A review by patsypoo
Philomena by Martin Sixsmith

3.0

I thought this was a good book telling a very sad story. I only gave it 3 stars because of two major problems I had with it. One was the misleading title. We have a glimpse into Philomena's life early on, but for 3/4 of the book we follow her son's life. I don't have a problem with that and I'd been told this book was told from his point of view; but if you're looking for his mother's story, I think you're better off watching the film instead.
The other star it lost was for the fact that I find the recounting of events and situations difficult to buy into. Although I'm sure the essence of the story is all there, I find it impossible to believe that the conversations could've been remembered and retold, word by word, in the way they were written for this book. I wouldn't have expected so much detailed dialogue to feature in the retelling of a true story which started taking place well over half a century ago.
Having said that, I still think it was worth the time I took to listen to it and would recommend it to other people.