We Think the World of You (New York Review Books Classics) [Paperback]

J.R. Ackerley (Author), P.N. Furbank (Introduction)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0940322269 | ISBN-13: 978-0940322264 | Publication Date: January 31, 2000

This powerful short novel, with its extraordinary mixture of acute social realism and dark fantasy, was described by J. R. Ackerley himself as "a fairy tale for adults." Frank, the narrator, is a middle-aged civil servant, intelligent, acerbic, self-righteous, angry. He is in love with Johnny, a young, married, working-class man with a sweetly easy-going nature. When Johnny is sent to prison for committing a petty theft, Frank gets caught up in a struggle with Johnny's wife and parents for access to him. Their struggle finds a strange focus in Johnny's dog—a beautiful but neglected German shepherd named Evie. And it is she, in the end, who becomes the improbable and undeniable guardian of Frank's inner world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the heart of this offbeat, subtle comedy of class warfare is a lovingly detailed account of a man's attachment to his dog, a subject to which the late Ackerley ( My Dog Tulip ) was no stranger. Frank, a well-bred English servant, reluctantly agrees to take care of Evie after the pup's owner, shiftless, working-class Johnny, goes to jail for housebreaking. Frank has overweening contempt for Johnny's family: his pregnant wife Megan; their bratty kids; Johnny's cheerfully impudent mother, Millie; and Millie's fourth husband, Tom. As a tug-of-war develops over who is to take responsibility for the dog, murderous passions swirl around Evie, who turns out to have an intense emotional life of her own. Frank, the supercilious narrator, is engagingreminiscent of a haughty English butlerthough his snobbery becomes tiresome. Funny, touching and delightful, this long out-of-print novel (reissued to coincide with the release of a film version) is memorable for its sharp character portrayals and, above all, for its unabashed exploration of the love that unites human and pet.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This 1960 novel is Ackerly's only foray into the world of fiction. It tells the rather unusual story of a middle-aged civil servant who volunteers to look after a friend's dog while the man is serving a year-long prison sentence. Initially uncomfortable with the animal, he learns to love the dog and is loath to part with him as his friend's parole approaches. The twist is that the two men actually are lovers whose reunion is quite physical. This will appeal to both fans of animal stories and gay fiction.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 205 pages
• Publisher: NYRB Classics (January 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940322269
• ISBN-13: 978-0940322264
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,306,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A minor or even not-so-minor classic., July 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: We Think the World of You (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

The fact that this book was ever allowed to go out of print is a disgrace -- thank goodness it is finally being reprinted. As a dissection of the English class system, as a "gay novel," as simply a piece of literature, it is one of the most brilliant and poignant and subtle and funny works of the late 20th century. This is the sort of elegantly written, in some ways understated book that gets called "a minor classic," but judging from the way it lingers in the mind, from the way it discombobulates one's thinking on any number of subjects (including the afore-mentioned class system and homosexuality), it may not be a minor classic but just a classic, period.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece of literary craft, August 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: We Think the World of You (Paperback)

I agree that "We Think the World of You" is brilliant, poignant, subtle, and funny, but would like to make the additional point that it is a stunning example of literary construction. It is widely admired for its construction, but what is not widely acknowledged is that the construction, like its brilliance, poignancy, subtlety, and funniness, is the product of a well trained and accomplished intellect. Ackerley took 12 years to write the book -- he had important ideas he wanted to express as effectively as possible, and the result is a very serious and rewarding novel.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A little delight, November 5, 2000

By 

Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: We Think the World of You (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

It would be hard to make the case that WE THINK THE WORLD OF YOU is by any means a major work, but why should that lessen your fun? Ackerley's novel is very much a surprise in its relegation of its homoeroticism (dealt with very honestly and matter-of-factly) to the background; the protagonist's homosexuality is treated as simply a matter of course rather than as the center of concern, and what gets greater attention is his complicated relationship with his lover's family and dog.

The narrator himself is a terrific creation: sneaky, pompous, arrogant, and yet also somewhat likeable despite it all. And so too are the lover's parents and the dog herself--it all has the ring of reality about it. This is a minor delight, but a delight nonetheless.