Customer Reviews

No Momma's Boy: How I Let Go of My Past and Embraced the Future

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The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has included this as one of the best books of 2007. It probably did't hurt that Dominic Carter--a colorful media celebrity--served as grand marsal for the NAMI New York City walkathon, but the book deserves the distinction in its own right.

It is an incredible book by a person who has lived an incredible life, and overcome odds that would defeat most people.

Carter is a character written in bold and an inspiration. He grew from a childhood of poverty in the Bronx to become one of New York City's best-known news anchors and political reporters, interviewing Nelson Mandela and President Clinton and sparring with former New York City mayor Rudy Guliani. (If Guliani does become president, let's hope that one of the national television networks assign Carter to the White House press room; it would be great theater to watch and a service to the nation).

Carter also lived with a secret of physical and sexual abuse as a child. After his mother died in 2001, he collected 620 pages of medical records and learned for the first time of her life-long struggle with paranoid schizophrenia. "I got hit with a double-barreled shotgun," he said in recent newspaper interviews. "As a child, I didn't know what was going on,"

His autobiography is therapeutic. "I've been running from the ghetto...I've been running from my mother, and I didn't want to run anymore."

In confronting the past, Carter comes to terms with his mother's mental illness and his own emotions. "My mother was not a demon, but she saw demons," Carter writes. "If a demon exists in this story, it is society's collective mistreatment and misunderstanding of mental illness."

"In spite of her tragic life, I celebrate my mother for this one thing," Carter concludes. "She was a survivor...I am proud of my mother for not giving up...You become a real winner in life when the winds of fate knock you down and you manage to get back up. Many people, rich or poor, cannot get back up, but my mother did."

"I am not ashamed to be called her son."

The book is self-published and candid. To his credit, Carter resisted suggestions by mainstream publishers to sensationalize his story, because the basic facts and description of his childhood are upsetting enough. It is a memoir marked by pain, but also, an enduring love. It details Carter's successful career, but the unifying theme throughout is one of family. Its candid disclosures are also an act of courage, not unlike Mike Wallace's disclosure of long history of depression, or that of actor Joe Pantaliano, whose 2003 autobiography similarly reflects his mother's mental illness.

Frankly, I'd love to see Dominic, Wallace and "Joey Pants" discuss their childhoods together sometime. They have much in common. They have much in common. They are larger than life characters, who love a good scrap and rarely censor themselves, except perhaps to usually hide the softer hearts of their nature.

One the most heart wrenching books I ever read. I highly recommend it!
The author will be a national figure in a few years time. He is famous only in New York City. I love Dominic Carter!

I was lucky enough to get a signed copy @ the NYC-NAMI walk,
Read it in 2 day's....Dominic Carter Is for Real!! Read this book.

Often the family history of some one who has a mental illness is covered up. This almost happened in this mans family. His story lets us all know that to seek the truth brings healing to deep hurts. Leaving the truth covered never gets to forgiveness. As a Black family member this is particularly true. The unspoken code of Black families is to not ever uncover mental illness, just pray to deal with the issues. Additionally, most men do not speak of a difficult past, espically one in the public eye as this important well known news personality. The book was easy to read, and tells of wonderful forgiveness, and can help anyone bring their own hidden truths of abuse and mental illness into the sunshine of healing. Thank you Dominic Carter for telling your story.

I think this book deserve 5 stars because the
entire book kept me captivted. From beginning
to the end. I could't lay it down it kept me
up.
Excellent writing!!

Excellent book.... this book goes hand in hand with "Emotional Prisoner"... it deals with the "tabus" of our society: no one wants to talk about men who have been abused... We only want to discuss abused girls and women, and neglected children... Finally the truth is coming to surface about men who were abused as boys... This abuse needs to end all the way around... But very few people ask the question: Why are men so angry?......(Note: I am a women but I have observed this in my relationships and friends who surround me that there are "dark secrets" going on with our "men".... Hurray.... we are beginning to get out of denial and heal..

Dominic Carter has written a deeply moving memoir framed around the horrific physical and sexual abuse he suffered as a young child. No Momma's Boy is not for the faint of heart. Some of the descriptions of the abuse that Mr. Carter suffered at the hands of his mentally ill mother, Laverne, are almost unbearable to read.

Yet, ultimately, Dominic Carter's story is one of triumph over adversity. Laverne sexually abused Carter and tried to kill him when he was a toddler. Born with heart defects and pneumonia, Mr. Carter grew up in poverty on the mean streets of Harlem and The Bronx. Under these circumstances, it is remarkable that he survived, let alone thrived. "Prisons and mental institutions are full of people with backgrounds similar to mine," Carter opines.

In a fast-paced, conversational style, Carter takes readers through the darkest days of his inner city childhood, his escape from poverty via graduate school in upstate New York, and his meteoric rise to journalist extraordinaire at one of New York's top cable television stations.

A key factor in young Dominic's survival was the support he received from his grandmother, Anna Pearl, and his Aunt Inez. Laverne was in and out of mental institutions, and Dominic's father was absent most of the time. Anna Pearl and Inez stepped in to fill the parental void, providing love and putting steel in Dominic's spine, which served him well growing up and later in the cutthroat profession of television journalism.

Mr. Carter is brutally honest about his volcanic temper and the subsequent emotional breakdown following Laverne's death which nearly ended his career. No Momma's Boy is not only an eye-opening read, it represents a cathartic healing of Carter's pain. After a lifetime of holding back powerful negative emotions relating to childhood trauma, Mr. Carter has found the courage to admit that "talking about issues that shame you is like giving CPR to your soul."

Mr. Carter proudly displays bravado and does a lot of name-dropping. This trait is a double-edged sword. It is initially off-putting, but as Carter cogently notes, it is also a critical source of self-confidence that enabled him to overcome extraordinary adversity.

He brags, but he has a lot to brag about. Mr. Carter is a top reporter at NY1, a premier cable television station in the nation's largest media market. He has interviewed world figures such as Bill Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, and Nelson Mandela. This would be a monumental achievement for anyone; it is absolutely amazing for someone who grew up poor and abused in The Bronx.

I have not completed this book yet even though it is hard to put down. But so far I have enjoyed this book however, with much empathy. The book arrived in excellent condition. Thank you!

All I can say is thank you Dominic for opening up your heart and allowing me the opportunity to read about your family secrets. From start to finish I was captivated by this story and I must say what a delightful person he is when you meet him in public. This was one gem of a read......you go New York 1 Political Commentator!

NY1's top reporter/political analyst gives a painful recollection of his childhood with a schizophrenic mother and how he was able to overcome it to become successful, careerwise and personally. I thought his writing was sincere, not showy, and gave insights into the people and institutions that influenced him in a positive way. An interesting read.