was actually one of the most fascinating things to me, how often she focuses on clothing or jewelry. Harry is “kind” and “so thoughtful” because he gets her expensive gifts, basically. For a gal who claims to be so spiritually woke she is alarmingly attached to the trappings of wealth.
4). She is probably immature. In her late 30s now, she casts herself in a radiant light the way I talked about myself in cover letters in my late teens, before I realized that I wasn’t the center of the universe, amazing at everything, but truly insecure, and that talking about oneself in this way doesn’t fool many.
5). She lacks true compassion. There is a repeated lack of ability to put herself in another’s shoes. She can’t understand why William, being in line to the throne, would receive more funding than Harry. She can’t understand why, as a member of the Royal family, she was discouraged from making a statement to the press every time a Tabloid printed something untrue. She can’t understand why she and Harry should wait to meet with the Queen before making their final exit case to the world.
6). Her judgement is poor. For this I feel sorry for her. I’m afraid letting this book be published was a mistake, as were many other choices like rushing into marriage in the first place without a clear understanding of the duties awaiting her, and surrounding themselves with pals instead of making efforts to befriend members of her family, and in fact making many enemies instead.
7). She doesn’t take responsibility for any faults she made. Yes, she may indeed be a narcissist. But what we should be asking ourselves is why does our imbalanced society create so many people who hunger for fame and wealth, sometimes even under the guise of doing good?
♥
I have yet to read Finding Freedom because I did not necessarily enjoy Andrew Morton’s Diana: Her True Story. Princess Diana is clearly in a vindictive and desperate mode while secretly collaborating with Morton. In a similar instance, Diana orchestrated a secret BBC interview. I remember her private secretary, Patrick Jephson, reacting to her BBC Panorama shocker. He said something like, you’ve been given this platform, all eyes on you, why be so negative? Why come out as the victim? Because, in much more Prince Harry and Meghan’s case vs. Princess Diana’s, these are strong individuals. Years later Jephson would tell London’s Mail on Sunday, “I think by the time of the broadcast, she deeply regretted it, not least because it did nothing to advance her cause.”
I do believe that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle want to contribute positively to the world. I do not believe that quietly contributing to this book aligned with those efforts. To quote Amazon user, Ash, “I’m sure they actually are very kind, genuine, sincere people, but this book did nothing for their cause in my opinion.”
Kinsey Schofield is the Editor-in-Chief of To Di For Daily and you can follow her on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.