Nobody's Child [Hardcover]

Marie Balter (Author), Richard Katz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1991

Marie Balter’s courageous story of hope and healing has inspired millions around the country. After spending the first twenty years of her adult life in a mental hospital, she gradually emerged from the terror of the back wards, eventually to attend graduate school at Harvard University and become a leading champion for the mentally ill.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Balter's unusual life story, told in collaboration with anthropologist-psychologist Katz, traces the self-healing of a woman who spent nearly 20 years in the Massachusetts mental hospital she entered at age 17. A chaotic upbringing by strict adoptive parents, depression and multiple misdiagnoses are some of the elements that contributed to Balter's institutionalization. Now a mental-health professional, she describes in heart-wrenching detail her gradual and ongoing emergence from psychosis, through the love and respect of others and herself. She tells of her admission to college after leaving the hospital, of a happy marriage ended by her husband's death and of graduate study at Harvard. Generous with praise and forgiveness, Balter (whose story was the subject of a TV movie) exemplifies the power of courage, hope and spiritual commitment.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Marie Balter, M.Ed. is a writer, lecturer, and advocate for the mentally ill. She is the winner of America’s Award, “the ordinary person’s Medal of Honor.” Richard Katz, Ph.D. clinical psychologist and anthropologist, is the author of Boiling Energy: Community Healing among the Kalahari Kung. He teaches full time at Saskatchewan Indian Federated College in Canada, and at Harvard Medical School.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 4 pages
• Publisher: Perseus Books (March 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201570734
• ISBN-13: 978-0201570731
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,877,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very engaging and uplifting., October 30, 2003

By 

Amelia (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nobody's Child (Paperback)

Nobody's Child is a powerful and extremely engaging nonfiction novel. It focuses on the life of Marie Balter, a rigorously troubled woman. Marie begins her life as an adopted child and shortly after becomes mentally ill. She spent the first twenty years of her life traveling from mental institution to mental institution. The novel focuses on her experiences while being hospitalized. It is powerful and bleak, but at the same time, it is also an encouraging and uplifting story. Marie later goes on to recover and earn her Master's degree from Harvard University.

The book features black and white images of Marie's adoptive family, herself, and some of the hospitals in which she had stayed.

It was a very grim awakening for me, and I wouldn't recommend the book to everyone. Those who enjoyed books such as Prozac Nation and Girl, Interrupted would enjoy this captivating novel.

In 1986 Marlo Thomas went on to star as Marie Balter in a made-for-television movie, also titled Nobody's Child.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book of hope!, November 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Nobody's Child (Paperback)

I love how Marie describes her struggles with mental illness and how she finds the strength within herself to overcome her problems. She does this without blaming or resenting the people in her life who mistreated her, like her parents and the people in the hospital. She gives hope for the hopeless.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this is help; this is hope, November 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Nobody's Child (Paperback)

Marie Balter is an example for all who have mental illnesses. She was able to pick herself up with the support of friends and faith in herself and in God. Buy it for the ones who really need to hear that all is not lost, that they can survive and thrive even with a mental illness.