Four years ago, John Schwartz, a national correspondent at The New York Times, got the call that every parent hopes never to receive: his thirteen-year-old son, Joe, had tried to commit suicide. Hours before, he had come out to his classmates-- and was met by dismay and confusion. After school he took an overdose of pills.

Oddly Normal is Schwartz's very personal attempt to address his family's own struggles within a culture that is...