Customer Reviews

The Island Within

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Here is a book that you may have to digest in small bits. Nelson's prose is dense, descriptive and charged with an intensity that occasionally makes you wonder how he can stand to inhabit his own skin. His description of the day he spent deer hunting for example - the physical strain of stalking, questioning the "rightenss" of his mental and spiritual state, worrying about having enough meat to tide himself and his family over for the winter, trying to read the signs he perceives in the woods, remembering the teaching of the elders of the Indian tribe he studied with - is exhausting for the reader as well as Nelson. This doesn't mean it wasn't worth the work; just that you may need a break every so often to catch your breath.

The Island Within is about a special relationship Nelson has built with an island in the Pacific Northwest. When he is not there, studying the animals, hunting with his dog and exploring on his own or with his family, he is wishing he was and planning his next visit. The reader is treated not only to graphic physical descriptions of the island and its inhabitants, but to Nelson's ongoing internal dialog with himself, in which he seeks to balance three very different ways of life - the loner, the family man and the student of Indian ways.

Perhaps the greatest gift offered by this book is a fresh look at how a human being can relate to his world. As much as I came to appreciate the island, I also enjoyed Nelson's tales of his time spent away from it. His fishing trip with his son, the days he spends working in his garden picking berries, the long runs he takes with his dog, his playful attempt to sneak up on a family of seals and his description of the day he decided to open all his windows and let the winds of a large storm blow through his home are equally fun and revealing. Here is someone who has recognized that he is part and parcel of the physical world, and has dared to tear down preconceived notions in order to interact with it in new and playful ways.

The one thing you should not expect from The Island Within is a clear cut plot and story line. This book is all about sharing at an elemental level.

Richard Nelson writes a lovely, haunting collection of essays, mostly set on an island off the coast of Southeast Alaska. Although this book fits into the category of literaure called nature writing, Nelson takes positions which may seem atypical in the environmentalist community, especially his support of hunting as a means of acquiring one's food. Nelson argues convincingly that people have the greatest sense of the land, the greatest sense of spiritual connection, when they subsist from the land on which they live. A cultural anthropologist who spent a great deal of time studying and living with the Koyukon people of interior Alaska, Nelson draws heavily upon these experiences as they inform his actions on "his" island. Mostly, though, the book is a chronicle of his days spent on the island, stalking deer, surfing off the western shore of the island, watching out for brown bears, and reflecting on the ambivalence many of us feel about sharing a special place with other people. Nelson's language seems to reflect the landscape itself, evoking a sense of the mist and drizzle of the island. A landmark book in nature writing.

This book is a treasure to be cherished, to be read and reread, to be pondered deeply. An easy facility with poetic language combined with insatiable curiousity and in depth knowledge of the natural world focuses on the kind of inter-relationship human creatures are called to have with "this fragile earth, our island home."

This book is full of detailed and entrancing descriptions of the natural world. The author is apparently driven to seek out atypical encounters with nature such as luring hummingbirds to perch on his finger, sinking his fingers into steaming bear dung, kayaking among whales, or placing his person in front of dangerous surf. He takes you on those trips and more. Many passages have an abstract, poetic or you could say even acid-trip quality, for example, as the author describes his body merging with the island or an eagle. Great writing skill displayed in these flowing sequences as well as with the grounded descriptions of flora and fauna, the author's family and their life in Alaska.

Richly evocative, beautifully written, moving, wonderful. "The Island" is an experience to read and well deserving of the prestigious John Burroughs Medal in 1991 for distinguished natural history writing.

A cultural anthropologist by training, Nelson lived for extended periods in Athabaskan and Alaskan Eskimo villages, experiences which inspired his earliest works, including "Hunters of the Northern Ice," "Shadow of the Hunter," and "The Athabaskans." Nelson's 1983 book "Make Prayers to the Raven," about the Koyukon people of Alaska, was the basis for a public television series, for which he served as writer and associate producer

Nelson weaves into "The Island" his recollections and experiences with the Koyukon Native Americans of Alaska. Although he never reveals the exact location of the island, Nelson's makes it abundantly clear there is both a physical and spiritual setting for this thoughtful and inspiring book. The depth of Nelson's prose requires several reading sessions. This is a must read for anyone interested in much needed perspectives of the natural world and the proper place and perspective of humankind.

By Kyle Gardner, author of Medicine Rock Reflections

My reflections are clarified by a recent cruise enjoyed in Pacific Northwest islands. Richard Nelson's book takes the essence of that area's landscape, flavors it with insights from native cultures, adds sage and sensitive contemporary perspectives of his experiences in PNW waters, and writes a portrait of a world few can experience first hand. His descriptions were true to my own sights in these waters. His language is heartfelt and beautiful. This book brings that world to fullness as only long-term residency can permit. Read his memoire and enjoy PNW islands from an armchair. Its only weakness is some repetition in some passages.

I read an interview with the author in Alaska magazine that intrigued me, so I bought the book.
It more than fulfilled my expectations.
Nelson is a good writer - he paints word pictures that made me feel as if I were there beside him. The writing breezes along - then I'd catch my breath when Nelson reached a conclusion I hadn't seen coming.
Truly a journey worth sharing.
Along the lines of Thoreau - but with a clearly contemporary viewpoint.
I look forward to reading his other books.

This is a well-written, thoughtful account of the writer's personal encounters with part of southeast Alaska. The natural history descriptions are beautifully written without being trite. The personal reflections provide insight into the author's relationship with his own culture as well as others in which he has lived.
If you enjoy natural history writing, this is the book for you.

Although now more than a decade old, this work by Nelson continues to reward readers through his descriptions of many wonderful encounters with water surrounding his island home. I quoted The Island Within 5 times in my recent review of contemporary nature writing about water - Deep Immersion: The Experience of Water (nominated for top environmental book of the year). Nelson, in his book, revels in getting wet and would certainly agree with Thoreau when the latter wrote "That part of you that is wettest is fullest of life" (quoted in Profitably Soaked: Thoreau's Engagement With Water; Green Frigate Books, 2003).

The title drew me in and the subject sounded great. But to be honest it is still on the shelf as I just couldn't get motivated with this one.

I will have another look but after half the book is read I am still not very interested. Sorry.