Dan Savage's "The Commitment" focuses on Dan Savage's own opinions about gay marriage and how he faces the dilemma on how to commemorate his ten- year anniversary with his life partner Terry. 

"The Commitment" opens up with the road-trip from Hell. Imagine the possible ramifications of a six-year-old who inexplicably listens to The White Stripes and Grand Theft Auto rather than the show-tunes or dance music his parents prefer, a “deaf brain-damaged, one-eyed poodle named Stinker”,  and a gay couple driving across the country through the reddest of the red states imaginable.  Before the trip, Dan tries to lay it on the line for his boyfriend Terry: “ Gay couples driving across Montana or South Dakota aren’t on a road trip, Terry. They’re on a suicide mission.”

Despite Dan’s doom-filled prophecy, the whole entire fandamily makes it through the country (including a big chunk of red states) to a great family reunion. Keeping in the theme with the issues of commitment and marriage, Dan’s family discusses their opinions of both over many a margarita. As you may guess, Dan Savage’s family is pretty liberal despite their Catholic roots. Strangely, the only person in the family opposed to the possibility of Dan and Terry getting married is their son DJ himself. 

The book quickly changes tone from a personal story of a road trip and a family reunion to the ins and outs of gay marriage. In the book, Dan is in favor of gay marriage (no surprise there), but scared of jinxing the hard-earned relationship that he has with his boyfriend, Terry. The options for commemorating Dan and Terry’s ten-year-anniversary include god-awful sounding tattoos his and his personalized tattoos (Property of.....) and marriage, which would probably have to take place in Canada since gay marriage is not (at this particular point in time) legal in Washington state.

This is the first book of Dan Savage's that I have read, so I can't compare it to "The Kid", but for anyone looking for more Savage Love-type action, this book is more of a PG-13 read than anything else. What stands out for me in this book that sets it apart from his column is his love for his family.  This includes his siblings (we get to peek into their relationships as well), his mother who has since passed away, and Dan's unconditional love for DJ and Terry. His honesty about his relationship with Terry and his family is touching and quite different in tone from his column.