My Dog Tulip, J. R. Ackerley
My Dog Tulip, J. R. Ackerley
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My Dog Tulip

Author: J. R. Ackerley

Narrator: Ralph Cosham

Unabridged: 4 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/18/2011

Synopsis

Distinguished British man of letters J. R. Ackerley hardly thought himself a dog lover when, well into middle age, he came into possession of a German shepherd named Tulip. To his surprise, she turned out to be the love of his life, the ideal friend he had been seeking in vain for years. My Dog Tulipis a bittersweet retrospective account of their sixteenyear companionship, as well as a profound and subtle meditation on the strangeness that lies at the heart of all relationships. In vivid and sometimes startling detail, Ackerley tells of Tulips often erratic behavior and very canine tastes and of his own fumbling but determined efforts to ensure for her an existence of perfect happiness. My Dog Tuliphas been adapted to screenas a major animatedfeature filmwith a cast that includesChristopher Plummer,Lynn Redgrave, and Isabella Rossellini. It has been heralded as a stroke of genius by New York Magazine and the love story of the year by Vanity Fair.

About J. R. Ackerley

J. R. Ackerley (1896–1967) was for many years the literary editor of the BBC magazine the Listener. A respected mentor to such younger writers as Christopher Isherwood and W. H. Auden, he was also a longtime friend and literary associate of E. M. Forster. His works include three memoirs—Hindoo Holiday, My Dog Tulip, and My Father and Myself—and a novel, We Think the World of You.

Reviews

Goodreads review by karen on October 07, 2019

this is as charming as any other book written about a man’s single-minded pursuit to get his dog laid. this book was in my quarterly literary fiction box from pagehabit, as a companion-book to The Friend. it was published in england in 1956 and the u.s. in 1965, in a distant past before lawmakers rea......more

Goodreads review by Aldrin on February 13, 2017

For the most part of his adult life Joe Randolph Ackerley longed for what he called an "ideal friend"—or, rather, the Ideal Friend. An openly gay British writer and editor, he counted a number of fellow persons of letters, homosexuals, and men who were both among his friends. But none of them, to hi......more

Goodreads review by Chris on September 25, 2023

Again, so behind in my reviews. But, as a dog lover, I fell in love with Tulip. Now, a lot of Ackerley's views about animals are dated. . .as is his language. This memoir was published in 1956. But the bottom line? It was delightful to see a cranky old man fall in love with a dog.......more

Goodreads review by Justin on October 22, 2015

I'm guessing the 'major motion picture' doesn't stick too closely to the book, because the book is mostly about smearing vaseline on Tulip's vagina in the hope that she will successfully mate with another handsome German Shepherd. Spoiler alert: she gets off with a mutt instead. For the first chapte......more

Goodreads review by Michael on November 13, 2017

Ackerley's memoir of life with his rambunctious Alsatian predates MARLEY & ME by half-a-century and yet, it does the job of showcasing one human's love, devotion, and compassion for a canine so much more effectively. The power in MY DOG TULIP comes not from long, emotional passages about the tender......more

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