Philomena

Philomena Lee’s story is a very powerful one. The book hollows the life of Michael A. Hess an adopted child born in Ireland and raised in America. Anthony Lee was born an illegitimate child to Philomena Lee in Ireland. Philomena and Anthony were placed in the Sean Ross Abbey, Ireland’s dumping ground for illegitimate children and mothers. There, Philomena toiled in the hot, badly ventilated laundry department for three years while simultaneously raising her child. She was coerced into giving up her child for adoption when he was three years old. Stripped from his mother and renamed for his adoptive father, Mike gradually adjusts to American life while Philomena attempts to find out what happened to him back in Ireland. Mike leads a very interesting life, and he proves that the bond between a mother and child can never truly be broken.

Mike faces hardships from the moment he sets foot in America. His adoptive brothers and father were not very accepting, and he suppressed every qualm he had with them for years in an attempt to fit in. Finally, he could not take it anymore. He began to argue with his father, paid his way through law school after his father refused to back him. Mike was a devoted Catholic, but he was very conflicted, and eventually shied away from church activities after finally admitting that he was a homosexual. He grew up masking his true self, eventually rising very high in the ranks of the Republican Party. This caused him even more conflict. His friends who knew of his sexual orientation questioned his reasons for working for the very party that sought to strip him of his rights. Mike defended himself, but the conflict only drove him crazier. Mike faced unknown attachment disorder after being separated from his mother. This showed when he cheated on several of his lovers and eventually contracted HIV because of it. Mike survived for two years with the virus while trying to find his mother. He was unsuccessful and died with the only comfort being that he would eventually see her in the afterlife.

I personally think the story is a very powerful one. Martin Sixsmith, the author, did a fantastic job uncovering the details of this story; he incorporated them flawlessly into the book. The details were not pretty, often grotesque, but they allowed me to form a clear image of the horrors that Philomena and Mike were subjected to. I often found myself yelling at the book when Mike or some other character did something stupid or cruel. I t has been a long time since a book has grabbed me like this one did. It was an eye opening experience. Now I have learned just what being stripped of an ordinary childhood can do to people. Looking deeper into people, I have become a more tolerant person. That never would have happened without this book.