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The Lost Child Of Philomena Lee: A Mother, Her Son And A 50 Year Search (2009)

by Martin Sixsmith(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0230744273 (ISBN13: 9780230744271)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

MacMillan

review 1: Unlike the movie in that the book primarily focuses on the life of the son, mostly through re-imaginings of various parts of his life. Interesting in that it addresses some issues that the movie almost entirely glossed over-- what *was* life like as a semi-closeted gay man working for the Republican party during the height of the AIDS epidemic?-- but I didn't quite care for the invented dialogue. I also ended up getting distracted by questioning the source material for each section. By process of elimination based on who was still alive when Sixsmith was researching the book, for example, the bulk of the childhood material must have come from his sister, Mary; college years from his (ex)lover Mark, etc., which leads to inevitable questions about how much those people's bia... moreses colored our view of Mike/Anthony during those years.
review 2: My mum had told me this was a really good movie (I haven't seen it) so I figured I'd read the book. I loved the beginning, reading Philomena's story, but as other reviewers have mentioned, the bulk of the book actually follows Anthony/Michael's story and that caught me (as it has other readers) by surprise. Despite this book not being entirely what I expected, I still found it very readable, and Michael's journey through the world of the Republican National Committee as a gay man, and then his death from Aids certainly covered ground I was unfamiliar with. I can't say I would have chosen to read so much about his discovery of his sexual preferences or the lifestyle he subsequently chose -- other readers should perhaps know what they are in for before they begin this book, in case that is really not their cup of tea. But it was far from the worst book I've ever read and I'm glad I got to read Philomena's story. less

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