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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 loved the movie made from this book. When it was due back at the library recently, and free time was tight, I almost skipped reading this. That would have been a shame because, as wonderful as the movie was, the book was soooooo much better (as usual). So much more detail, so well-written, so heartbreaking. This historical account of what these poor young women went through is absolutely horrifying, and so easily applied to small-minded persecutions that continue today.
Very different than the movie. Philomena herself disappears around page 70, and doesn't reappear until around page 400. It's really the story of her son Anthony and his life, not the story of Philomena's search for him. Still interesting, and still sad, but not the story I thought it was going to be.
Fascinating and sad story. I think what struck me the most is the story of Michael's work with the RNC back in the 80s and 90s. There's a bit of an insider view of history there that is still relevant today. The fight that the RNC had with gerrymandering done by Democrats which allowed them to take over Congress is ironic considering that the tables are now turned with Republicans doing the gerrymandering. The fact that many of the folks that worked for the RNC, all the way up to President Ronald Reagan, didn't hold any of the extremist views that helped get them elected, is just a portent of what the party has become today.
Now I want to see the movie!
Now I want to see the movie!
I thought it was less about Philomena and more about the son and spending lots of time on his private life, disappointed on the whole as its such an important subject - the dominance of the Catholic church in Ireland and how it destroyed so many lives of single mothers.
So, I started the book one night, and was immediately sucked in - while not the world's best writing, the pacing is good and it's written in a very present style, so being me, I immediately became enthralled with the characters stories. But I also immediately knew that there was NO WAY the author could have known most of what he was writing. It was about this point that I found the GR review by Susan Kavanagh - a named character in the book, who had been interviewed, but never followed up with, never given clear permission, and who is deliberately misrepresented to fit the fantasy that Sixsmith decided to create.
So what this is then, is really engaging historical fiction - a fantasy about what might have happened to a baby adopted from a convent in Ireland, based on the loosest research, but really focuins on trying to create an internal/psychological profile of that individual (who died in the AIDS epidemic, and was never interviewed by the author). This is one of it's crimes. The other is that it is in no way the story of the title character - Philomena Lee. Despite purportedly spending a great deal of time with her, Sixsmith gives only the sparest of details of her life, thoughts, actions and feelings after leaving the Sean Ross Abbey (essentially after her life diverged from her child's. Which is truly sad, and makes it even more clear that he had no interest in writing non-fiction - he had a primary source right there, willing to talk to him, and instead he spent from pages 91-404 (the book is only 420 pages long) fantasizing about the inner life of someone he could never interview.
So what this is then, is really engaging historical fiction - a fantasy about what might have happened to a baby adopted from a convent in Ireland, based on the loosest research, but really focuins on trying to create an internal/psychological profile of that individual (who died in the AIDS epidemic, and was never interviewed by the author). This is one of it's crimes. The other is that it is in no way the story of the title character - Philomena Lee. Despite purportedly spending a great deal of time with her, Sixsmith gives only the sparest of details of her life, thoughts, actions and feelings after leaving the Sean Ross Abbey (essentially after her life diverged from her child's. Which is truly sad, and makes it even more clear that he had no interest in writing non-fiction - he had a primary source right there, willing to talk to him, and instead he spent from pages 91-404 (the book is only 420 pages long) fantasizing about the inner life of someone he could never interview.
informative
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
The biggest difference about this book and the movie that follows it, is that they both focus on different people. The film focuses on Philomena Lee, who is searching for her son after having to give him up 50 years previously, and the book focuses on Anthony Lee or Michael Hess, however you want to know him.
The focus on Anthony’s life after he was taken from Roscrea, helps to fill in a lot of the gaps that would have been left otherwise and I can see why he was the focus of the book. I did expect the book to focus on Philomena and not to just have her mentioned at the beginning and the end, but that is my personal opinion. It would potentially have been more equal if it had been half and half, both Anthony’s and Philomena’s stories.
There is a lot that the Catholic Church has to face up to a n modern times, the scandals surrounding the unwed mothers and the adoption of Irish babies is just one of many. There were large parts of this book where I was angry at the Church, but also angry at the Americans who thought they could just come to Ireland and buy a baby, having no regard for that baby and their mothers.
I think it would be better to almost pretend that this is a work of fiction, even though it is a true story. If you focus too much on the fact that it was all real, then you will do what I did and become too angry and upset.
The focus on Anthony’s life after he was taken from Roscrea, helps to fill in a lot of the gaps that would have been left otherwise and I can see why he was the focus of the book. I did expect the book to focus on Philomena and not to just have her mentioned at the beginning and the end, but that is my personal opinion. It would potentially have been more equal if it had been half and half, both Anthony’s and Philomena’s stories.
There is a lot that the Catholic Church has to face up to a n modern times, the scandals surrounding the unwed mothers and the adoption of Irish babies is just one of many. There were large parts of this book where I was angry at the Church, but also angry at the Americans who thought they could just come to Ireland and buy a baby, having no regard for that baby and their mothers.
I think it would be better to almost pretend that this is a work of fiction, even though it is a true story. If you focus too much on the fact that it was all real, then you will do what I did and become too angry and upset.
I am so disappointed in this book. The movie looked wonderful, so I decided to buy the book. It was predictable and boring and full of unnecessary details. I skimmed most of the ending because I was so over all of it.
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced