Kept me reading through an entire flight
I can honestly say that I don't stick to just one method of keeping myself occupied during a long flight. However, this book kept me reading throughout the flight. It's brutally honest while also making you laugh at moments you can relate to yourself. It's a true story of one person growing without holding anything back describing his own embarrassing moments. No one is safe within his story, but he doesn't do it for shock value...you just sense that's exactly how he was feeling then. You'll cringe, laugh, and probably tear up reading about his life....and that's why this book is good to buy friends. I've passed on my copies to strangers because it's a story that has to be read.

Fabulous book, Great read
Once I started the book I barely put it down until I had completed it. It is a very compelling read, it is witty, satirical, poignant, and very funny. He tackles topics boldly, honestly, and in a way that you cannot help but to enter his world and laugh with him and cry with him. I highly recommend this book!!

Realistic, witty and warm tale of what happens after you tell child "I'm gay."
Ten year old Troy Johnson was, as usual, late in getting ready for school, when a friend of his mother's (now irrevocably nicknamed "Tattle Dyke") came to the door and abruptly revealed to him that his mother was a lesbian. His father, previously divorced from his mom but still a part of Troy's life, arrived soon thereafter, in order to help Troy cope with the news. Despite an initial crying jag, both thought young Troy took the news rather well, and seemed to put first the need for his mother to be open and honest with Troy and his older sister. He was "all right with it" ... really. Or so he told them.

In reality, Troy inwardly manifested the classic reactions to such news: anger at his mother for not being "normal," denial that this could somehow be changed (if he behaved real well and helped her meet a good man), aprehension that his friends at school would find out and taunt him, but, most of all, that ultimate fear that he somehow would inherit the "gay gene" (a concept that would not have any scientific support for many years) and turn out to be a homosexual himself. The latter was reinforced by later talks with his mother, who revealed that she didn't have an inkling she might be lesbian until after high school, and didn't know for sure until she was well into her 30's. He felt a "time bomb" ticking in himself.

Troy dealt with his fear of "turning" gay by being as aggressively heterosexual as he could. To a preteen, this meant being one of the "cool" kids, a bad boy who got into trouble for acting out in class, and for vandalizing school property and nearby construction sites. In his teen years, he became a heavy "partier", a heavy drinker, and focused his powers of persuasion to have sex with any girl who would have him. Even a month's stay at a teen rehab facility didn't change him, nor did his first year of college. Only after almost being expelled from college, almost a year of hanging around with a group of "born again" Christian students, and being around an unusually liberal group of students in his major did he realize what he had been doing, simultaneously "acting out" to punish his mother for being lesbian, and trying to smother out whatever part of him might be leaning toward being gay. Long talks with a lesbian student made him realize how unfairly he was judging his mother, whose choice to be "out" had already resulted in others - including her own parents, and his sister - judging her harshly as well. It was a revelation that would affect him the rest of his life.

Not your standard-issue "parent comes out, child understand, joins parent in waving rainbow flag in next parade" fictional story, and, as such, an invaluable and realistic commentary for those dealing the reality that they have a gay parent. The story is told realistically and with significant wit and charm by the author, and is much recommended as a great read. Five rainbow stars out of five.

Don't pigeon hole this book!
I bought this book after I read about it in SPIN Magazine and I absolutely agree with the other reviewers that EVERYONE will like this book. I've shared it with two friends who aren't gay or have gay relatives, and they both said it was one of their favorite books of the year. The topics covered in the memoir are universally applicable, and the book could easily appeal across the board to anyone who's ever experienced divorce, teenage angst, or guilt over what you put your parents through as a kid. The account of his transformation into an adult is deep and introspective without being preachy, and his anecdotes are hilarious and touching without being overly sentimental. There are some memoirs like Sean Wilsey's "Oh the Glory of it All" that, while amazingly well written, leave you with the distinct impression that he doesn't really get along with the family that he wrote about. "Family Outing" doesn't hold anything back but is written in a way that conveys the love and affection that the author no doubt has for his family. That impression comes through, in particular, towards the end of the book where the memoir takes on a more - for lack of a better word - transformative tone. In spite of the high school posturing and bad behavior you end up really liking the guy and imagining that there's life out there beyond those angst filled self-centered years between early adolescence and adulthood. I recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a book that will pull you in after the first page and not let you put it down.

Family Outing
Family Outing is one of the best books I've read. It takes a very poignant look at the family's perspective of the coming out process. Troy Johnson is a brilliant writer and puts things in a very real and thought provoking perspective. I hope everyone will read this very well written and thought out story!