annakmeyer's review against another edition
3.0
Obviously, I'm pro-everything this book espouses re: gay adoption, adoption in general, etc. And it was an interesting read, especially twelve years removed from when the events happened. I'm just not the biggest fan of his writing style.
emp1234's review against another edition
3.0
I read this book because I like Dan Savage's column Savage Love and because it kept showing up in my book recommendations. I wanted to be entertained and although I agree with gay adoption, it certainly isn't one of my hot buttons. So, I liked this book. There were times that I laughed out loud and it was an interesting story. Some of the soap box rants were a little tiresome, but overall this was a good read.
erikawastaken's review against another edition
5.0
I read these books in opposite order, so I'm used to thinking about DJ as an eight year old. It was touching to read the story about how they became a family. As always Dan's writing is initmate, with just the perfect touch of snark --the guy at the cocktail party that you are so glad you ended up next to at the beer tub because his observations about other guests are dead on.
lisaeirene's review against another edition
5.0
I'd never read any of Savage's books before. I have read his advice/sex column in various papers here in Portland. I liked his raw, gritty writing style. The book was interesting and fast paced. There were only a few parts where he droned on a little bit about gay rights and politics. I say droned because I am already on par with what he believes in and agreed with the political stuff/gay rights/gay adoption, etc.
What I liked best about this book was the open, honest relationship he had with his boyfriend. They had problems and fought like normal couples do. He wasn't trying to portray their relationship as perfect and I appreciated that. I also liked how they balanced each other out in their faults, too.
The other cool part about the book was reading about Seattle and Portland. I'm from Seattle and live in Portland and recognized all the landmarks and restaurants, etc.
Savage and his boyfriend did an open adoption. Adoption is something I feel very strongly about and have read a ton of books about the topic in preparation for possibly adopting (at one point in my life). What I didn't know was pretty much anything about open adoption--which is what they did. He gave a great, in detail rundown on the process. I don't think open adoption is something that would ever appeal to me, but I liked reading about their experiences.
Great book! Highly recommend it.
What I liked best about this book was the open, honest relationship he had with his boyfriend. They had problems and fought like normal couples do. He wasn't trying to portray their relationship as perfect and I appreciated that. I also liked how they balanced each other out in their faults, too.
The other cool part about the book was reading about Seattle and Portland. I'm from Seattle and live in Portland and recognized all the landmarks and restaurants, etc.
Savage and his boyfriend did an open adoption. Adoption is something I feel very strongly about and have read a ton of books about the topic in preparation for possibly adopting (at one point in my life). What I didn't know was pretty much anything about open adoption--which is what they did. He gave a great, in detail rundown on the process. I don't think open adoption is something that would ever appeal to me, but I liked reading about their experiences.
Great book! Highly recommend it.
mrs_george's review against another edition
4.0
I was not familiar with the author or his sex advice column before I read this book. I wasn't really prepared for his...descriptive language. It kind of turned me off in the beginning and I'm no innocent angel. But as I continued reading I realized it wasn't so much that the language was put in there for shock value but more that it's just the author's personality. Maybe if I would've read his sex advice column beforehand I would've been a little more prepared for that.
When I became pregnant at 19, in my second year of college, my mom suggested I explore the choice of adoption. I immediately knew that if I were placing my child, they would be going to a homosexual couple. I've just always felt really strongly that homosexuals deserve the right to parent just like an heterosexual couple. Ultimately I knew I was keeping my child so I didn't pursue it much. Although it has helped shape my decision to become a surrogate when I'm done having my own kids. Anyway, so I knew I would find the story of a gay couple and their quest to adopt a baby interesting. This book delivered in all aspects. It was funny, heartwarming, informative and engaging.
When I became pregnant at 19, in my second year of college, my mom suggested I explore the choice of adoption. I immediately knew that if I were placing my child, they would be going to a homosexual couple. I've just always felt really strongly that homosexuals deserve the right to parent just like an heterosexual couple. Ultimately I knew I was keeping my child so I didn't pursue it much. Although it has helped shape my decision to become a surrogate when I'm done having my own kids. Anyway, so I knew I would find the story of a gay couple and their quest to adopt a baby interesting. This book delivered in all aspects. It was funny, heartwarming, informative and engaging.
shai3d's review against another edition
4.0
I have been listening to Dan Savage's podcasts so when I learned that he had also written books I just had to check them out. I am really glad that I did as Dan's 'voice' whether on a podcast or through his writing is very uniquely his own. This book is all about Dan and his boyfriend's journey to becoming parents from fighting over the music on their road trips to his worries about the boxed up bondage equipment in the basement. It's a rather quick and very enjoyable read.
joelevard's review against another edition
3.0
Dan Savage brings the same frank, occasionally filthy voice familiar from his popular sex advice column and podcasts to his first book, published about a decade ago. Unfortunately, he also brings along his tendency to get sidetracked with political rants and his penchant for beating the same points into the ground over and over.
I really enjoyed the majority of this book, which tells the story of Dan and his boyfriend trying to adopt a child, the whole nerve-wracking process from researching their legal options to musing over inseminating a lesbian couple to the agonizing wait for a birthparent to choose them to take her child. Dan is a really funny guy, and parts of this book will make you laugh pretty hard, including his example of what not to write in your letter to all the mothers out there looking to choose parents for their babies ("We live in a cramped apartment filled with dangerous and sharp-edged tchotchkes perched high atop unstable tables purchased at an Ikea seconds sale."). Parts of this book will also make you a little sad; though it's not really a depressing story, Dan and his boyfriend have some hard choices to make when they learn that the introverted street kid who has chosen them to raise her child drank during much of her pregnancy.
This book might also annoy you, because Dan takes the opportunity to climb onto his soapbox a little too often, especially in the first 60 pages or so. Instead of telling his personal story, he goes on for pages and pages about the additional hurdles faced by homosexual parents looking to adopt or marry. These rants, which might be relevant but didn't really need to go on for pages and pages, making the same point over and over, are full of righteous anger and vitriol and aren't very fun to read. You get the idea the book wasn't edited very rigorously and Dan started off not really knowing where he was going with it (he admits as much in a chapter about how he got a book deal and spent the advance before he knew what he was going to write about, which gave him a reason to finally pull the trigger on the long-gestating adoption dream).
If the final product is uneven, Dan's story of bring a new life into the world, so to speak, is heartfelt and occasionally moving and almost as good as reading his advice to people with centaur fetishes, pegging fantasies, and problems with threesome logistics.
I really enjoyed the majority of this book, which tells the story of Dan and his boyfriend trying to adopt a child, the whole nerve-wracking process from researching their legal options to musing over inseminating a lesbian couple to the agonizing wait for a birthparent to choose them to take her child. Dan is a really funny guy, and parts of this book will make you laugh pretty hard, including his example of what not to write in your letter to all the mothers out there looking to choose parents for their babies ("We live in a cramped apartment filled with dangerous and sharp-edged tchotchkes perched high atop unstable tables purchased at an Ikea seconds sale."). Parts of this book will also make you a little sad; though it's not really a depressing story, Dan and his boyfriend have some hard choices to make when they learn that the introverted street kid who has chosen them to raise her child drank during much of her pregnancy.
This book might also annoy you, because Dan takes the opportunity to climb onto his soapbox a little too often, especially in the first 60 pages or so. Instead of telling his personal story, he goes on for pages and pages about the additional hurdles faced by homosexual parents looking to adopt or marry. These rants, which might be relevant but didn't really need to go on for pages and pages, making the same point over and over, are full of righteous anger and vitriol and aren't very fun to read. You get the idea the book wasn't edited very rigorously and Dan started off not really knowing where he was going with it (he admits as much in a chapter about how he got a book deal and spent the advance before he knew what he was going to write about, which gave him a reason to finally pull the trigger on the long-gestating adoption dream).
If the final product is uneven, Dan's story of bring a new life into the world, so to speak, is heartfelt and occasionally moving and almost as good as reading his advice to people with centaur fetishes, pegging fantasies, and problems with threesome logistics.