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A review by jesikasbookshelf
Philomena by Martin Sixsmith
1.0
For starters, the title of this book is horrendously misleading - we only hear of Philomena's story for about 5% of the book.
For seconds, this book is horrendous.
Essentially, the narrative of this novel deals with huge events, movements and personal experiences in the most blasé and redundant a manner that I'm not sure how it even got published. This demeans and caricatures the hardships and battles that Mike Hess clearly faced in his life. To mention but a few; Mike's confusion over and acceptance of his sexuality in the face of his religion, his continued pain over the fact of his adoption, his political career, the AIDS epidemic, the active role of the Catholic Church and Irish government in the baby trade, and the emotional (and otherwise) abuse which originally parted him from his birth mother - these are all depicted with the same flippancy and detachment as to ensure that rather than being the moving account of a life exceptionally and unfairly rich in hardships, this book serves only to record the things which could have been written of properly in a better biographer's hands.
My main problem is that all these areas of the book, all of which should have been powerful in their own right, are ignored in this manner in favour of a ridiculous and pathetic focus on sexual experiences. Yes, Mike Hess was gay, but this book's author seems to go to great lengths to prove this with (surely partially if not wholly invented) reminders of his sexual encounters which are completely unnecessary to the narrative, demean the fact of his long and meaningful relationship, attempt to reduce sexuality to the actual act of sex, and make me question whether the author, in fact, had a problem with his subject's homosexuality.
Mike Hess clearly led an extraordinary life, filled with hardships and joys not least of which was his continued thwarted search for his birth mother. Philomena herself also clearly led a life which attests to great change and hardship throughout which her love for her lost son remained fierce. Their biography is one which I would love to read, but this book is, quite clearly, nothing short of fiction based on the briefest of familiarity with the main points of a man's life. Not only does this novel offer a shameful excuse for a biographical account, it is frequently historically questionable and is terribly written throughout.
For seconds, this book is horrendous.
Essentially, the narrative of this novel deals with huge events, movements and personal experiences in the most blasé and redundant a manner that I'm not sure how it even got published. This demeans and caricatures the hardships and battles that Mike Hess clearly faced in his life. To mention but a few; Mike's confusion over and acceptance of his sexuality in the face of his religion, his continued pain over the fact of his adoption, his political career, the AIDS epidemic, the active role of the Catholic Church and Irish government in the baby trade, and the emotional (and otherwise) abuse which originally parted him from his birth mother - these are all depicted with the same flippancy and detachment as to ensure that rather than being the moving account of a life exceptionally and unfairly rich in hardships, this book serves only to record the things which could have been written of properly in a better biographer's hands.
My main problem is that all these areas of the book, all of which should have been powerful in their own right, are ignored in this manner in favour of a ridiculous and pathetic focus on sexual experiences. Yes, Mike Hess was gay, but this book's author seems to go to great lengths to prove this with (surely partially if not wholly invented) reminders of his sexual encounters which are completely unnecessary to the narrative, demean the fact of his long and meaningful relationship, attempt to reduce sexuality to the actual act of sex, and make me question whether the author, in fact, had a problem with his subject's homosexuality.
Mike Hess clearly led an extraordinary life, filled with hardships and joys not least of which was his continued thwarted search for his birth mother. Philomena herself also clearly led a life which attests to great change and hardship throughout which her love for her lost son remained fierce. Their biography is one which I would love to read, but this book is, quite clearly, nothing short of fiction based on the briefest of familiarity with the main points of a man's life. Not only does this novel offer a shameful excuse for a biographical account, it is frequently historically questionable and is terribly written throughout.