Deer Island Hardcover – August 4, 2015

I usually read fiction, but real life can be even more interesting. As an idealistic young man, the author chose to live in poverty, working for a London charity that sought to help the homeless by sending trained volunteers to live with and befriend them. Just as Mr. Ansell came to know the men and women living under bridges and in derelict buildings as individuals, so does the reader, and we care about them. One of the most difficult aspects of this life is the near total lack of privacy, and the chapters about time spent living in derelict buildings are interspersed with chapters about escapes to wild and lonely Islands - which inspired the author's first book; this is his second.Deer Island is a small book and easy reading, but when I finished, I went back to page one and started reading again, more slowly this time. This is a thought-provoking book, set in the UK but is equally relevant to the US. Highly recommended reading for anyone who has seen a homeless person walking down the street or sitting on a park bench and wondered what brought them there.

This is a memoir of a young man on the road. The narrative is beautifully descriptive and it brought me into each setting, gently but firmly. Author Ansell’s experiences teach an important lesson. Since we don’t always know the exact nature of those we meet as we follow our chosen course, we should, at the very least, try to find something of value in everyone and use that as the basis for our interaction. From life among those people considered outcasts of our society into a life with no human interaction at all, Ansell shoulders his pack and travels onwards. His restless wandering leads him across the UK through gritty urban alleys and broad fields and woods, finally all the way North into Scotland where he finds a very unique solace on Jura Island.I’m grateful that Neil Ansell’s ragged journey is one we can all share. Illustrator Jonny Hannah’s steel-etching style spot illustrations insert just the right bit of whimsey. The author’s prose, pared down to easy, conversational essentials; shines like a beacon of pure white light. A very quick read; it’s nonetheless a jewel destined to endure. I hope it reveals something of lasting value -- possibly left behind, to all who read it.

I started Deer Island thinking I'd just read for thirty minutes before bed. I put it down in the early hours, when it was nearly finished and all hopes of a full night's sleep were gone, and I'm still trying to define its appeal. The quality of the writing certainly has something to do with it; the prose is clean and bare, yet wonderfully descriptive, but there is something more than style.I'm also trying to define the book. It doesn't fit easily with convenient labels. 'Memoir' is probably the closest fit, since it structured as personal recollections. Ansell has lived and worked with the destitute, has himself been a squatter, and has wandered the wild places of the earth. This slim book could also be seen as a series of vignettes; of poverty, of lifestyles, of places, all of which are articulated with sharp clarity.I think I was hooked by the way he writes with such respect, even love, for the kind of people most of us hurry past in the street; the alcoholics and homeless beggars, Ansell's friends and companions during his years serving with the Simon Community. There are also descriptive passages of intense beauty; it's worth buying the book just for the paragraphs where he emerges from a freezing rainstorm in the Kalahari desert to see a scimitar-horned gemsbok standing under an extraordinary, purple sunset. His descriptions of Jura, the 'Deer Island' of the title, could inspire me to shoulder a backpack and start walking North.I'm left with the impression of a man whose life is richer for carrying so little with him, 'Memories,' he says, 'are the only things we truly own, and even they slip from our grasp if we don't handle them with care'.

I had just finished reading Neil Ansell's other book Deep Country which was one of the most beautiful books I have ever read and one I didn't want to end so I looked up other things he had written and discovered Deer Island. I am so glad I did. Deer Island is such a powerful book not only describing the beauty and wildness of Jura, so much so that I wanted to grab my rucksack immediately and experience it for myself but also he describes his experience of working with the homeless in the most touching way. I have experience of this myself and know how challenging it can be.I hope this is not the last book he writes.

Great book - so well written and interesting. If you like wildlife and the countryside, then all of Neil Ansell's books will appeal to you (there are 2 others). He has a gently humour to his writing and is very engaging.

A well written memoir that evokes a particular time and two very different places with great clarity. Neil Ansell's prose is finely crafted, but also understated, hence very readable. My only real caveat is that the passages set on Jura - the Deer Island in question - make up the smaller proportion of the book and these for me were the more compelling

Gift. Very happy. Condition excellent. Arrived promptly