I have been putting off reading this book for over a year. My boss had it for a while. He borrowed it from his friend, and while he was at work, and I was babysitting the kids, I would read Marley and Me, while the kids slept. I hit the first heartbreaking moment of the book and I had to put it down. I vowed that one day I would pick it up again, and read it, but I had managed to put off that promise for over a year.

ISBN 978-0-06-081709-1 Paperback
Marley and Me is being turned into a movie, with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston, how can I now ignore this emotional book? As if to answer that question, my birthday was at the beginning of May, and my husband decided that day was the day I would get my own copy. Oh Boy. So I steeled myself, opened the first page, and started to again read.
This book is like a huge roller coaster of emotions. No sooner do you hit the euphoric highs, and sit there laughing at some of the antics of this strangely neurotic, eccentric Labrador, do you then plummet down into the sorrowful woes that had me crying at points. Yeah I know, I’m a sap, but that’s the best way to be in my opinion. I’m emotional I can’t help it.
The story starts with John and his newlywed wife Jenny, living in South Florida. They bought a house in a quaint neighborhood, which later started to deteriorate at a breakneck speed. After worrying about not being good parents, they adopted Marley, an 8 week old, pure bred puppy from a back yard breeder, and brought him home. To say that life would never be the same without Marley is an understatement. The list of what Marley wouldn’t destroy, I am sure could have fit on the back of a postage stamp! But this dog was loved beyond words. Nothing Marley did, from emptying trash, breaking through door screens, or completely destroying the garage, during periods of intense terror due to thunder storms, did John or Jenny ever stop loving that goofy dog!
This book follows their story from bringing Marley home as that little 8 week old puppy, through starting a family, moving home twice and eventually to his passing, and all the trials and tribulations that came along with it. From the heart wrenching moments that I shed so many tears over, to the points where I could actually visualize Marley creating his own version of chaos, with that big daft Labrador grin on his face. I think I probably laughed more than I should have done at some of his antics. I am pretty sure that a pet lover, not just an animal owner, can sympathize with something that’s written in this book, I know I did several times. How many pet parents can say they haven’t had to fish something that shouldn’t have been chewed by their pet, out of their throats? Or haven’t had blinds torn down, pillows shredded at some point, a chewed shoe or an emptied trash can all over the floor. We can all sympathize if not empathize, I am sure.
I love this book, and I think I will probably be pretty much one of the first to see this movie when it’s eventually released.
John Grogan also wrote three children’s books based on Marley.

Article written by Wendy Jones © 2008 butyoudontlooksick.com