Tom Neale (1) (1902–1977)

I didn't understand what would make a person pick up and leave all aspects of civilization until I read An Island to Oneself. Even Frisbie's account in The Book of Puka-Puka didn't answer the question because at least Frisbie lived and married among the natives. There were people to talk to. On the atoll of Suvarov in the South Pacific Tom Neale had (on his first visit 1952 - 1954) two cats, chickens & a wild duck he tamed for companionship. The occasional freighter would deter from its show more shipping lane, but those visits were few and far between. And yet, Neale thrived in that environment. Survival was his challenge and he prided himself on his ingenuity, creativeness and sheer willpower to make his self imposed solitary confinement comfortable. He spent his days keeping his abode spotless, working the land for farming, and fishing (the pig slaughter was a little difficult to read). On his second journey to Suvarov (he left the first time due to illness), Neale came back a smarter man. He built a better cook stove, brought more appropriate supplies and was better prepared for the wild weather that could batter his island from time to time. This time he stayed from 1960 to 1963. It wasn't that Neale didn't like people. He enjoyed the "tourists" who ended up visiting him. It was just that he wanted to do his own thing. Being alone wasn't lonely. show less

Rounding up from 2.5 stars
In retrospect, I should have realized this book wasn't going to be great. Running away to an island is not just my dream--it's a common one--so it seems unlikely that a really good book on the subject would remain as obscure as An Island to Oneself. Neale is an unlikeable narrator, an extremely idiosyncratic, single-minded person who takes pride in odd things. The things that are appealing about the tropics--the sunshine, the ease of life, the glory of the sunsets, show more the beauty of the reefs--are barely present in his account. Instead, he obsessively delineates his narrow diet and his many labors, and he doesn't seem to enjoy his surroundings except for the hardships they impose. He doesn't seem to have been in love with islands at all, but only with solitude. He could just as easily have been alone in the middle of the woods in Montana (and now that I think of it, there is something unabomber-ish about him) or Alaska; he kind of reminds me of Chris McCandless from Into the Wild, minus the charm and youthful exuberance. Maybe he would have been more likable if Jon Krakauer had written this story. At the very least he would have been a lot more interesting.

This review is an excerpt from a longer review on my blog, Around the World in 2000 Books. show less

A lovely counterexample that speaks loudly against the current obsession with constant, continuous communication with everyone else. A solid individual does not need others to prop him up to validate himself.

The conversational diary style as well as the theme of solitude remind me of Joshua Slocum's Alone Around the World.

I couldn't stop reading this book. I found myself saying I'll just read one more chapter... and looking at the clock to discover it was already 3:20AM. The book itself is not in any way artfully written. It is written in the very matter-of-fact voice of someone who decided he wanted to live alone on a deserted island... and succeeded. However, while Neale may not be a particularly gifted writer, his life on the island was riveting! It truly makes me want to follow in his foot steps, if not show more for years at a time, than at least for a few months. The story has so many fantastic moments within. The preparations for his first trip to the island, his move to the island, spending six months to build a pier, only to have it destroyed by a cyclone less than a day after it was complete, his agonizing over whether or not to roast a duck he had tamed and befriended when his craving for a meat other than chicken and fish was driving him crazy, the day he threw his back out, and after months with no visiter was saved when, on the verge of death, a couple of sailers showed up on his island...

Then, after his rescue, he had to fight, tooth-and-nail to get a chance to go back to the island when the authorities were against it. On his second trip he talks about his boat capsizing in a storm and the five hours it takes him to get back to his island, and even relates the story of how a family was ship wrecked on the coral reef adjacent to his island and have to live with him for months until they are rescued!

It is the story of one of the most remarkable lives I've ever come across. I'm really thankful I received this book as a gift!

*edit* I just looked Neale up on Wikipedia and found this webpage (which has a link to the book in-full online!) Some of the interesting things I found was that he was married and had children before his first and second trip to the islands... and more interesting still... he returned to the island a THIRD time and lived there for TEN YEARS before being found badly ill, and suffering from what turned out to be stomach cancer. He died about eight-months after being evacuated from the island. show less