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19th out of 219 books
—
129 voters
Skipping Towards Gomorrah
by
Dan Savage (Goodreads Author)
In Skipping Towards Gomorrah, Dan Savage eviscerates the right-wing conservatives as he commits each of the Seven Deadly Sins himself (or tries to) and finds those everyday Americans who take particular delight in their sinful pursuits. Among them:
Greed: Gamblers reveal secrets behind outrageous fortune. Lust:"We're swingers!"-you won't believe who's doing it. Anger: Texan...more
Greed: Gamblers reveal secrets behind outrageous fortune. Lust:"We're swingers!"-you won't believe who's doing it. Anger: Texan...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
September 30th 2003
by Plume
(first published 2002)
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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 doe...more
Non-fiction. Dan Savage heads out to chase down America's seven deadly sins. After a weak start (the first chapter reads like an angry blog entry), he pulls himself together, and the rest of the book is infinitely more focused and professional. It's funny, well researched and, unlike his grouchy responses to the pilgrims of Savage Love, here he treats people with patience and respect while he travels the country indulging in greed (Vegas), lust (wife-swapping), and gluttony (super-size it) -- ju...more
This was a funny, original book written by Dan Savage of "Savage Love" fame, the sex column that appears in weekly newspapers like the Village Voice.
The title comes from the title of a right-wing pundit's book, "Slouching toward Gomorrah." The author, who I had never heard of, along with other conservative commentators Savage quotes complain that America is on the wrong path and that feminism, homosexuality, pornography, gambling, etc. are responsible. Since Americans are such sinners in the eye...more
The title comes from the title of a right-wing pundit's book, "Slouching toward Gomorrah." The author, who I had never heard of, along with other conservative commentators Savage quotes complain that America is on the wrong path and that feminism, homosexuality, pornography, gambling, etc. are responsible. Since Americans are such sinners in the eye...more
Sep 07, 2007
Lord Beardsley
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
those who want their already existing beliefs confirmed
Shelves:
read2007
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...more
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...more
I highly recommend this book. Dan Savage is the syndicated gay columnist who writes some really funny advice columns. Here, he explores each of the "seven deadly sins" in one of there modern iterations. For example, for "Gluttony," he visits a Fat Admirer (FA) convention in Vegas. It's filled with big, big women, and the men that love them.
For "Lust", he interviews a very well-to-do "normal" couple in, I believe, Chicago. They are married, have kids, white-collar jobs, but are involved in the s...more
For "Lust", he interviews a very well-to-do "normal" couple in, I believe, Chicago. They are married, have kids, white-collar jobs, but are involved in the s...more
Dan Savage, of Savage Love fame, decides he'll check out the Seven Deadly Sins and give you an updated account. It's interesting and often rather scary; he neither tries to glorify sinful behavior nor condemn it in advance. He just wants to find out the facts for himself, and let you know what he discovered.
He's quite imaginative about picking a good modern example of each sin. His descriptions of the bizarre people who think that extreme obesity is attractive were fascinatingly disgusting, and...more
He's quite imaginative about picking a good modern example of each sin. His descriptions of the bizarre people who think that extreme obesity is attractive were fascinatingly disgusting, and...more
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A fun and thoughtful book. Savage, the syndicated "Savage Love" sex-advice columnist, takes it upon himself to examine and celebrate the "seven deadly sins" as they are manifested in American culture. He looks into gambling, sexual swingers' culture, attends a convention of a fat acceptance group, smokes pot, shoots some guns, attends a gay pride parade, and even rents "escorts" (to interview them, not for sex). Although not every line of this book is a masterpiece, as a whole it is entertaining...more
If you've ever read "Savage Love," the author's weekly sex advice column, you already know that Mr. Savage is the patron saint of What Happens Between Consenting Adults Is Nobody Else's Business. In Skipping Towards Gomorrah, Savage extends that principle beyond the bedroom and into the traditional "seven deadly sins." It's a celebration of indulgence, of people doing whatever the hell they want as long as it doesn't hurt anybody. He's probably preaching to the choir, as I can't imagine anyone r...more
What a fun thing Dan Savage does, here! He does a wee "case study" of each of the seven deadly sins - Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride - exploring a variety of subcultures, from groups of the morbidly obese to riverboat gamblers as he does it. It's a weirdly memorable book; the way he chooses to look at each "sin" is a little random, but the experiences he has are told in his inimitable style, and some of them really stuck with me. Definitely worth a read; it hasn't dated its...more
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 p...more
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 p...more
This is undoubtedly the weakest of Savage's books. (Savage Love does exactly what it says on the tin; The Kid and The Commitment are more personal and thoughtful.) It's still an enjoyable read, but rather forgettable.
In response to neoconservative tomes that decry modern America as a immoral sewer, Savage sticks up for the sinners and points out that, hey, America's not so bad, really. He does this by tackling each of the seven deadly sins -- visiting sinners' hotspots and profiling people who c...more
In response to neoconservative tomes that decry modern America as a immoral sewer, Savage sticks up for the sinners and points out that, hey, America's not so bad, really. He does this by tackling each of the seven deadly sins -- visiting sinners' hotspots and profiling people who c...more
I liked this book quite a bit, but then again I like Dan Savage quite a bit. I found the chapters on Pride and Gluttony to be VERY interesting. Savage offers a great critique of Pride Festival: that it is much more about having a good gay time than it is about community/youth uplift, despite the fact that everyone always claims community/youth uplift as their reason for participating. Why not just admit it's a huge debauched party and revel in it, suggest Savage. I think he's on the money on thi...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I'm on a bit of a Dan Savage kick. I finished The Kid and moved immediately into this and have The Commitment lined up next. I really enjoyed this one. It's compulsively readable. It wasn't as endearing as The Kid, but it shouldn't have been. Savage turns out a really well planned social critique, by way of hilarious experiment. Imagine the balls it must have taken to go to his published and say "I want to you give me a big fat advance and cover my costs while I go gamble, eat and solicit escort...more
This is less of a rumination on the nature of sin and sinning in modern America than it is a platform for Savage to discuss his personal beliefs on social issues, but that doesn't make it any less fun to read. I'm a sucker for travelogues and even more of a sucker for ones that look at the weirder and stranger aspects of American life, something this book does really rather well. Savage gets a reputation as something of a blowhard, but as a literary companion, he's a really fun fellow traveler.
N...more
N...more
Not going to lie...I'm biased -- I love Dan Savage, and maybe I'm inclined to enjoy this book for that very reason. I only heard of him through watching his MTV series Savage U where he travels to colleges around the nation and gives honest sex advice for the real world and for his recent fiasco of calling a pack of homophobes "pansies." Savage is refreshing...he's honest and straight-forward and tells it like it is.
That being said, I was a little shocked by the sheer one-sided, biased, insult-...more
That being said, I was a little shocked by the sheer one-sided, biased, insult-...more
Jul 19, 2010
Charles Dee Mitchell
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
essays-memoir
It's a disappointment and required some skimming. This is a "stunt book," actually ahead of its time as a stunt project and a great idea. Savage sets out to commit all seven of the deadly sins, but the idea shows flaws from the start. For Greed he goes gambling, although he admits that gamblers are not greedy. He ignores the Christian interpretation of Sloth. and settles for smoking marijuana, an activity he thinks of as a pleasant waste of time. His best essay is his laceration of the past-its-...more
I stole this book from my roommate thinking I'd tear through it in a week. Sadly, I didn't really learn much from this book--and worse, I didn't enjoy it. I'm disappointed that the references weren't footnoted, or even listed in the book (the last page directs you to a website). The 'committing the deadly sins' thing got tiring, as the "Bible rules in modern life" trope is kind of played out (The Year of Living Biblically, etc). The entire book is largely a lefty reaction to Slouching Towards Go...more
This was a fun, quick read. I've always loved Dan Savage's wicked humour and radical leftist shots at the right. The book was researched and published in the shadow of 9-11, and the scary conservative political climate that clouded reason and suppressed debate. Dan's reveling in sin, while in this context, makes it all the more radical. His goal is to commit all 7 deadly sins across America, and a lot of it backfires in ways he didn't expect. He visits a pro-fat conference in hopes of guilt-free...more
He comes off a little less take-no-prisoners than he does in the column. I remember it being all OMG Obesity!! but maybe that's a misremember? He mentions his fear of fat. Don't really enjoy that part. I think I liked it OK when I read it but probably would feel a little different now.
I accidentally read this book. I picked it up one morning while drinking my coffee and didn't put it down until I'd finished reading it. I enjoyed the chapters on gluttony and greed the most, I think, but it was entirely entertaining and occasionally insightful.
Readable, often interesting. Some of the sins are way better than others, and there are times when he says nothing you wouldn't expect every liberal to say. But "Adultery" "Pride" and "Gluttony", about swinging, gay pride, and fat acceptance, respectively, alone were worth the cost of admission for me. The chapter about the fat acceptance convention surprised me- I've heard him be very mean about the subject before. And he's a little mean here, too, but he has his points. He brought to light som...more
Funny attempt to commit all seven deadly sins, Savage realizes they aren’t all fun, but they are all necessary. Good voice, treads the line well between liberal and whiny.
May 14, 2012
Ian James
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone interested in American culture wars or politics.
A clever idea, and quite entertaining.
I first read this book around Jan 2003. Re-reading it now, about 9 years later, it strikes me how well the book still holds up. The Republicans are *still* being idiotic, hypocritical and hateful; American politics are still deeply divided; American life is still full of contradictions and double standards.
It's a tour of the absurdities and horrors of American society through the lens of "the seven deadly sins", still as relevant and fresh today as it was wh...more
I first read this book around Jan 2003. Re-reading it now, about 9 years later, it strikes me how well the book still holds up. The Republicans are *still* being idiotic, hypocritical and hateful; American politics are still deeply divided; American life is still full of contradictions and double standards.
It's a tour of the absurdities and horrors of American society through the lens of "the seven deadly sins", still as relevant and fresh today as it was wh...more
Jan 27, 2010
Johnny
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Kristen
Shelves:
nonfiction,
humor
Having read Savage's memoir-style books The Kid (about the process of adopting a child with his boyfriend) and The Commitment (about gay marriage) and absolutely loving them--especially the former--I've wanted to read Skipping Towards Gomorrah for a while now. Thanks to my Kindle, when the whim struck me to finally read it, I had it in my hands in 60 seconds!
Skipping Towards Gomorrah is a lot more political than anything else, and Savage has some pretty interesting politics. Many of his ideas le...more
Skipping Towards Gomorrah is a lot more political than anything else, and Savage has some pretty interesting politics. Many of his ideas le...more
I have a signed copy of this somewhere. Whatever.
Mar 05, 2010
Jake
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
curious cats, people who've read Peter Sagal's "The Book of Vice"
Recommended to Jake by:
Alissa
Shelves:
non-fiction
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
A partisan book for a partisan audience.
This is a wickedly funny primer about the seven deadly sins from a would-be practitioner. Dan Savage takes on Robert Bork Slouching Towards Gomorrah, William Bennett, Dr. Laura, Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter with a well-reasoned, thoughtful and deliciously illustrated (in words, not photos) examination of American morality and hypocrisy. Savage finds some likable characters in nearly every Sin City he visits, and he tries, with varying degrees of success,...more
This is a wickedly funny primer about the seven deadly sins from a would-be practitioner. Dan Savage takes on Robert Bork Slouching Towards Gomorrah, William Bennett, Dr. Laura, Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter with a well-reasoned, thoughtful and deliciously illustrated (in words, not photos) examination of American morality and hypocrisy. Savage finds some likable characters in nearly every Sin City he visits, and he tries, with varying degrees of success,...more
I gave Dan Savage the benefit of the doubt, and wrote glowing reviews for The Kid and The Commitment. I tried to read this book, got halfway through, and had to give up. I owe over $1 in late fees on it, I've had it out from the library for a month, and I simply cannot force myself to get through it. I am neglecting important other books by putting myself to sleep with this. I am the sort of person who generally cannot bear to not finish a book, so accepting this is chafing my personal neuroses....more
I love Dan Savage, and you should love him, too. Like all people who cast positive on what is hegemonically considered negative, Dan Savage has enormous power to be transformative. Never before in my life, and maybe it's just me, have I considered "sinning" a political duty, a noble pursuit. I may have thought so, but only vaguely, and never in the clear terms, "humans sin, and sinning is good for you." The best aspect of this book is Dan, the person: he decided, in writing this book, not to sim...more
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Dan Savage is a writer, TV personality, and activist best known for his political and social commentary, as well as his honest approach to sex, love and relationships.
Savage’s sex advice column, “Savage Love,” is syndicated in newspapers and websites throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. He is the Editorial Director of The Stranger, Seattle’s weekly alternative newspaper, and his...more
More about Dan Savage...
Savage’s sex advice column, “Savage Love,” is syndicated in newspapers and websites throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. He is the Editorial Director of The Stranger, Seattle’s weekly alternative newspaper, and his...more
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