Marley And Me: Life And Love With The World's Worst Dog (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
Ahhh! I loved this book. I laughed, I cried, I remeneniced. I thought about my beloved black labrador, Duff. Just like John said, "They really are they when you need them." Duff was always there for me. Walks down the hill, over the streets, down by the Golf Course, with the sunsetting. Sitting on the couch together watching a movie. Sitting out on the hill, at my sunnyspot on the hill, writing or listening to music. Duff was always there. Sometimes he slept on my bed, but usually he had too many fleas. I fed him, gave him water, took him on the most walks out of all the family members, he helped me lose weight that way. Then he got sick in his old age, he was 13 years old. I was there for him during his last months. I was living at my parents house and happened to be dying. I took him on some of his last walks trhough the countryside. He would sniff the cows and they would try to knock him over, probably 'dumb old dog'. But he was ours. Michelle saved another dog from his viciuos tearing. I was too afraid to do it, but she just jumped in there and saved the dog. I mopped up Duff's 'who know' when he was too old to move. That is how much I cared about him. Dad would lift and carry him up and down the stairs. I would give him hugs. I loved his little face. He just celebrates my teenagehood for me. We got him when I was 11? and then he died when I was 24? I love Logan, but I really loved Duff. Probably because of our long walks we took together. Him and I would walk for hours on the ranch and I would let him chase things in the river or down the gravel path. I loved playing frisbee and ball with him when we lived at 5899 Marigold Ln at San Miguel Elementary, he was so good at it. He kept us safe too, in our house on the hill when my parents were out at business meetings until 2 or 3 in the morning, Duff was there and he watched over us all, barking at anyone that came to the door. He was one of the best things that happened to our family, one of the few things that made us 'normal' and human. I loved trips to Healdsburg memorial Beach with Duff and Dad. Jeff and Michelle would come too and we would play for hours at the river, Duff swimming, fetching sticks, and grabbing rocks in the water and struggling to bring them back to Dad. It was one of the times when my Dad was truly happy. If it wasn't for Duff, I don't know if we ever would have spent much time together as a family. He was a beautiful, genuine soul. He made my mom a Dog-Lover and I myself will always be a Dog Lover. I have a Dog personality, rather than a cat. Fun-loving, carefree, and free-spirited. Dogs rock! My favorite quote from the book is: "I have a theory, and writing the book sharpened it, that people can learn a lot from their dogs. Lessons on how to lead happier, more fulfillinf lives. Lessons for successful relationships. Think about it. Many of the qualities that come so effortlessly to dogs-loyalty, devotion, selflessness, unflagging optimisim, unqualified love-can be elusive to humans. My hunch is that people who act more loke dogs have happier marriages. That's assuming, of course, you don't marry someone who emulates cats. Then you're in trouble. Cats will outsmart dogs every time." Page 304Yes, I am a dog person, and yes, my first marriage was to a cat person! He has said he loves cats! So that's why it didn't work out! Now I look for someone that has that same free-spirited nature that I have. This book made me think about my beloved black lab. I pray that I can have my own black lab someday. I want one so bad! I need a house, a stable job to care for the dog, and time, as well as patience. It's funny because the way I think about having a dog is the same way most people think about having children, the responisbility factor. For me, having children, was like, yeah, let's just jump right in! Dogs, I know better, I know what it takes. I love this book and I am glad John Grogan wrote it. His memoir is so complete, moving, and beautiful. I want to live with that family. I want to be able to have Marley or Duff to lean on when times get hard. I absolutely love and cherish this book and will probably reread it just to live it all over again. I was at work when I was reading it and I was sitting there at my desk, literally sheding tears. No one saw me though! I also highly enjoy the fact that John is a journalist, editor, and columinst. He inspires me! I want to go to his book signing in November 2008 down in Corte Madera, I may actually go meet him, he is that good of an author and now one of my favorites! Love it, love it, love it!!!
I hate dogs. Always have, always will. I cannot at all understand the time, energy and devotion that people so willingly dish out to a furry monster who will wreck their home and treat the greater world as one big public bathroom and not even grow to be a contributing member to society and take in their owners in their old age which would at least justify it.So in that sense I may not be the best person to review this book. I certianly wasn't interested in the premise, which is, couple gets psycho dog and things are therefore psycho. Yippee. My feeling on the matter of memoirs is, either your life is fascinating and write about it, or your life is actually not that interesting but YOU are so you can make it a good read (sort of like Elizabeth Gilbert). Well this was neither - I guess I was supposed to find JOhn and Jenny endearing or something but they just seemed like two orindairy Joes (even their names were ordinary) and the entire book felt like a belabored attempt to bring color into a work that just doesn't have any.So enter Dog. Well, for one thing, I echo the reviewer who chastised the couple for being irresponsible - I mean I don't think they were abusive as he says, in fact they seem ridiculously loyal to this fur ball demon, and the fact that they bought a lab with no knowledge of what that entails sounds like smething I would do (if I bought a dog, that is, and I would sooner eat nails), ie, you're overly excited and sort of stupid. I was annoyed, though, that they did this to train for parenting (I mean sheesh, get a sack of flour and walk around with it all the time like they do on TV if you're worried about parenting skills, and flour doesn't need to be housebroken) and that if anything, their parenting seemed more bothersome - aside from having this special needs canine on baord with them which I can't imagine was beneficial for the genuine children who actually require attention and care whereas pets are second tier (though psycho dog could be nothing less than number one) they also spent over a decade in a city that had prostitutes and heinous murders going on on their block, figuring psycho would be their protection (his main attack being saliva).The thing is, if you're going to try and pull at my heartstrings, a four legged freak just isn't going to do it for me. At the end of the day, you do not sell your children, you do not put them to sleep, you do not have those options. Whereas with a dog and certianly one that is clearly not meant to be a pet, you do. Which always makes me wonder, what exactly is the appeal? You are putting more of yourself (and your money and your house repairs) into something that actually isn't really YOURS. So if your life gets flipped around from a mentally unstable animal, I say, lose the animal. What is so complicated?At what is supposed to be a heart wrenching moment, I guess, post partum Jenny insists that the dog GO and I applaud her head on. She has just had her second child in two years and she is tired and cranky. The dog in the best of times is a liability. But they march on, and this is supposed to be heroic? This dog is like taking on an untamed lion for a pet and then writing about it. So at the end of the day at times it was humorous, but I again echo that reviewer in saying, when its yours its funny, when its not, who cares?
What do You think about Marley And Me: Life And Love With The World's Worst Dog (2005)?
Anyone who has ever been subjected to a badly behaved dog (say, belonging to a relative) will not find this book as endearing as the rest of the population did. I tried to love this book, but it just evoked unpleasant memories of dogs from my past wreaking havoc on the properties and persons around them while their owners looked on in fond amusement. I actually felt my blood pressure rising at a couple of the scenes that hit a bit too close to memory. It was like watching a badly behaved kid in Wal-Mart whose parents don't know how to control him. But for people who aren't quite as cranky as I am? It's funny, yes. It's poignant, and you'll probably get a good, cathartic cry or two in before it's all over with. Along the way, be prepared for some pretty in-depth descriptions of Grogan's wife's "female problems," and an unsettling view of Marley's phobias re: thunderstorms. Grogan's a good writer, though, and the story is well-told. Middle of the road on this one, with a slight tip toward the positive because I don't wish to appear Grinch-y.
—Claire Grasse
This book should have been titled "World's Worst Dog Owners". This book just make me plain mad. Poor Marley was just abused. Left alone in a garage without AC for 10 to 12 hours. Left alone with his fear of thunderstorms. At one point, the callous female owner doesn't want him anymore. What the heck. This book was awful. It just makes me think of all those unwanted dogs left to fend for themselves because owners don't want to deal with them anymore. Don't understand how this book became so popular. It gets worse, the family goes on vacation when he's near dying so they can go on vacation.Love their priorties! This book is AWFUL!!! I can't believe the popularity of this book and there is a movie! What the.....?I will NEVER recommend this book to anyone.The only reason Marley was considered such a "bad" dog was that he was truely neglected ALL the time. Horrible Horrible Horrible book and treatment of a family pet all the way to his dying end. The Disney vacation had priorty for the Grogan family.
—Merty
Sou uma pessoa pouco experimentada e entendida no que concerne aos animais de estimação. Há largos tempos, tive um peixe cujo destino foi traçado pela minha dedicação demasiada… No entanto, não deixo de me enternecer por eles e de idear futuros promissores e alegres na sua companhia! Marley e Eu foi uma leitura feita no tempo certo. Estava realmente a necessitar de um livro manso, despretensioso, bem-humorado, carinhoso e meigo… A comporta das emoções foi facilmente destruída pelo galhofeiro cão Marley! Como não gostar dele? Não esperava afeiçoar-me tanto, apesar de, desde início, saber que o livro era passível de emoção, sem obstáculos.John Grogan levou à praça pública a vida íntima da sua família, partilhada com um cão espalhafatoso, exuberante e inesquecível.
—Miguel
