book review marley and me

Book Review – Marley and Me

I recently decided that I would attempt to read not only books that are published and widely read within the Christian community, but also in the mainstream. To that end I walked into a Los Angeles Barnes & Nobles on Saturday and decided I would buy whatever was listed as being the current top seller among non-fiction. It just so happened that this dubious honor went to Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan, a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer .

“John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with a perfect little house and not a care in the world. Then they brought home Marley, a wiggly yellow furball of a puppy. Life would never be the same.” That description from the slip cover, obviously written by an editor, does not quite do justice to the back-story, but does give a general idea of the premise for this story. John and his wife, newly married, decided to sharpen their parenting skills, which they thought they would soon need, by purchasing a dog. They ended up with Marley, a crazy, loveable Labrador Retriever. In my experience, Labs tend to come in two flavors: mellow or crazy. Marley was of the crazy variety. And he wasn’t only crazy, but also big, tipping the scales at nearly 100 pounds. And he was active. And perhaps most noticeably, he was mentally unstable. He was the type of dog most people would have given up on.

Grogan, an accomplished and skillful writers, goes on to tell the story of the following thirteen years of his life, showing the centrality of Marley in the lives of the growing family. The story is, on the whole, quite clean, though there is the occasional expletive worked into the text – this is a story that is more appropriate for adults than children. More than being only the story of a dog, this is the story of a family and the crazy pet that they all loved (most of the time). Marley was a part of the family, constantly challenging the love and patience (and pocketbooks) of his owners. He shared in the joys and pains of the family, even to the point of comforting Jenny in the aftermath of a heartbreaking miscarriage.

Marley & Me isn’t the type of book that will change a life. But it will warm a heart and provide more than a few good laughs. Those readers who own dogs, and Labs in particular, will probably nod their heads knowingly more than a few times. It is a tale of nearly infinite love and patience. It is the story of a man who loves his animal far more than I ever could. And I guess that is an admirable thing.

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Summary and Reviews of Marley & Me by John Grogan

Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio

Marley & Me

• Critics' Consensus:
• Readers' Rating:
• First Published:
• Oct 1, 2005, 304 pages
• Mar 2008, 320 pages
• Biography & Memoir
• 1980s & '90s
• Books About Animals
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About This Book

Book summary.

Is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans!

John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with a perfect little house and not a care in the world. Then they brought home Marley, a wiggly yellow furball of a puppy. Life would never be the same. Marley quickly grew into a barreling, ninety-seven-pound streamroller of a Labrador retriever, a dog like no other. He crashed through screen doors, gouged through drywall, flung drool on guests, stole women's undergarments, and ate nearly everything he could get his mouth around, including couches and fine jewelry. Obedience school did no good—Marley was expelled. Neither did the tranquilizers the veterinarian prescribed for him with the admonishment, "Don't hesitate to use these." And yet Marley's heart was pure. Just as he joyfully refused any limits on his behavior, his love and loyalty were boundless, too. Marley shared the couple's joy at their first pregnancy, and their heartbreak over the miscarriage. He was there when babies finally arrived and when the screams of a seventeen-year-old stabbing victim pierced the night. Marley shut down a public beach and managed to land a role in a feature-length movie, always winning hearts as he made a mess of things. Through it all, he remained steadfast, a model of devotion, even when his family was at its wit's end. Unconditional love, they would learn, comes in many forms. Is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans.

We were young. We were in love. We were rollicking in those sublime early days of marriage when life seems about as good as life can get. We could not leave well enough alone. And so on a January evening in 1991, my wife of fifteen months and I ate a quick dinner together and headed off to answer a classified ad in the Palm Beach Post . Why we were doing this, I wasn't quite sure. A few weeks earlier I had awoken just after dawn to find the bed beside me empty. I got up and found Jenny sitting in her bathrobe at the glass table on the screened porch of our little bungalow, bent over the newspaper with a pen in her hand. There was nothing unusual about the scene. Not only was the Palm Beach Post our local paper, it was also the source of half of our household income. We were a two-newspaper-career couple. Jenny worked as a feature writer in the Post 's "Accent" section; I was a news reporter at the competing paper in the area, the South Florida ...

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MARLEY AND ME

Life and love with the world’s worst dog.

by John Grogan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2005

Marley died at age 13, and the book ends with the Grogans thinking of adopting another puppy. Please, no sequels! Only the...

Maudlin, embarrassing ode to a pooch.

The author and his wife still qualified as newlyweds—they’d been married just over a year—when they decided to adopt a dog. Jenny, who had recently killed a houseplant (a “lovely large dieffenbachia with emerald-and-cream variegated leaves”), thought she needed to brush up on her maternal skills before she tried to have a baby. Hence Marley, a lovable Labrador retriever. John adores the reggae tempo of Marley’s tail-wagging and enjoys playing tug-of-war with him. Within a few weeks, the Grogans felt confident about their caretaking ability and tossed their birth control in the trash. Jenny got pregnant, but miscarried; she embraced not only John but also Marley in her grief. And on it went: Marley got kicked out of obedience class. He developed a fear of thunder, which the Grogans discussed seriously with a vet. When the Grogans went on a trip, they left a six-page memo about Marley’s care with the colleague who agreed to dog-sit. (Blessedly, the author only reproduces three-and-a-half of those pages here.) Marley appeared in a movie, The Last Home Run. Jenny got pregnant again—maybe it was because Marley sometimes lolled around in bed with the Grogans during their basal-temperature-ovulation-calendar-we-must-have-sex-right-this-second drill-sessions—and ultimately carried two pregnancies to term. But it feels as if Grogan has mistaken Marley for his first baby. He’s like those people who prattle on about every single blessed thing their kids do—except in this case, it’s a dog.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2005

ISBN: 0-06-081708-9

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2005

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BOOK REVIEW

by John Grogan ; illustrated by Richard Cowdrey

by John Grogan

by John Grogan and illustrated by Richard Cowdrey

by Elie Wiesel & translated by Marion Wiesel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2006

The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...

Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children. 

He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions. 

Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006

ISBN: 0374500010

Page Count: 120

Publisher: Hill & Wang

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006

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THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

From mean streets to wall street.

by Chris Gardner with Quincy Troupe ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2006

Well-told and admonitory.

Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.

Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.

Pub Date: June 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-06-074486-3

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006

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Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, marley & me: life and love with the world's worst dog.

John and Jenny Grogan are blissful newlyweds who can't leave well enough alone. Unable to keep a houseplant alive, Jenny worries over her maternal instincts. If she drowns a dieffenbachia, how will she do with their future baby? The Grogans decide to hone their nurturing talents on a puppy. The Labrador retrievers in Gary Larson's "The Far Side" are hilarious, pointing them toward Marley, a bouncy Lab pup.

But it isn't until they've chosen him that John reads further on the breed. To his dismay he finds that, along with many excellent attributes, Labs sometimes have less ideal qualities: an eternal energy-driven puppyhood, a constant need for human companionship, and occasional difficulties with training. John reads that he should have inspected both of Marley's parents since much Lab behavior is inherited. His memory of his one glimpse of Marley's father --- a charging, frothing, mud-caked crazed canine --- does not bode well.

As that tiny bundle of energy grows, Marley's energy does not lessen. John and Jenny work to deflect and deflate some of his intimidating exuberance with a schedule of walks, runs, and games of fetch. When they can't quite contain Marley enough to make him socially acceptable, they bring in the professionals. However, Marley flunks obedience school after he drags his owner and the teacher ("Miss Dominatrix") around, performs a gynecologist-worthy exam on a poodle, and otherwise kicks up his heels. He jumps up on people, steals food, digs up shrubs, tears right through the screen in screen doors, and hauls tables around at outdoor cafes. At home, thunderstorms panic him into digging and scratching through floors and doors, destroying the garage and then the laundry room.

But he also comforts Jenny when she is inconsolable over a miscarriage. Later on, when John and Jenny's son Patrick is born, Marley is unexpectedly gentle with him. Jenny's next pregnancy lands her in bed for months; the rambunctious Lab stays quietly by her bed keeping her company.

I don't have enough superlatives at my command to describe how much I adored this book, which I devoured in less than a day. I constantly laughed out loud, stared at my own beloved yet high-spirited Lab mix, and muttered, "Boy, have I been there!" (although Marley's over-the-top antics make Romeo appear to be a model of perfect decorum in contrast) This is the kind of book that you are compelled to read aloud to whoever is in the vicinity. (Of course, when the reader is snorting tears of laughter, most people oblige by asking, "What's so funny?")

We all know that a good dog story makes the reader cry. So, fair warning: Stock up on tissues because this is an EXCELLENT dog story.

Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon on October 18, 2005

Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan

• Publication Date: October 18, 2005
• Genres: Nonfiction
• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow
• ISBN-10: 0060817089
• ISBN-13: 9780060817084

Book Review: Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog

Marley and Me is an amusing nonfiction novel that captures all of the adventures of John Grogan as he gets his dog Marley: a canine intent on misbehaving and causing as much destruction as he can. Marley raided the trash, stole and swallowed a gold necklace, closed a public beach, got kicked out of obedience school, and was the Grogans' best friend. Marley and Me is filled with humor, compassion, and love for the chaotic and affectionate dog. It's a very well-written book, and now I feel better about my own dog, who enjoys chewing the couch.