The Family Outing: A Memoir
“Fascinating, funny, and wise, The Family Outing is an affirmation to all of us who know the pain and shame of hiding our truest self, and a stirring invitation into the courage, freedom, and joy of living our whole truth.”—Glennon Doyle, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Untamed, founder of Together Rising

A striking and remarkable literary memoir about one family’s transformation, with almost all of them embracing their queer identities.

Jessi Hempel was raised in a seemingly picture-perfect, middle-class American family. But the truth was far from perfect. Her father was constantly away from home, traveling for work, while her stay-at-home mother became increasingly lonely and erratic. Growing up, Jessi and her two siblings struggled to make sense of their family, their world, their changing bodies, and the emotional turmoil each was experiencing. And each, in their own way, was hiding their true self from the world.

By the time Jessi reached adulthood, everyone in her family had come out: Jessi as gay, her sister as bisexual, her father as gay, her brother as transgender, and her mother as a survivor of a traumatic experience with an alleged serial killer. Yet coming out was just the beginning, starting a chain reaction of other personal revelations and reckonings that caused each of them to question their place in the world in new and ultimately liberating ways.

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The Family Outing: A Memoir
“Fascinating, funny, and wise, The Family Outing is an affirmation to all of us who know the pain and shame of hiding our truest self, and a stirring invitation into the courage, freedom, and joy of living our whole truth.”—Glennon Doyle, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Untamed, founder of Together Rising

A striking and remarkable literary memoir about one family’s transformation, with almost all of them embracing their queer identities.

Jessi Hempel was raised in a seemingly picture-perfect, middle-class American family. But the truth was far from perfect. Her father was constantly away from home, traveling for work, while her stay-at-home mother became increasingly lonely and erratic. Growing up, Jessi and her two siblings struggled to make sense of their family, their world, their changing bodies, and the emotional turmoil each was experiencing. And each, in their own way, was hiding their true self from the world.

By the time Jessi reached adulthood, everyone in her family had come out: Jessi as gay, her sister as bisexual, her father as gay, her brother as transgender, and her mother as a survivor of a traumatic experience with an alleged serial killer. Yet coming out was just the beginning, starting a chain reaction of other personal revelations and reckonings that caused each of them to question their place in the world in new and ultimately liberating ways.

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The Family Outing: A Memoir

The Family Outing: A Memoir

by Jessi Hempel
The Family Outing: A Memoir

The Family Outing: A Memoir

by Jessi Hempel

Hardcover

$27.99 
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Overview

“Fascinating, funny, and wise, The Family Outing is an affirmation to all of us who know the pain and shame of hiding our truest self, and a stirring invitation into the courage, freedom, and joy of living our whole truth.”—Glennon Doyle, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Untamed, founder of Together Rising

A striking and remarkable literary memoir about one family’s transformation, with almost all of them embracing their queer identities.

Jessi Hempel was raised in a seemingly picture-perfect, middle-class American family. But the truth was far from perfect. Her father was constantly away from home, traveling for work, while her stay-at-home mother became increasingly lonely and erratic. Growing up, Jessi and her two siblings struggled to make sense of their family, their world, their changing bodies, and the emotional turmoil each was experiencing. And each, in their own way, was hiding their true self from the world.

By the time Jessi reached adulthood, everyone in her family had come out: Jessi as gay, her sister as bisexual, her father as gay, her brother as transgender, and her mother as a survivor of a traumatic experience with an alleged serial killer. Yet coming out was just the beginning, starting a chain reaction of other personal revelations and reckonings that caused each of them to question their place in the world in new and ultimately liberating ways.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780063079014
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 10/04/2022
Pages: 320
Sales rank: 1,044,298
Product dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Jessi Hempel is host of the award-winning podcast Hello Monday, and a senior editor-at-large at LinkedIn. For nearly two decades, she has been writing and editing features and cover stories about work, life and meaning in the digital age. She has appeared on CNN, PBS, MSNBC, Fox, and CNBC, addressing the culture and business of technology. Hempel is a graduate of Brown University and received a master’s in journalism from UC Berkeley. She lives in Brooklyn.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

Part 1 Origin

The Stakeout 13

Crush 22

Oh Lamb of God 31

Therapists 41

Part 2 The Closet

Infinity 53

French Training 60

We Will Serve the Lord 69

Our Bodies, Ourselves 80

I Am the Problem 88

Help Us 98

It's Not You 102

All of the Ways We Pretend 109

Both Hands 118

Part 3 Hurt

Outing Dad 129

Can I Have the Keys? 139

You've Reached a Number That Is No Longer in Service 147

Three-Headed Monster 159

I Don't Even Remember the Fight 166

Family Conference Call 176

Part 4 Heal

Transformation 187

What Persists 198

Tattoos 213

Transitions 221

Surfing 230

Oscillations 236

Marriage, Round One 242

H-I-Fucking-V 252

The Duckling in Her Bra 262

Everything Falls Apart 268

Falling 278

Magic Penny 285

You Will Make Mistakes 291

Conclusion 300

Acknowledgments 305

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