SOURCE: Freeman, Chris. “Art that Saves.” Gay and Lesbian Review 7, no. 2 (spring 2000): 52.

In the following review, Freeman maintains that Doty is a skilled poet and memoirist, judging Firebird as a powerful, insightful reminiscence of the author's past.

Mark Doty's Heaven's Coast (1996) is one of the most powerful memoirs we have of the AIDS crisis and of love between men. His follow-up, Firebird: A Memoir, is a much different book, one that tells the story of a chaotic childhood and develops as a coming-of-age narrative ripe with elements of Southern Gothic, dislocation, teenage rebellion, and the salvific power of art, of creating.

Near the end of the book, Doty writes, “I believe that art saved my life. How is it that making sustains?” “Making” aptly describes the process Doty engages in. Primarily known for his well-wrought, opulently designed poetry, Doty's creativity in structure is his genius. Firebird is a...