Autobiographies are regarded as either raw and heartfelt or egregious and snobby. A good example of this is the comparison is Spare (by Prince Harry”) and My Family: The Memoir (by David Baddiel).
Spare feels like a long and angry drunk text to an ex, the Prince is intriguingly intimately creating what could’ve been a snippet into the secretive life of the Royals into a montage of the life of an isolated and lonely man. It zooms into details that are far too intimate (having pages dedicated to his “frostbitten penis”) making what should’ve been an introspective into an goreish and pitiful read that is, frankly, uncomfortable.
Comedian Baddiel’s is a candid and hard-hitting look at his childhood in the 60s and 70s. It provides a context of sadness and contains extra information that his 2016 stage show My Family: Not the Sitcom missed. It details his parents' marriage and the impact it had on him, it reproduces photos, drawings and paperwork from his parents’ lives allowing the reader to share the weirdness of his mother’s communications with her lover. He details how he viewed the affair now and as a child, and his reaction now. His writing stays comedic, and he talks about his career with a humility that only adds charm.
Baddiel’s novel hits what Spare misses, it utilises the tragedy and writes with a comic's fluency - bursting with personality and charisma. Baddiel acknowledges his privilege and uses it to spark discussion on grief and childhood whereas the Prince lists off traumatic events but doesn’t acknowledge his mass wealth and privilege.
This comparison highlights the issue with celebrity memoirs: celebrities are not writers. All celebrities have something interesting that could be a book; what makes an autobiography 'good' is the personality that shines through. Harry’s feels like a diary over someone reaching out to the audience, whereas Baddiel’s is heartfelt and poses questions to the reader. There’s always going to be 'bad' books, what makes these memoirs 'good' is the candour and sincerity of their lives and privilege.