Reviews

My Dog Tulip by J.R. Ackerley

bookaddictrn's review

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Dnf—stopped shortly after the graphic description of Tulip being in heat. I love dogs—probably WAY too much—but I am completely uninterested in canine sexuality. Expected more of a sweet, heartwarming, human/dog furry, snuggly, fluffy tale.

madiroo91's review

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2.0

Not at all what I thought the book was going to be about. Very sad and hard to read in some parts. Not sure if I'll watch the movie now.

dawnjanell's review against another edition

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slow-paced

1.0

jennyzee23's review

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4.0

A book full of information on a dog's nasty excretions that somehow is incredibly charming.

landon_n26's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.5

I love me a cute dog book, deeply intimate and well written but a touch too focused on biology than connection for me. I’m less interested in feces, and reproduction than I am connection between dog and owner

eyan_birt's review

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3.0

I really enjoyed the first two chapters, and I'm glad it did not end super depressing like most dog books, but the rest of it was not really what I wanted to read about dogs. I know I live in a different time and my dogs have all been fixed, but it was just uncomfortable for me in a lot of ways.

aial's review

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5.0

Little gem of a book about an editor and his dog.

radioactve_piano's review

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2.0

I expected to absolutely hate this (it was a companion book to a Quarterly book, The Friend, and her references to it made me certain I would not enjoy it at all). I didn't absolutely hate it, but I certainly did not enjoy it very much.

I had to keep telling myself that this was a book about a dog owner in the mid-1900's, and things were different then... but still, what a terror of an owner. He was so enamored with his dog (and also oddly misogynistic) that he let so much go to ensure she had "a full life".

Basically, had I known him, I, too, would have not wanted to be around him and his dog, either (a brief complaint he had about his friends).

nighthawk's review

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4.0

i liked seeing ackerley's crumudgeony nature confront the bewildering and often heartbreaking task of trying to take care of tulip (whose personality was deftly, poignantly rendered). his attention to tulip's sexuality, his tender descriptions of her vagina, of her awkward, painful trysts, made me uncomfortable, but i'll even tolerate a dogfucker if he writes well.

jkwriting24's review

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lighthearted medium-paced

4.25