Customer Reviews

Family Outing: What Happened When I Found Out My Mother Was Gay

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Family Outing is a "memoir" worth reading. Troy Johnson, in his own inimitable style, fearlessly looks at himself, his family, and societal norms with remembered angst, tenderness, and wit. His ability to "hold the mirror" for all concerned is uncanny, and his sense of humor contagious. He is not afraid to tackle some of the issues of human sexuality - a still-taboo subject for many.....doing it with searing honesty, laugh-out-loud humor, and sensitive poignancy. He takes the words, 'gay'. 'lesbian' and 'homosexual' out of any politically correct dryness and brings them to life in an engaging, intimate talk with the reader. I highly recommend it!

Everything you never wanted to know about the inner workings of a teen mind obsessed with not only his sexuality but, fer godsake, his mother's! A quick read. Fascinating. Compelling. A book sorely needed for the homophobic, intolerent times we live in. Kudos to Troy and his blunt honesty.

Mr.Johnson brings an important issue to light with wit and sensitivity. It is also a well written book beyond the autobiographical nature of the content. It captures the speech and narrative of the 1990's.

A well done first effort. More, please!

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.

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!!

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.

My son called me to tell me to read this book, I can't thank him enough. I hope this author continues to write, he is amazing. This book is about him finding out , at age 10, that his mom is gay. It is HILARIOUS, moving, honest and impossible to put down once you start to read. I will keep this book because I know I will read it again, it is THAT GOOD!

This book is really funny and an interesting way to read about what for many is an uncomfortable topic. I found it especially interesting because it takes place in San Diego where I live and he mentions many places I am familiar with, including Rancho Bernardo Community Church. Unfortunatey, his success at being humorous was at the expense of greatly mischaracterizing that church, at least as I've experienced it for the last 14 years as an adult. Johnson writes that the church's definition of "community" was "Brothers and sisters united against abortion, fags, and good music." The church actually has great music in their comtemporary services, is open to homosexuals and everyone else, and I've never heard anything about abortion there. Perhaps his youth experience was much different, and if so, I am sorry. Coming from a really fundamentalist church, I found Rancho Bernardo Community Church like a breath of fresh air: very welcoming, undogmatic, and non judgemental.

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!

Sure, Troy Johnon's debut book is about his struggle to accept his mother (and himself) after finding out she is a lesbian. But the L word could be subsituted for any number of parental characteristics that have been the core of teen-parent angst throughout history. Troy's mom was a lesbian, but had she (or his dad) been a drunk, control freak, racist, immigrant, workaholic, or deadbeat, he would've still grown up with painful tales to tell. I'd hate to see this book pigeonholed as a "gay book", because the story and it's lessons are universal. Part of growing up is learning to accept that your parents aren't perfect, and figuring out how their issues relate to you.

Having a gay mom in a conservative town, in a conservative era set the stage for a uniquely difficult adolescence for Johnson. Luckily, he has a knack for telling these painful tales in a way that we can all laugh at them. For overcoming the challenges of growing up with a gay parent, not to mention surviving his own rebellious antics, Johnson has earned the right to have the last laugh.