Full review at http://yannabe.com/2010/02/17/review-...

Summary: After 17-year-old Ben’s dad announces that he’s gay, Ben rebels by skipping school and doing drugs. Then his dad decides they’re moving from the city to a small town in Montana. Trying to fit in while sporting a mohawk turns out to be the least of Ben’s problems.

Review: I wanted to love this book. I did love several aspects of it, and I am glad I read it. But it wasn’t one of my favorites.

What I loved:

* The grit—The tough conversations between Ben and his dad were so real they were almost painful to read at times. In a good way.
* The issues—Homophobia, child abuse, abandonment. The book takes on big-ticket issues with a capital I, but it didn’t feel like a thinly veiled morality play.
* The funny—Here, Ben is about to go on a date with a country girl, and he’s asking his dad’s boyfriend Edward for advice. Edward starts off with what he knows about the girl’s dad:

“If I remember correctly, he’s a very harsh man, and one not to cross.” He thought for a moment. “Yes sir, no sir, thank you, please, nice to meet you, Mr. Johan, firm handshake, look him in the eye, and for God’s sake don’t eye her boobs, even accidentally, unless you’re at least a mile from the house. Men have shotguns for a reason around here.”

I nodded, soaking it all in. Fear gripped me, but love would climb any mountain. “One more thing.”

“What?”

“What is baling hay, anyway?”

He laughed. “And you thought you worked hard yesterday. Poor child.”

“Crap.”

But here are the things that got in the way of me loving this book through-and-through:

* Backstory frontloading—The first chapter was s-l-o-w. I almost put the book down. I once read a tip in a writing book that you should cut your first chapter, start with the second, and sprinkle the first chapter backstory in later only if necessary. This book might have benefited from that trick.
* Internal monologue—Not everywhere, but in certain spots I felt like I was getting Ben’s entire thought process.
* Melodramatic tendencies—As the story started to wrap up, a few scenes came off as a bit cheesy for my taste.
* Kiss offscreen—Maybe this is just because I’m a girl that this bugged me, but the first kiss between Ben and the girl he’s interested in happened…offscreen! It’s this offhand comment in the narration. Bummer!

None of these issues were huge, but they all pulled me out of the story and got in the way of me connecting on a deeper level to the book. ( )

This is a really great story.
It greatly shows the struggle of having gay parents.
A really interesting story. ( )

This is a great story about the ups and downs of a father son relationship.
Mrs Grabill ( )

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

Life was going along just fine for Ben Campbell until he hit fourteen. That was the year his father announced that he was gay and his mother left. His dad's boyfriend moved in, and Ben started counseling -- and also misbehaving.

Now, after three years of run-ins with the law, Ben's dad has decided the only way to save Ben is to leave Spokane. At age seventeen, city boy Ben finds himself living in Rough Butte, Montana. Edward, who Ben calls Momdad, has agreed to take them back to the hometown he left when he was Ben's age. In Rough Butte, Ben is surrounded by homophobic cowboys, Edward's acid-tongued mother, Miss Mae, and an abusive neighbor with a strange young son.

Used to doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants, quickly ends for Ben as Miss Mae schools him in acceptable country behavior. She expects respect and hard work, and she doesn't hesitate to use her wooden spoon as a weapon to encourage it. Ben reluctantly falls in line and even finds it rewarding at times. His father and Edward seem pleased for the most part, and his improved attitude and behavior are useful in his quest to attract the attention of the beautiful girl living just four doors down the street.

There are still frustrations for Ben. Completely forgiving his father for trashing his life back in Spokane is proving harder than he expected. Rough patches between father and son keep tensions high, and to complicate matters, Ben becomes convinced that the young neighbor boy is the victim of dangerous abuse. Ben's efforts to seek justice for the boy create a whole new set of problems.

It is almost impossible to turn the pages fast enough in THE LAST EXIT TO NORMAL. Michael Harmon's protagonist is one-of-a-kind. Readers will root for him one minute and against him the next as they experience his struggle to accept what life has dealt him. Harmon has truly captured the torrent of emotions raging along that divide between boyhood and manhood. Don't miss this one! ( )

I picked this book becuase I wanted to read some teenage angst and rebellion; however, there's hardly any angst and rebellion in the book. There's about 1 or 2 lines of a boy who "hangs out with the wrong crowd." Michael Harmon needs to learn the concept of "show, don't tell" and an editor was desperately needed.

On the flip side, the idea of a gay parent struck me. Most young adult books about being homosexual deal with the youth's homosexuality, rather than the parent's. This stark difference was the only shining light in the book. ( )

Such a good book! It's full of surprises, interesting twists and turns, and defies every stereotype. Great for teens. Shocking ending.

From Google Books:
It's true: After 17-year-old Ben' s father announces he's gay and the family splits apart, Ben does everything he can to tick him off: skip school, smoke pot, skateboard nonstop, get arrested. But he never thinks he'll end up yanked out of his city life and plunked down into a small Montana town with his dad and Edward, The Boyfriend. As if it's not painful enough living in a hick town with spiked hair, a skateboard habit, and two dads, he soon realizes something's not quite right with Billy, the boy next door. He's hiding a secret about his family, and Ben is determined to uncover it and set things right. ( )

When Ben was 14, his dad announced he was gay and his mother left. Ben spiraled into drugs as he struggled to come to terms with his father's homosexuality. Now 17, he's moved with his father and "momdad" from Washington to a rural Montana town. Here Ben learns the values of hard work, helps an abused neighbor boy, falls in love, and tries to resolve his issues with his dad. ( )

Gay parents, child abuse, and general mis-fit-ness might not be someone's first choice of topics for a fun read, but this book is written with such humor and verve that it's hard not to enjoy Ben Campbell's journey as he comes to terms with having a gay father, as well as learning more about who he, himself, truly is. ( )

When Ben's father announces that he's gay, his mom takes off and his dad shoves Ben into all the therapy money can buy. After several years of abusing various drugs and getting into trouble, Ben's dad relocates the family (Ben, his dad, and his dad's husband Edward) to Rough Butte, Montana. They move in with Edward's mother, a no-nonsense country widow, and Ben has to toughed up quick. He also has to deal with the lingering issues he has with his dad.

An ambitious novel and one I really enjoyed. Ben and his family are complex and there are no easy answers. The people of Rough Butte are also complex. Some have a problem with Ben's dad and his husband, but others are more accepting. ( )

Ben's father announced he was gay when Ben was 14, and his mom took off. Now he is stuck dealing with the consequences. A realistic depiction of the anger a kid like Ben may feel, and the struggles of a Dad and Momdad who are trying their best. When they move Ban to Montana to get him away from bad influences, he learns the value of work and respect. His treatment, to me, was pretty harsh, and it seems that the adults in his life have come to conclusions about him that he just accepts rather than defending his own feelings and identity. ( )

In this new twist on the classic "fish out of water" story, Ben Campbell's dad and his "mom-dad," Edward, hope to keep him out of trouble by moving from Spokane to a small Montana town. They move in with Edward's mother Miss Mae, who makes it clear she takes no guff from anyone and has no qualms about whacking Ben with a wooden spoon if guff even crosses his mind. Ben's varying attempts to reject his new home and to fit in pull the reader along on a journey that, like life, never seems to go in a straight line.

In addition to Ben and his family, Harmon populates his novel with intriguing characters who buck stereotypes: the small-town sheriff who's anything but rigid, the cute farm girl who's smarter than Ben is. The antagonists are no less unique: creepy neighbors who judge Ben based on his parents and his looks, the ex-boyfriend of the local girl he's smitten with...and the homophobia that plagues him from both inside and out, threatening to destroy his relationship with his fathers. (See the full review at http://worducopia.blogspot.com) ( )

It was an interesting transition Ben made from angry teen to more mature young adult. I thought the characters were quite believable. The situations were real life kinds of things that could happen. I also liked that there was no pat ending. ( )