Customer Reviews

Gift Of The Deer (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I hadn't read this book in a few years and when I saw it again on my shelf I remembered it was a great book to read in the summer. The story is a good one, esp. if you read it in partnership with Hoover's other book about her move to the woods, The Years of the Forest, and tells the story of how she and her husband moved to the wilds of Minnesota in middle-age and what (and who) they found there. The Gift of the Deer introduces us to Peter, Mama, Pretty, Friendly, and all the others who live in Hoover's "neighborhood" deep in the North Woods.
Oh - and why is it great to read in the summer? Because her stories about the bone chilling cold of Minnesota winters are just right to balance the August heat and humidity!

Helen Hoover's beautifully vivid prose makes this memoir read like a fantasy piece. I felt I was sharing the precious moments that she and her husband Ade spent with the wild whitetail deer family who visited them at their log cabin deep in the Minnesota woods. Helen's richly descriptive style of writing draws you into their enchanting lifestyle, filled with peace, and the quiet mystery of virgin forests. The area around their cabin became a safe haven for a groundhog who became a regular houseguest, squirrels who nibbled graham crackers from Helen's hands, chipmunks, ermine, owls, beautiful birds of all kinds,and even a bobcat and a lynx.This is more than just a story about wild animals. It is a tribute to Peter, the magnificent whitetail buck who taught them so much about the dignity and majesty of wild things, and enriched their lives with his noble and gentle ways.This book is a treasure of a journey into some of the most peaceful, delightful, and rewarding places that a nature lover can go without leaving their home. I hated to see it end.

The same helen and Ade Hoover who introduced the reader to a place in the woods, now share their intimate relationships with a deer family in the remote Minnesota forest they live in. After leaving successful careers in Chicago, the Hoovers decided to fulfil a lifelong dream and move to a cabin on a lakeshore deep in the northwoods. From the first page the reader shares in the daily challenges and sheer magic of their life in the woods. When Peter a fully grown buck wanders into their clearing a relationship that would last for years begins. Over the years Peter, his mate Mama, and their offspring become integral parts of the Hoovers' life. Helen Hoovers' descriptions of the quiet snow filled forest and the glorious summers in the woods are breathtaking. The hen Bedelia and other forest animals are endearing,But Peter, Mama and their young are a gift indeed. Their trust in the Hoovers is complete and unusual. If you want to spend a New Years Eve in a cabin in the northwoods listening to a concert on the radio by the heat of an old oil stove, and wake up to visions of a winter wonderland read Gift of the Deer.Its a book you'll read again and again.

There isn't much I can say about this book without spoiling the powerful ending. It's about a starving buck who was saved by the Hoovers, and his family (and there's no doubt in my mind that it was a family in every sense of the word). Mrs. Hoover's prose is beautiful and moving, and you will be very surprised at just how human that Peter, Mama, and their fawns could be. Ade Hoover's illustrations are also very good, and complement his wife's prose perfectly. The book had me riveted from beginning to end, and I read it in two sittings.

WOW! I was so engrossed in this book! One of my all time favorites. We live near a National Forest and I can't wait to go exploring. I will never look at a deer or any wildlife, for that matter, without thinking of this authors experiences

Hoover's gentle wisdom and caring bring the reader into the timeless world of the wild. Her insights teach us about the family life of deer and the struggles they face with prospective starvation, predators, the elements, and human ignorance. The book is as informative as it is moving and humbling.

This is one of my favorite books. It is sensitive, but not maudlin. It uses vivid pictoral imagery to show life in the northern Minnesota woods

I found this book last year and bought it for a freind who loved deer. I thumbed through it, thinking it would be dull. It turned out to be the most marvelous and heatwarming (and sometimes heartwrenching) book I've ever read. If you love wildlife, this is a book for you to read.

If there was ever a time and place that I could have lived it would be in 1954 with Helen,Ade and Peter. What a wonderful story. Once you read this book it will change your outlook on wildlife. A perfect gift for anyone.

I was enriched by reading this lovely book, and found it also raised a lot of questions about man's relationship ( and duties) to the wildlife surrounding his home. Hoover's tale was clear eyed and a definite antidote to all the Disneyesque sappy forest characters we are bombarded with. Life was hard for all in the northwoods, and, as always, the "laws of nature" seem awfully harsh. But the intelligent, loving relationships depicted in the book make it more bearable.