A review by pleasuretoburn
We Think the World of You by J.R. Ackerley

2.0

Man, what can you say about this book? Ackerley has a mastery of the English language, as you'd expect from authors from England in the first half of the twentieth century to have. But his autobiographical Frank is kind of a jerk. Frank is very snobbish, very classist, and incredibly misogynistic. Old buzzard Tom might have taken a belt to Evie (which of course is unacceptable), but Frank does not even try to hide his contempt for women. Even Johnny's five year old daughters aren't below Frank's contempt except in an aesthetic way. He manages just a few pages about the cousin who lives with him for over a year and is routinely terrorized by the dog. The irony is that Frank eventually gets his due in the end since his life is controlled by exactly the kind of made-up femininity he loathes so much in Evie. I understand loving a dog, I have had pets that I have loved. But for Frank, it seems, it was never really about loving Evie. He even forgot about her for a while during his fight with Millie. His motivation is to con himself into Johnny's life by holding on to the dog. He admits as much in the novel. Does he love the dog? Probably. He certainly doesn't love people. Maybe the biggest twist is that while Frank is bemoaning all of the people who say they "think the world" of this or that he is doing the same things but in a much more heartless way. I have to read one of Ackerley's other books for the same class I read this one for and I'm dreading it now. At least the dog doesn't die, I guess that's why I gave it 2 stars.