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Cuban Son Rising
Winner, Best Autobiography, International Latino Book Awards
"... a gut-wrenching memoir that captures the rollercoaster of horror and hope."
-Shelley Ross, former executive producer of Good Morning America
As a journalist he dug up the truth. But deep inside, he hid a life-shattering secret.
CBS News reporter Charles Gomez was fearless when facing down dictators. Earning an Emmy and an Edward R. Murrow Award, the Latin correspondent and son of a Cuban immigrant seemed on top of the world. But the terror of exposing his sexuality and AIDS diagnosis led him down a dark path of drugs and depression that nearly destroyed him. Cuban Son Rising is an honest and raw memoir detailing Gomez's lifelong battle to overcome stigma and self-loathing. Meticulously researched, Gomez's story takes you from interviews with despots and the front lines of civil wars to the silent struggles he faced seeking his father's acceptance. And after a lifetime of anxiety and regret, Gomez embarks on an emotional journey with his father to his homeland. Will Gomez finally reconcile with the man he's looked up to for his whole life? Or will disclosing his sexuality and the shame and stigma of AIDS cause his father to reject him? Cuban Son Rising is a testament to survival and the triumph of hope over fear.
"... a gut-wrenching memoir that captures the rollercoaster of horror and hope."
-Shelley Ross, former executive producer of Good Morning America
As a journalist he dug up the truth. But deep inside, he hid a life-shattering secret.
CBS News reporter Charles Gomez was fearless when facing down dictators. Earning an Emmy and an Edward R. Murrow Award, the Latin correspondent and son of a Cuban immigrant seemed on top of the world. But the terror of exposing his sexuality and AIDS diagnosis led him down a dark path of drugs and depression that nearly destroyed him. Cuban Son Rising is an honest and raw memoir detailing Gomez's lifelong battle to overcome stigma and self-loathing. Meticulously researched, Gomez's story takes you from interviews with despots and the front lines of civil wars to the silent struggles he faced seeking his father's acceptance. And after a lifetime of anxiety and regret, Gomez embarks on an emotional journey with his father to his homeland. Will Gomez finally reconcile with the man he's looked up to for his whole life? Or will disclosing his sexuality and the shame and stigma of AIDS cause his father to reject him? Cuban Son Rising is a testament to survival and the triumph of hope over fear.
220 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 17, 2020
2 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 8, 2020
This book was a surprising little gem to kick off my summer reading list. It COULD be a novel. BUT I happen to know that it’s 99.9% factual.
Gomez,the very gifted son of Cuban immigrants who came in search of the American dream is raised in a loving but strict, Catholic, Cuban home. His memories of Miami are relatable, even poignant. His parents are like all our parents were back then. Mom nurtured unconditionally and Dad disciplined, also seemingly unconditionally.
He made it through the challenges of childhood and adolescence and grows up to be a handsome TV anchor and the youngest daytime Emmy award winning journalist in the history of the Emmys, an accomplished poet, playwright and artist, all while dodging bullets in the Central American Civil Wars of the 80s and 90s. He meets presidents, rebels, is befriended by A-listers in entertainment as well as politics. He finishes a walkathon to raise money for a charity while suffering a heart attack & breaks a dinner date with his good friend Chita Rivera because he doesn’t “feel well”. (How often has that happened?) Then wakes up to see her smiling over him at the hospital.
This memoir is heartwarming, sad, funny and full of history as seen through his eyes and often contradicted by his father. Even though he was born in New York, his experiences growing up were not so different from mine. My family left Cuba in 1959.
He already sounds too good to be true- but wait! There’s more- so much more. He has secrets that are eating him alive.
Gomez is self deprecating just enough to be likable, brave enough to inspire awe, honest enough to make you cry and root for him. I couldn’t put the book down. I read it in about 6 hours. When people ask me if I ever want to go back to visit Cuba, I’ve always said, “Yo no perdí nada allá.” (I’ve lost nothing there)
It made me smile to see the quote in the book when he tries to coax his father and brother into making a trip to the homeland.
While Gomez sees a Hollywood version of Cuba, beautiful women in tropical colors and ruffles and cleavage, l his father sees a Cuba that is a a ruined ghost of what it was- dilapidated buildings- people starving- wanting change but not knowing what kind of change is possible.
Through all his trials and triumphs, Gomez searches for an elusive validation. An hour after opening the book I was crying and wanted to hug him and assure him he would be all right. Three hours after opening the book, I wanted to be his friend even though we couldn’t be more different. Six hours after opening the book, (I’d never thought I’d say this), I think I may want to visit Cuba.
#CubanSonRising is an eye opening, insightful experience, a great personal account of a courageous and adventurous human being.
Gomez,the very gifted son of Cuban immigrants who came in search of the American dream is raised in a loving but strict, Catholic, Cuban home. His memories of Miami are relatable, even poignant. His parents are like all our parents were back then. Mom nurtured unconditionally and Dad disciplined, also seemingly unconditionally.
He made it through the challenges of childhood and adolescence and grows up to be a handsome TV anchor and the youngest daytime Emmy award winning journalist in the history of the Emmys, an accomplished poet, playwright and artist, all while dodging bullets in the Central American Civil Wars of the 80s and 90s. He meets presidents, rebels, is befriended by A-listers in entertainment as well as politics. He finishes a walkathon to raise money for a charity while suffering a heart attack & breaks a dinner date with his good friend Chita Rivera because he doesn’t “feel well”. (How often has that happened?) Then wakes up to see her smiling over him at the hospital.
This memoir is heartwarming, sad, funny and full of history as seen through his eyes and often contradicted by his father. Even though he was born in New York, his experiences growing up were not so different from mine. My family left Cuba in 1959.
He already sounds too good to be true- but wait! There’s more- so much more. He has secrets that are eating him alive.
Gomez is self deprecating just enough to be likable, brave enough to inspire awe, honest enough to make you cry and root for him. I couldn’t put the book down. I read it in about 6 hours. When people ask me if I ever want to go back to visit Cuba, I’ve always said, “Yo no perdí nada allá.” (I’ve lost nothing there)
It made me smile to see the quote in the book when he tries to coax his father and brother into making a trip to the homeland.
While Gomez sees a Hollywood version of Cuba, beautiful women in tropical colors and ruffles and cleavage, l his father sees a Cuba that is a a ruined ghost of what it was- dilapidated buildings- people starving- wanting change but not knowing what kind of change is possible.
Through all his trials and triumphs, Gomez searches for an elusive validation. An hour after opening the book I was crying and wanted to hug him and assure him he would be all right. Three hours after opening the book, I wanted to be his friend even though we couldn’t be more different. Six hours after opening the book, (I’d never thought I’d say this), I think I may want to visit Cuba.
#CubanSonRising is an eye opening, insightful experience, a great personal account of a courageous and adventurous human being.
April 23, 2020
It amazes me that a man who endured all these challenges has managed to rise above the ashes. As the first difficulties are faced, I want to scream, "No! Don't! Stop!", like a viewer watching a thriller at the cinema. I long to stop Chuck from going down certain paths, knowing in hindsight, what they will bring. The roller-coaster ride of emotions left me in tears at the end. The were happy tears because the Cuban son rose. I want to give Chuck Gomez a huge hug because anyone who has lived through these traumatic experiences really needs more hugs than I can imagine.
October 23, 2025
Cuban Son Rising by Charles Gomez is a searing memoir that exposes the painful chasm between public bravery and private anguish. Gomez, an Emmy and Edward R. Murrow Award-winning CBS News correspondent, built a career confronting dictators and covering civil wars—yet the battlefield that nearly destroyed him was internal.The book's central tension is devastatingly clear: a man who could face down despots couldn't face his own father with the truth. Gomez's dual secrets—his sexuality and AIDS diagnosis—become a prison more suffocating than any war zone. The irony is brutal: a journalist whose profession demands truth-telling spends decades living a lie, self-medicating with drugs and spiraling into depression.
March 5, 2021
Wow! What a beautiful and well
Written story.
Written story.
May 2, 2021
A well respected journalist and a good storyteller, Gomez doesn't hold back when describing his personal challenges. He takes the reader behind the scenes during the early AIDS epidemic and to the front lines of a Central American war.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews