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218 reviews for:
Philomena (Movie Tie-In): A Mother, Her Son, and a Fifty-Year Search
Martin Sixsmith
3.49 AVERAGE
218 reviews for:
Philomena (Movie Tie-In): A Mother, Her Son, and a Fifty-Year Search
Martin Sixsmith
3.49 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this movie which led me to reading the book. I agree, it shouldn’t be called Philomena and this really was a seperate story to the one told in the movie. How I feel about this book was greatly affected by Susan’s review and I also agree that it reads like a work of fiction.
Disappointing read for anyone who has seen, and liked, the movie. I was expecting a book about Philomena, but this was mostly the (imagined) story of Michael Hess, including ficticious conversations and emotions being ascribed to him - which I think may have been hurtful to his friends and partner. The most interesting aspect of the book was his legal speciality of electoral districting, and how the GOP managed to finally win a majority in the House in 1994 - very relevant in light of the recent election and how it is now the GOP being accused of gerrymandering. The insights into the Reagan and first Bush administrations and gay culture in the 70s and 80s are also interesting. Basically the factual, historic stuff works well, but I would have preferred it if this book had been written more in the style of "And the Band Played On" (which deals excellently with the AIDS crisis) rather than an attempt at a "novel" using real people's lives.
I picked up this book based on the movie trailer. As I've come to understand, the movie focuses on the Mother's search for her son, more than 50 years after giving birth to him in a convent in Ireland. The beginning of the book tells her story, and the discussion of adoption practices of the time in Ireland are thought provoking and worthy of their own movie. However, the book takes a turn about a quarter of the way through, and nearly the rest of the book is focused on the son's complicated life, with a huge emphasis placed on his sex life.
While reading other reviews, I came across a review by Susan, a woman whose "character" appears in the book and she deems it a work of fiction, as many of the conversations she supposedly had with the son were completely contrived by the author. I understand that this kind of thing happens in order to flesh out a story of a person's life, but seeing as the book isn't what it seems from the description in the first place, I'm likely to believe Susan that this author did not do his due diligence with regards to the details of the son's life in order to sell a more salacious story.
While I might see the movie, I wouldn't recommend the book to most of my friends. However, I'd like to read more about the "Magdalene laundries" in the future.
While reading other reviews, I came across a review by Susan, a woman whose "character" appears in the book and she deems it a work of fiction, as many of the conversations she supposedly had with the son were completely contrived by the author. I understand that this kind of thing happens in order to flesh out a story of a person's life, but seeing as the book isn't what it seems from the description in the first place, I'm likely to believe Susan that this author did not do his due diligence with regards to the details of the son's life in order to sell a more salacious story.
While I might see the movie, I wouldn't recommend the book to most of my friends. However, I'd like to read more about the "Magdalene laundries" in the future.
Yes! Yes! Yes! I loved this book so much I wish it would not have ended I wanted more of Michael's story. It will definitely make you cry make sure to have a box of tissues.
Felt like it was fairly slow...definitely has very little relation to the movie, so if you want to read this based on the film, know that there's going to be a very different story here. The book concerns itself with the son's life rather than Philomena's search (the basis of the film). The first part was especially slow with its back and forth between the story of Philomena and her son and the politics of the time.
The title and cover of this book is quite misleading. (I borrowed the book with the cover of the movie on it). I thought it was going to be about a woman's search for her adopted son and all the shitty things the Irish Catholic Church did to keep the mothers and babies apart. Instead it was a rather straight forward biography of a non-famous American guy who led a slightly interesting life. If I was his lost-lost birth mother, I would have simply adored this book because it gave me so much information about Michael/Anthony. However, since he is not my long-lost baby, I thought the length and details of his life were too much. Maybe if the author had tied his particular story into the larger picture - discussing the Irish-American baby pipeline in greater detail and writing more about what exactly happened and why. I am not an expert on either the Irish policy on adoptions or on Catholic views about illegitimate children and premarital sex. Other than it's super bad in their eyes. For instance, at the beginning of the book it is mentioned that when the women were in labour they were not given any pain pills and if they tore during the birthing process, they were not sewn up. Because they had to suffer. You know, because they were such wicked people. GAH! The evilness of that policy burns! I'd have been interested to learn more about those sorts of things rather than Michael's work as a lawyer. Or I'd like to have learned more about the situations that sent the girls to these prisons.Like another throw away line at the beginning of the book about how some of the girls held captive by the nuns were girls who had been raped by family members, or most sadly of all, a girl with down's syndrome who had been raped and didn't understand what was happening to her body or why everyone was so mad at her. AGGGGGHHHHH. I can't even......I hope those nuns are burning in hell right now for the evil things they did when they were alive. The story of MIchael is all well and good and a lovely thing for his birth mother to have, but I would have preferred a different sort of book about the situation.
I grew up in an Irish-American family so the premise of this book is a familiar one. I had hoped the author would shed more light on the atrocities committed upon the young women (never the men who got them pregnant) and their children by their families, towns, and the convents that were supposed to "save" them.
Instead the author has written the worst kind of "vanity press" story about two children adopted by a couple of boobs. The writing is atrocious, the story is non-existent and no amount of Dame-whoever-it-is-in-the-movie will fix it. I'm damned angry about the 9.5 hours of reading time (according to my Kindle)that I wasted on this "book."
I'll save you some trouble here. This may seem long, but trust me - it still reads better than the book:
Girl in Ireland gets pregnant, goes to live with nuns, gets to live with her kid for 3 years. Kid is taken away, adopted to a couple of American assholes entrenched in the Catholic church. Kid suffers from borderline OCD and feelings of inadequacy. Kid has a "sister" also adopted along with him, but she's of no interest to you. Kid goes to high school, has a heterosexual relationship wherein the girl dies. Decides she was the love of his life. Kid spends summer working for Republican senator in DC. Decides he's a Democrat. Kid goes to Notre Dame and gets kissed by a boy. Decides he likes it. Kid fights with asshole adoptive father about all sorts of things but not about being gay. Kid goes to law school in DC against adoptive father's wishes. Supports himself by being an RA and a DJ. Gays it up. Summer job in Boston. Settles down with a partner in DC. Visits Ireland. Nuns are rude. (Just as a note, we're only on page 259.) Kid does lawyerly redistricting things while being distant to others. There's a fire at a gay movie theater. No connection, just thought we'd mention it. Kid decides it's dangerous for his career to be gay. Starts being seen with a woman. "The spring of 1980 came in and things went from bad to worse for Jimmy Carter." "June 1980 saw the beginning of the longest heat wave since US meteorological records began."(I'm not making this shit up.) Kid is still doing lawyerly things and pretending to be straight. Decides to work for the Republicans. There are probably some relationship break-ups and hook-ups but who really cares? We all learn about AIDS. Kid buys a cottage. Adoptive mother dies. Kid's boyfriend buys a horse. OMG HE SLEPT WITH SOMEONE WHO DIED OF AIDS! Reagan gets another 4 years in office. "Rock Hudson dies on 2 October 1985." (Yes, really. Page 349 folks - we're almost there!) Kid gets to hobnob with fewer Hollywood stars in the Bush years and still suffers from feelings of inadequacy. Seems to get pneumonia a lot. Decides to become an alcoholic. Kid gets diagnosed with AIDS (seriously, you didn't see this coming?)Kid goes through all the shit EVERY PERSON WHO EVER HAD AIDS goes through. Back to Ireland because, you know, he's dying. But the nuns don't care. Kid asks to be buried at the convent when he dies and the nun asks him how much he wants to pay for that. He has enough life left in him to do more boring law stuff. New drugs! Kid dies anyway (and trust me, you won't care either.) Oh, by the way, the birth mother did look for the kid, but she couldn't find him. She got married (twice) and had a couple more kids. Oh yeah, here's a chapter tacked on about how I took the birth mother to the convent to show off her dead son's gravestone. Ta da!
Need some additional reasons to stay away from this? Here are a *few* of my reading notes:
- 4-year-olds and 16-year-olds do not have the same vocabulary. Stop making up dialogue.
- "Babies" is not spelled "babbies." Even in Ireland.
- Listing a bunch of things one would see in a particular place does not invoke a sense of atmosphere. Nor does a one paragraph historical summary at the beginning of every chapter.
Seriously - everyone involved in publishing this should be ashamed of themselves and those represented in the story should file a class action law suit. I can't wait for my book club discussion....
Instead the author has written the worst kind of "vanity press" story about two children adopted by a couple of boobs. The writing is atrocious, the story is non-existent and no amount of Dame-whoever-it-is-in-the-movie will fix it. I'm damned angry about the 9.5 hours of reading time (according to my Kindle)that I wasted on this "book."
I'll save you some trouble here. This may seem long, but trust me - it still reads better than the book:
Girl in Ireland gets pregnant, goes to live with nuns, gets to live with her kid for 3 years. Kid is taken away, adopted to a couple of American assholes entrenched in the Catholic church. Kid suffers from borderline OCD and feelings of inadequacy. Kid has a "sister" also adopted along with him, but she's of no interest to you. Kid goes to high school, has a heterosexual relationship wherein the girl dies. Decides she was the love of his life. Kid spends summer working for Republican senator in DC. Decides he's a Democrat. Kid goes to Notre Dame and gets kissed by a boy. Decides he likes it. Kid fights with asshole adoptive father about all sorts of things but not about being gay. Kid goes to law school in DC against adoptive father's wishes. Supports himself by being an RA and a DJ. Gays it up. Summer job in Boston. Settles down with a partner in DC. Visits Ireland. Nuns are rude. (Just as a note, we're only on page 259.) Kid does lawyerly redistricting things while being distant to others. There's a fire at a gay movie theater. No connection, just thought we'd mention it. Kid decides it's dangerous for his career to be gay. Starts being seen with a woman. "The spring of 1980 came in and things went from bad to worse for Jimmy Carter." "June 1980 saw the beginning of the longest heat wave since US meteorological records began."(I'm not making this shit up.) Kid is still doing lawyerly things and pretending to be straight. Decides to work for the Republicans. There are probably some relationship break-ups and hook-ups but who really cares? We all learn about AIDS. Kid buys a cottage. Adoptive mother dies. Kid's boyfriend buys a horse. OMG HE SLEPT WITH SOMEONE WHO DIED OF AIDS! Reagan gets another 4 years in office. "Rock Hudson dies on 2 October 1985." (Yes, really. Page 349 folks - we're almost there!) Kid gets to hobnob with fewer Hollywood stars in the Bush years and still suffers from feelings of inadequacy. Seems to get pneumonia a lot. Decides to become an alcoholic. Kid gets diagnosed with AIDS (seriously, you didn't see this coming?)Kid goes through all the shit EVERY PERSON WHO EVER HAD AIDS goes through. Back to Ireland because, you know, he's dying. But the nuns don't care. Kid asks to be buried at the convent when he dies and the nun asks him how much he wants to pay for that. He has enough life left in him to do more boring law stuff. New drugs! Kid dies anyway (and trust me, you won't care either.) Oh, by the way, the birth mother did look for the kid, but she couldn't find him. She got married (twice) and had a couple more kids. Oh yeah, here's a chapter tacked on about how I took the birth mother to the convent to show off her dead son's gravestone. Ta da!
Need some additional reasons to stay away from this? Here are a *few* of my reading notes:
- 4-year-olds and 16-year-olds do not have the same vocabulary. Stop making up dialogue.
- "Babies" is not spelled "babbies." Even in Ireland.
- Listing a bunch of things one would see in a particular place does not invoke a sense of atmosphere. Nor does a one paragraph historical summary at the beginning of every chapter.
Seriously - everyone involved in publishing this should be ashamed of themselves and those represented in the story should file a class action law suit. I can't wait for my book club discussion....
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced