Marley and Me: Life And Love With the World's Worst Dog Review

Dogs can cause both grief and happiness and one dog lover who knows what it's like to live life on the edge is author John Grogan. He spent many years with a large yellow Labrador Retriever that disobeyed all commands and made a complete mess out of anything within his reach and even several things out of his reach. He had so much to say that he wrote a book about his experience. It is called Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog, a book about a man, his family, and the out- of- control canine beast that occupied their homes and hearts for more than a decade.

Book Commentary:

"Marley & Me" is an excellent book written by journalist John Grogan, a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Dedicated mostly to the canine companion that filled him and his family's lives with so much frustration and joy, Marley & Me is a book that most every dog lover can relate to in some way.

Marley & Me is a top seller for several good reasons. Most important among them is the story it tells about a family and the dog that drove them crazy but that also taught them many important lessons about life and love. John Grogan lets everyone know, on more than one occasion, that Marley was a certified nutcase among dogs. He broke dishes. He drank from the toilet. He stole food from the refrigerator. He destroyed screens. He broke holes in the walls. He jumped on people. He got thrown out of obedience school. He refused to obey commands. In short, he possessed every bad quality that one hopes never to face when they bring home a new puppy. Marley did all of these things and there was little hope in making him any different.

Another thing about Marley & Me that makes it such an intriguing read is that most any dog lover- even one who owns a calmer, gentler dog- can relate to its words in some way. I have two dogs and the oldest among them is my Chesapeake Bay Retriever, "Bud". Many of the personality traits and bad behavior exhibited by Marley are things I can relate to. Bud isn't one to obey commands every time. He is selective about the commands he listens to, responding only if there is something in it for him. If I tell him to sit, he may or may not listen. But if I tell him to sit and I have a tasty dog treat in my hand, he will sit in an instant without a moment's hesitation. Bud has also caused his share of destruction. He has broken dishes, chewed through barriers, and soiled the floor dozens and dozens of times. These are things I can relate to fully, and I can understand the incredible frustration felt by John and his wife when these mishaps occurred.

The last few chapters of this book are ones I dreaded to read. I knew they were coming, but I had already grown attached to Marley and didn't want to see his days come to an end. Grogan talks about the pain he and his family felt when Marley was gone for good and his descriptions of his own feelings are saddening, yet uplifting. Here is a dog that caused his family endless amounts of grief with his wild, destructive ways. But once he was gone, John Grogan was beside himself. He missed his Marley and didn't realize just how great of a dog he really was until the end. It's funny how dogs can have this effect on you. No matter how many things they destroy or how much urine or fecal matter they deposit on your freshly mopped floor, we still miss them when they are gone.  

John Grogan is no ordinary writer. He writes with a level of creativity you don't see in many writers and this is yet another one of Marley & Me's many strengths. He has a talent for taking what would seem like an ordinary event and describing it with vivid imagination. You can just see his words; feeling the scene being played out in a way that only a creative writer like John Grogan can describe.

Bottom Line Viewpoint:

Far more than just a quick read about a man and his dog, Marley & Me is a book that touches the heart and lifts the spirit. It is a book about families and the dogs they love, with attention given to the growing family in the Grogan household along with attention given to Marley himself. Now that I have read the book, I fully understand why it has sold so well and why it has been received with so much praise from so many readers. It is fun, tragic, yet ultimately uplifting; humorous at times, then serious when the situation calls for it. I rate it as one of the best books published in 2006, and I recommend it to dog lovers at all levels.