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After Daddy Died: Portrait of a Mad Man
By Dr Naomi Roberson
ISBN-10: 1432719513
ISBN-13: 978-1432719517
This short book was quite disturbing in many ways. I am surprised that anyone would have survived what Dr. Roberson tells us that she has been through. Between her father, grandparents and siblings she had murderers, wife beaters, paedophiles, rapists, drug abusers, thieves, personality disorders, mental breakdowns and the list goes on…
I really don’t believe that anyone could have painted a picture of a more disturbing family life than that which happened in the Cooper household. (Cooper is Naomi Roberson’s maiden name). On top of the crimes that were committed by family members there seems to have been countless physical and verbal abuse on all levels in this family. There was jealousy and greed and provocations abound.
There are some inconsistencies in that in the beginning of the book Dr. Roberson compares her mother’s family favorably against her father’s family yet later in the book she recounts some truly hideous deeds perpetrated by her mother’s family. Also certain parts of the book repeat themselves so the organization could use some touching up. I would have really have liked to have seen more of how Naomi Cooper / Roberson pulled herself up from her bootstraps and made her life work – how she broke the chain of violence in her own family. She gives a certain amount of credit to her husband but quite often she lays all of the credit at her becoming a born again Christian.
I think somehow the metamorphosis is missing though.
Here is a woman who has suffered beatings, rapes, given herself an at home abortion, witnessed almost every crime imaginable in her family, lost two brothers to AIDS, has a sister in a mental institution, etc., yet she goes from the caterpillar to butterfly without the cocoon. Naomi Roberson has an academic doctorate, is an ordained minister and a motivational speaker. I’d like to know exactly how she got there so I could see the lessons in it for me. I think this might have been a missed opportunity to inspire the reader to overcome difficulties in their own lives.
At the end of the day I do have to take my hat off to Dr. Naomi Roberson for still being alive and with us and not only being a sane person but for also making a positive impact in her community. I would like to see where her life progresses from here and I know she will make it. I think there is another book in this though and that is the book on how she makes it.
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