- Mass Market Paperback: 122 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books (12 Jun 1969)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0345216490
- ISBN-13: 978-0345216496
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.4 x 1.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,038,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
All the Little Animals
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Somewhere in the suburbs of London, Bobby is a prisoner in his own home - trapped with his sinister step-father Bernard DeWinter. Still suffering from the effects of a car accident when he was young, Bobby will, it seems, always be a child in a man's body, but his life is about to change forever.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Walker Hamilton packs so much plot and pathos into 110 pages that I defy anyone not to finish it in one sitting. Narrated by Bobby, a 31 year old man with the mental age of a child. Abused by his cruel stepfather after the death of his Mother Bobby decides to run away. fate leads him quite literally into the path of the strange lttle Man (Mr Summers) After a cautious introduction, Mr Summers agrees to give Bobby his first ever job and the subsequent self worth they both experience provides momentary respite from a cruel world for these 2 damaged individuals.
This is a book for anyone who's ever dreamed of escaping from the real world with all it's unfairnes and human irritants. Mr Summers is proof positive that you can, provided you make the necassary sacrifice and are prepared to learn your lesson from All the little animals. It also helps if you find a partner as perfect as Bobby.
It's the honest logic of Bobby's childlike perception that makes us empathise, understand and ultimately forgive them their simple but savage plan.
Like Robert Maugham's The Servant, This is a perfectly dark, compelling, compassionate and original little gem. Read it now, just in case the film (Soon to be released, starring John Hurt as Mr Summers) murders this, the authors only published novel.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book in San Francisco in a used book shop. I could not put it down once I started reading it and have recommended the book to friends (2 of whom actually read it and found it to be equally wonderful).
It's one of the most beautiful little stories I have ever read and am sad to learn that Walker Hamilton has not published any other books of the same genre. The relationship between Bobby Platt and Mr. Summers is heartwarming and Bobby and his shovel; and his pride upon getting his first job was very moving.
Lovely book!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I first encountered this book in a BBC radio serialisation in the late 60's, so someone in that (at least in those days) great organisation clearly recognised its qualities. The story is full of odd dichotomies: the man-child Bobby finds refuge, and even comfort, in a strange world which is obsessed by death; Bobby and Mr Summers, who have both rejected the material world, rely on Mr Summers' hoard of stolen cash to protect them from that world; "nice" Mr Summers is, in his own way, every bit as psycopathic as "the Fat" (Bobby's stepfather). Hamilton's imagination weaves an enticing spell which has clearly been felt by many, including the creative genius Roald Dahl. The plot is undoubtedly rather weak at the dénouement, but this does not unduly detract from an intriguing first novel (Hamilton did not live to see the publication of his second novel "A Dragon's Life"). Incidentally, the film version of the book, starring John Hurt and Christian Bale is a travesty and completely fails to understand the character of Mr Summers - it suffered a well-earned, early demise.
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