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Heaven's Coast: A Memoir Hardcover – March, 1996

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Mark Doty (Author)
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Mark Doty (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 41 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (March 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 006017210X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060172107
  • Product Dimensions: 1.5 x 6.5 x 9.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #574,819 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA beautifully written memoir.
By A Customer on September 16, 1999
Format: Paperback
There are many kinds of ears in this world... it will take every kind of voice to make them listen. In Heaven's Coast, Mark Doty's is a poetic, memorable voice. While writers like Paul Monette and Larry Kramer explore the personal as political, Doty seeks and finds spiritual affirmation in nature, thereby placing him among many of his literary predecessors. For critics who take Doty to task for not writing a book that encompasses all those populations affected by AIDS, this is not a political, medical, or moral treatise, but a memoir. It is an account not so much of AIDS but of love, and how HIV/AIDS impacted that love in life and death. As a writer, a widow, a survivor, Doty eloquently articulates his experience of relationship, illness, and grief. Just as the virus respects no boundaries of race, gender, orientation, income, or age, neither does grief. There may be gleaned from any person's history some meaningful wisdom, emotion, comfort, or inspiration. As a caregiver and survivor of friends lost to AIDS, I found that Doty's words gave me renewed vision and new strength.
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5.0 out of 5 starsValorous Warrior.
By A Customer on April 5, 2000
Format: Paperback
Loss is one of the most powerful impacts that engraves a permanent mark of misery and grief on hearts of those who had been inflicted with the misfortune of experiencing such tragedy. Losing someone who appears to be the most important part of our life - perhaps, even the reason that we are living - very often causes a dramatic change in our life's perspective and makes us realize things that had never occurred to us before. Losing the love of our life to AIDS adds a great density to the already intense burden of loss. Mark shares with the readers his experience of taking care and loving the one that meant the world to him - to the end of his counted days. His partner and lover of twelve years became infected with an HIV virus, which later transformed into AIDS, and he passed away after four years of suffering and struggling for his life. It is a fascinating, yet a very sad book, filled with lots of happy as well as painful reminiscences.It is very important to have at least that one person you could definitely count on, to feel needed and safe with. From reading the book, it appears that Mark Doty is exactly that extraordinary person with an immense amount of courage and strength. He had never surrendered to the discouraging spirit of AIDS' dreadful abyss that had suffused the entire surroundings for him and his beloved, and that hung over their heads in a dark, dense mantle. His positive attitude helped his partner to gain strength and to keep going through the most difficult time of his life. Doty's use of language is so beautifully fluid, so boundlessly passionate, so real and down-to-earth, that it takes your breath away, and transfers you into his world of thought, into his life, allowing you to enter his most personal feelings and experiences.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn inspiring "survived by" account
By A Customer on October 4, 1999
Format: Paperback
I have never lost anyone I love, and I fear that loss immensely. I often concoct possible life threatening scenarios for my loved ones, trying desperately (and in vain) to feel the pain I would be feel if they were really to occur, stupidly thinking I can somehow prepare myself for the worst. Mark Doty's partner, Wally, tested positive for HIV, and for four years Doty lived with the knowledge of "the worst": someone he loved dearly would soon to die. His memoir, Heaven's Coast, was another scenario for me to rehearse, this time with the aid of someone who actually endured it...and survived. It was helpful to read how Doty made it through those four years, trying "not to let the present disappear under the grief of those disappearances, and the anticipatory grief of a future disappearance." He strives to constantly live in the present, and his memoir takes the reader in it with him, written beautifully, with a thoughtful, poetic quality it, suitable for such a reflective piece. It is honest, heartbreaking and, for me, encouraging. Obituaries often contain what I call a "survived by" line, something I fear being associated with some day. For me, Heaven's Coast is an annotated, engrossing, and promising "survived by" line.
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5.0 out of 5 starsMemoir, Love Story, a gift.
By Kevin Graves on April 16, 2011
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Until you have waited for the funeral home to collect the remains of your spouse, until you have cleaned up and cared for them and they slip through your fingers and until you are able to touch and scatter their ashes without falling completely to pieces, then you don't completely know love. Mark Doty knows love, and he knows loss. He spoke to my soul with words so fluid as one reviewer described his prose, that reading this book felt like silk or a warm breeze against my cheek. Reading it, I felt these were my words if I had his gift for writing. After losing my partner of 25 years, not from AIDS, but complications of successful cancer treatment, I spend nearly three years reading every book I could find on grief. The gay themed books I read seemed to be looking for a replacement or quick sex as soon as they were at page 15. I felt bereft of finding any book that could speak to me of my particular loss, even though I did read some really good books about grief. When a friend suggested this book, I downloaded it immediately. If I hadn't, I would have missed out on one of the finest collections of prose, poetry and dignity that I have ever read. This book is about 2 gay men coming to a leave taking, but it could be helpful to anyone who has lost someone they are particularly close to.
I would say this to the one really negative review I read. Do you not read these reviews? Do you read the blurbs? No one said this book was "about" AIDS, but how MORE could it be about AIDS when it documents his partner's journey into release with all pertinent medical and spiritual experience from both sides of the sick bed?

This book is not only a tribute to Wally Roberts from Mark Doty; it is a gift to anyone who has ever experienced the most profound loss one can have in life...the loss of a soulmate. Please read and absorb this absolute gem.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThe loss before the gain

I have always felt that sorrow and loss are like a wallet you want to know is securely stored in your back pocket-- out of sight but with a little pat you are aware it is still... Read more

Published 6 days ago by Richard Brad Medoff
5.0 out of 5 starsa story of love and light

I read this beautiful tribute and memoir in tandem with Living in the Light of Death by Larry Rosenberg as part of a course on contemplative caregiving. Read more

Published 14 months ago by lglover
5.0 out of 5 starsI have this book in hard cover and love it. I bought this paper back...

I have this book in hard cover and love it. I bought this paper back version to share with
a friend who is grieving the loss of his partner and hope it will help him to heal. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Eugene
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

one of my favorite authors. sad, but poignant.

Published 17 months ago by Leslie Johnston
4.0 out of 5 starsGreat read

Mark Doty is a master of nonfiction! Couldn't help getting caught up in this story of love lost. Definitely a great read.

Published 24 months ago by Lucy Nepstad
5.0 out of 5 starsEven Better the Second Time

I first read this book many years ago, and time has not diluted Mark Doty's impact in the telling of the death of his beloved Wally. Read more

Published on September 5, 2013 by Lee R.
5.0 out of 5 starsA classic!

I have eight bookcases in my office crammed with books - mostly on topics of business, communication and spirituality. I keep them for reference. Read more

Published on August 31, 2013 by J. P. Reynolds
3.0 out of 5 starsGood book - Bad delivery

Mark Doty's books are some of the best written books I've ever read - this was the first of his I read. Read more

Published on May 27, 2013 by Doris E. Cowan
3.0 out of 5 starsBetter Half

There is no doubt Mark Doty writes beautifully, descriptive. However, the story of his loss is mired by the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the book. Read more

Published on March 5, 2012 by LoudAndChanticleer
5.0 out of 5 starspoetic memoir about life and death and everything in between

Mark Doty's memoir, Heaven's Coast, is one of the most poetic books I've read in a long time. Ripe with the most vivid imagery, Doty's talent as a poet shines through in his... Read more

Published on March 15, 2009 by CL

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