Family Outing: What Happened When I Found Out My Mother Was Gay is the debut memoir from writer and editor Troy Johnson.  It is a deeply personal and often hilarious look into how a teenager copes with learning his mother is a lesbian. Troy Johnson has delivered a touching and funny look into his life growing up, giving us a moving tale not about his mother but about himself.

He invites us freely into the world of a teenager on the cusp of growing up.  He talks of his experiences with sex and drugs, with emotional problems and psychiatric wards, all through the eyes of a kid who has just been told his mother doesn't like men.  

The book is refreshingly honest and poignant.  Johnson does not hold anything back.  He tells us exactly what he felt and thought at the time. This is a refreshing and intensely personal journey from homophobia to acceptance.  He feared his own sexuality and presents every nuance of a kid who is afraid his mother passed the "Gay Gene" to him.  His overcompensations, his fears, his activities — all as a way to distance himself from the world his mother had opened up to him — are all displayed here.  

Family Outing is often laugh out loud funny. Johnson has a biting sarcasm and his wit is unmatched in these pages. He has a gift of going all out and turning dark portions of his adolescence into hilarious anecdotes. Furthermore, this is a book that screams to be turned into a TV series. Johnson's life, with its different look into the life of a teen with a gay parent, would make for some great episodes in a comedic drama.  

Family Outing is also an important read.  The book is an uncompromising look at a lifestyle that thousands of teenagers are experiencing.  They really have no voice or anyone who can relate to what they are experiencing.  Family Outing is a book they can read and relate to.  They can see that they are not alone in the feelings they are experiencing.  They can learn from Troy Johnson's experiences and maybe they won't feel as isolated.  

In addition, Johnson has written a book that can be read and enjoyed by anyone.  It's not a "gay" book by any means.  It's a book about a teenager who desperately loves his mother but has an extremely difficult time excepting who she truly is. It's a book about a journey from hate to acceptance from troubled child to not so troubled adult.

Family Outing: What Happened When I Found Out My Mother Was Gay is already one of my favorite books of the year and I cannot recommend enough that you get it.