Skipping Towards Gomorrah (2003) - Plot & Excerpts
I’m very conflicted as I write my review for this book. Dan Savage is an amazing writer, he makes sense, he’s entertaining, he backs up his information with stats and quotes, and I disagree with him on almost every point he makes!This book really is a light-hearted look at Savage’s experiences as he makes a concentrated effort to “sin” each of the traditional 7 deadly sins. However, it’s also filled with comments and arguments (well-written ones) promoting his own personal agenda. I found this particular point fascinating: “. . .the virtuous in America aren’t satisfied with merely lecturing us. They want to give us orders, and to that end they’ve banded together in what appears to be a never-ending effort to shove their own virtues down all of our throats. They’ve convinced themselves that the pursuit of happiness by less virtuous Americans is both a personal and a political attack. Not content to persuade their fellow Americans to be virtuous – which, again, is their right – they want to amend constitutions and pass laws.” Hard to argue with that logic. As I said, much of what he writes is compelling.A point I can’t agree with is his argument that “. . . much of the harm done by drugs, prostitution, and adultery should be laid at the feet of the virtuous. It’s their meddling that often creates the harm, not the sins in and of themselves. There would be no money, and therefore no gangs or violence, in the drug trade if drugs were legalized and their sale taxed and regulated. When was the last time beer distributors killed each other? Oh, yeah: prohibition. If prostitution were legalized, an American prostitute with a violent client or abusive pimp could turn to the police for protection, just as prostitutes do in the Netherlands. If every couple were encouraged to have a realistic, rational conversation about the near-inevitability of infidelity in long-term relationships, fewer homes would be destroyed by adultery.” OY! I totally disagree on those points. From my own personal experience (married almost 13 years), his point on divorce just makes me sad. The fact that people think that divorce or adultery is inevitable is what makes it happen; not the fact that a marriage or relationship can’t make it without those things happening. See this thread on best advice you’ve ever been given for my very short thought on this.In the chapter on Lust, he carries the adultery message even further, this time without backup data: “Adultery ‘touches’ 80 percent of all marriages; married people lust after people who aren’t their spouses because that’s how our creator made us. We’re wired to cheat, we’re tempted by thoughts of cheating when we’re awake, and we dream about cheating when we’re asleep.” I don’t know where he gets this information, and I am almost offended by the fact that he thinks God made us that way on purpose. An interesting point comes up in this chapter, though. His exposure to adultery and conservatives is “. . .if either slips up – just once – we tell both that the marriage is over.” Although I acknowledge it would be very hard to forgive something like this, this is not my (conservative) philosophy, nor the way I was raised. I’m sad that Savage thinks this is the only solution. I know multiple couples who have survived an affair, and have come out on the other side with an even stronger marriage.One section I really enjoyed (and totally agreed with) was the chapter on Anger. For this chapter, Savage went to Plano, Texas to learn to shoot a gun. He makes some very interesting points about gun owners talking a lot about personal freedoms, but only really fighting for the one personal freedom of owning a gun. HA! He’s right. “So while gun owners are always saying that owning guns is about defending freedom, the only freedom gun owners seem interested in defending with their guns is the freedom to defend their freedom to own guns. For a freedom fan such as myself, this seems a little limited. All that firepower – 200 million guns – dedicated to defending just one freedom?”The chapter on Envy had me laughing out loud – literally – you have to read it for yourself! Savage’s comments in the Pride chapter on Gay Pride parades had me sad for “the youth”. I did enjoy his history lesson on how these parades came into being, though. Imagine how disturbing it was for me to be eating a bowlful of Doritos during the chapter on Gluttony . . .Last, here is the reason I would like meet Mr. Savage, besides the fact that I think he is very smart and funny (two qualities I most admire in people): here are his comments on the September 11, 2001 attacks, after being encouraged by everyone from Senator Schumer to the President of the United States to get back to normal: “I have nothing snide to say about any of this. I’m a patriot. On September 11, I didn’t blame America; I blamed bin Laden. And while I may love this country for different reasons from the scolds and virtuecrats, I do love this country. I love the separation of church and state, for starters; I love the First Amendment; I love that ‘pursuit of happiness’ stuff in the Declaration of Independence – and I’ve always loved New York City.
I don't really feel like I learned anything in particular from this book. It was entertaining at times and at other times sort of tedious and unsurprising. Most of the time, I felt like I'd already read/seen/heard this about a thousand times before. He had a nice point that we all should stop trying to regulate one another's pleasures and vices and just be. That's a pretty revolutionary thing to say in this day and age (a time of right wingers and left wingers scolding one another while nothing in the end being accomplished). So I give him that, which is essentially why I gave this book 3 stars. This book made me realize how quickly dated September 11 hysteria is. Many times, Dan Savage states that he feels that the war is "justified". This may have been written before America went into Iraq (if that is the case, and he is just referring to Afganistan then I suppose I can understand where he's coming from). I am very curious to know, at this point, where the author stands on that. That's his beliefs and all and he's entitled to them, but I really am skeptical of anyone who finds this war at all justified at this point and am consequently bored of listening to what I consider, a load of horseshit. I can't really see how any war were a bunch of yokels from Oklahoma and Texas are sent in to capitolize on mass suffering as "justified" so I don't agree with ya there Dan, but otherwise I find your beliefs on the concept of "gay pride" awesome and deserve a strong hallelujah. Bottom line: not super-plused, but I'll gladly read another book by Mr. Savage. We can agree to disagree, which is I think a theme found at the heart of this book.
What do You think about Skipping Towards Gomorrah (2003)?
This review is for all of Dan Savage's books. Let me just get this out of the way: I love Dan Savage, I love his podcast, I love his columns, and I love his books. Dan Savage mixes good old-fashioned common sense, a progressive view of . . . just about everything, a wry sense of humor, and a wicked use of the English language to tell about his coming-out, his adoption of a child and his subsequent marriage to his partner. His books are full of wit and self-deprecating humor. I read the three books that I own in the space of a week, one after the other, and laughed out loud (and cried in public!) Although I don't always agree with Dan (I know; that's a surprise, isn't it?) he always presents his case in a rational, informative way. Okay, usually.
—Naomi V
Essays on the glory of sin. Savage tackles each sin individually, coming at most of them from interesting and unique angles. For Greed he explores the psychology of gambling, for Lust he talks about swinging; Sloth leads to a discussion of marijuana; Gluttony brings him to a pro-fat conference, Envy to a health spa filled with rich people; Pride becomes an analysis of gay pride; and Anger finds him holding a gun. Each section is full of interesting information and anecdotes, and while Savage does not actually find himself glorying in all seven sins (the chapter on gluttony is so scary, mostly because it shows that the way America eats, doesn't eat, treats people who eat too much or eat too little, or even thinks about eating is so incredibly unhealthy and fucked up), he does raise far more than seven important questions about American society, and reveals how it's both better and worse than we think it is. The essential argument of the book—directed mostly, but not entirely, at the religious right—is "if I am not hurting anyone else, please keep the hell out of my personal life," and it's one I agree with. (Of course, what to do when people are hurting themselves is a tougher issue.) I'm not sure if anything Savage says in this book would actually convince anyone on the other side, although that's a near-impossible task, as for the most part, I don't think they'd really listen to him in the first place. However, if everyone put as much thought and consideration into all these issues as Savage does, I think the country would be in much better shape.
—Trin
Dan Savage sets out to commit each of the Seven Deadly Sins (wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony) and ends up writing an entertaining and mostly thoughtful Think Piece about America. Each chapter is split between political analysis and personal storytelling. The political analysis tended to be dated and a bit repetitive (does anyone really care about Bill Bennett anymore), but the narrative bits were great. With the exception of the chapter on Envy (largely pointless), the stories he tells on his personal quest are funny and insightful. The best was the first chapter on green where Dan learns how to play blackjack and has to fight off the lure of the big score. The rest of the stories about swingers, prostitutes, shooting ranges and fat-rights activists were all fascinating and not necessarily what you might expect. The culture war has moved on since the publication of this book, but the personal stories reported here are worth a read.
—Tim
