In the book Marley and Me, John Grogan tells the everyday adventures of having a mischievous dog. John and Jenny buy Marley when he was just a puppy, and fit him into their young lives. He takes them on all sorts of adventures. He is there when they need comfort or protection, he is terrified of the lightening becoming destructive at any storm, and even gets kicked out of obedience school. John takes you on the emotional roller coaster of his life throughout the story.
As the book is obviously about the Grogan’s dog Marley and the ways he is a ‘bad dog’, I think it is even more about the love one can have for a dog as well as how much a dog can love their owner. This story is about how a relationship can become so strong with a pet, and how big a part of your life they are. It being written in the point of view of John, the reader gets a sense of his close connection to his dog, and being a true story helps this even more. John and Jenny have troubles with Marley throughout the book. Everything from him eating and digesting Jenny’s gold necklace to getting dog beach closed. Yet they still learn to love him.
At the time of the book, not too long ago, Jenny and John were a young couple living in Florida. When Jenny couldn't even keep a plant alive, she worried she wouldn’t be able to take care of kids, either. John and her decide they need a dog, first. So as a young, newly married couple, they go pick out the perfect one for them. This is significant because as they are starting out their lives together, Marley does as well right there with them. He is there with them through everything as they go through the ups and downs of life. He not only get them through those times of life, but he was such a big part of their lives at that time making it memorable. He also helped the Grogan family get so much closer. Who knows how he did it, but as John says, “He joined us as we grappled with what every couple must eventually confront, the sometimes painful process of forging from two distinct pasts one shared future” (Grogan, 287).
Individuals of all ages would be able to enjoy this book. It has the ability to touch those of any age. It is possible to argue girls may a bigger audience of this book because of all the emotion. But anyone could enjoy it, especially those that are dog lovers. I, personally felt that I could relate to this because I have had two dogs. My main childhood dog died two years and 5 days ago. Although she wasn’t as reckless and destructive as Marley, there were times when I was frustrated because she wasn’t the perfect dog I sometimes wanted her to be. As John and Jenny, and I learned though, no matter what, you are going to love them because the good moments outweigh the bad by far. And no matter how much you want them out, you know you couldn’t live without them. Another lesson I think we both learned is that their precious lives are short, so we need to love them and enjoy them while we can.
John Grogan is a writer, so it wasn’t unexpected for him to write a book. The reason behind the book may be to was simply tell a story. That alone would be enough, but I see more of a purpose than just to tell a story. It is the story about: family life, adapting to change, finding joys in unexpected challenges, unconditional love, and commitment. At times, keeping Marley in their lives was a major impediment and caused many problems for the whole family, especially when they started to have children. But they loved him anyway. Unconditionally. They gave him many chances and adapted to his needs and behaviors. They had to adapt when they got him, they had to adapt each time they had a child, and they had to adapt the 3 times that they moved. They promised him that they would love him and take care of him, and that’s exactly what they did.
As was mentioned, John uses his firsthand life experience and first person point-of-view to make his purposes stronger. Since he was the one going through these adventures daily with Marley, he has credit to tell about them- he knows what he is talking about. Another interesting element he uses style wise is he makes it real. It is a real, imperfect life he is telling about, so it becomes more relatable. This is what makes its so heartwarming and genuine; the challenges and triumphs of everyday life.
Tying into the style of the book, the tone is very...real as well. It is very matter of fact, and doesn’t try to hide the flaws throughout life, avoiding the flowery, fairy tale-ish feel. Throughout the book as Grogan tells about Marley’s behaviors, he comes off as frustrated, soon to have had enough of Marley. Being mad at Marley for how he ruined the day this time. At the same time as this, though, there is still this love for Marley no matter what he did; knowing that he wont let Marley down, because he has promised it; and never giving up on Marley. His reminiscing diction-of the good and bad- gave it much more emotion.
John Grogan makes his story of his dog relatable as well as interesting. I enjoyed reading his story. On a scale of 1-10, I would give this book a 9. You get a good sense of imagery, he puts you in the story. It kept me interested because you never knew what would happen the next day. It made me smile, and it made me cry. But most of all, it helped me remember my childhood dog- my best friend.
Sources:
Grogan, John. Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog. New York: Morrow, 2005. Print.
