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Marley & Me

by John Grogan

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• Biography & Memoir
• 1980s & '90s
• Books About Animals

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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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BOOKS OF THE TIMES

Honoring the Best Bad Dog a Family Could Ever Have

By Janet Maslin

• Oct. 13, 2005

Marley & Me Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog By John Grogan

291 pages. William Morrow/HarperCollins. $21.95

When John Grogan and his wife traveled to Ireland, they left behind the third member of the family: Marley, their Labrador retriever. Mr. Grogan wrote a six-page "Marley memo" for the dog sitter. This document nicely captures the pet's personality.

Vitamin pill: "The best way to give it to him is to simply drop it on the floor and pretend he's not supposed to have it."

Beverages: "His jowls hold a surprising amount of water, which runs out as he walks away from the bowl."

Obeying commands: "It's best if you're standing and not crouched down when you call him." Sedatives for thunderstorm phobia: "One pill 30 minutes before the storm arrives (you'll be a weather forecaster before you know it!)"

Mr. Grogan knew the workings of Marley's mind. He makes that abundantly clear in "Marley and Me," a very funny valentine to all those four-legged "big, dopey, playful galumphs that seemed to love life with a passion not often seen in this world." It's a book with intense but narrow appeal, strictly limited to anyone who has ever had, known or wanted a dog.

"Marley and Me" tenderly follows its subject from sunrise to sunset, from the ball-of-fluff stage to the heartbreaking farewell. In every chewed-up stereo speaker, busted screen door, purloined grilled cheese sandwich and bouquet of decapitated flowers, Mr. Grogan finds more about Marley to love.

So this is a dog with a dark side. After all, the book's subtitle is "Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog." As Mr. Grogan found out when he described Marley that way in The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he is a columnist, that distinction is hotly contested; one reader said her Lab, Jason, was better qualified because he once ate a whole vacuum cleaner hose. Still, Marley was a strong candidate, and the book describes his qualifications with hilarity and affection.

As newlyweds, the Grogans were naïve enough to fall for Marley, the bargain puppy in his litter, without meeting his father. All they knew was that this Lab was a purebred. "This was my first time rubbing shoulders with anything resembling high breeding, my own family included," Mr. Grogan writes.

Only later did they realize that the "frothing, mud-caked banshee" seen briefly at the breeder's house might account for half of Marley's genes. So it made sense that Junior was rambunctious from the start. "It took him just one day to discover the best thing about his new home: toilet paper," the book recalls.

For the book's purposes, the Grogans became dog parents at the perfect time: their lives are eventful over the course of this story. At first they were carefree enough to devote their full attention to Marley, to the point where Mr. Grogan had time to speculate about his dog's inner thoughts. They often appeared to be: "Go ahead! Pick it up! Drool all over it! Run!"

Things changed when the author's wife became pregnant. (The Grogans now have three children.) The dog's way of celebrating was to eat part of the pregnancy test kit. "Sorry to disappoint you, pal," Mr. Grogan told him while retrieving it, "but this is going in the scrapbook." Other items wrenched from Marley's jaws during the course of this story ("so that's where my comb went!") include a paycheck and a gold necklace. The necklace incident ended happily. Maybe you don't want to know how Mr. Grogan got it back.

Only occasionally does "Marley and Me" contrive sitcom-ready situations. It's hard to believe that the author, even in the most amorous mood, could have mistaken Marley's warm breath for his wife's until he smelled Milk-Bone biscuits. And the image of a man being slurped on a moving toboggan by a pesky dog is too cartoonishly good to be true -- unless the reader realizes how much universal Lab behavior is immortalized here. When Marley lands a movie role and finds a new way to mess up his walk-on-a-leash scene in each successive take, Mr. Grogan's description has a riotously authentic ring.

Eventually a shadow falls over this story. Though the book is full of tail-thumping enthusiasm, there comes a time when Marley just can't shred the furniture any more. "I coaxed him along, calling out words of encouragement, but it was like watching a toy slowly wind down as its battery went dead," Mr. Grogan writes, about walking with Marley up a familiar hill. "Marley just did not have the oomph needed to make it to the top."

But Mr. Grogan describes even his dog's decline in terms of mischief. Though losing his hearing, Marley could (and did) still steal food from the kitchen counter; he just couldn't tell that he was about to be caught in the act. The book continues to record his antics. But it also captures the four-hanky nobility of Marley's struggling through his last days.

Mr. Grogan keeps the book agile by sticking to Marley-centric episodes and by locating a crazed bit of Marleyness in any event he describes. He admits with shame that even while reporting on the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 crash of United Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa., he could not keep the love and loss of Marley off his mind.

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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.

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Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog Hardcover – Movie Tie-In, December 1, 2005

Purchase options and add-ons.

The heartwarming and unforgettable story of a family and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life. Now with photos and new material.

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 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 grew into a barreling, ninety-seven-pound streamroller of a Labrador retriever. He crashed through screen doors, gouged through drywall, and stole women's undergarments. Obedience school did no good -- Marley was expelled.

But just as Marley joyfully refused any limits on his behavior, his love and loyalty were boundless, too. Marley remained a model of devotion, even when his family was at its wit's end. Unconditional love, they would learn, comes in many forms.

Marley & Me  is John Grogan's funny, unforgettable tribute to this wonderful, wildly neurotic Lab and the meaning he brought to their lives.

• Part of series Marley
• Print length 291 pages
• Language English
• Publisher William Morrow
• Publication date December 1, 2005
• Dimensions 5.5 x 1.01 x 8.25 inches
• ISBN-10 0060817089
• ISBN-13 978-0060817084
• Lexile measure 990L
• See all details

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Editorial Reviews

From publishers weekly, from booklist.

“A very funny valentine...Marley & Me tenderly follows its subject from sunrise to sunset...with hilarity and affection.” — Janet Maslin, New York Times

“[Marley & Me] rises above some others of its topic thanks to Grogan’s healthy dose of self-deprecating humor.” — MSNBC.com

“[Marley & Me] took my breath away. I laughed. I cried. . . . What a gift…immortalizing a dog who will always hold a very special place in the hearts of each family member.” — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Marley, meanwhile, is teaching America something about values―something that perhaps only a really bad dog with a really true heart can teach.” — Daily Mail (London)

“If you know someone who claims there’s not a book in the world that can make him cry, give him this one. It won’t even matter if he’s not a dog lover. He’ll cry anyway. Trust me.” — Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

“A humorous and loving tribute…Throughout, the family is steadfastly devoted to this badly behaved yet totally lovable and loyal pup. …Readers…whose dogs would qualify for the “Bad Dog Club” will delight in this tribute.” — Library Journal

From the Back Cover

The heartwarming and unforgettable story of a family in the making and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life

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.

About the Author

John Grogan is the author of the #1 international bestseller Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog , the bestselling middle-grade memoir Marley: A Dog Like No Other , and three #1 best-selling picture books: Bad Dog, Marley! , A Very Marley Christmas , and Marley Goes to School . John lives with his wife and their three children in the Pennsylvania countryside.

John Grogan ha sido un premiado reportero gráfico y columnista por más de veinticinco años. Vive en Pensilvania con su esposa Jenny y sus tres hijos.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Marley & me, harpercollins publishers, inc., chapter one, and puppy makes three.

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 Sun-Sentinel , based an hour south in Fort Lauderdale. We began every morning poring over the newspapers, seeing how our stories were played and how they stacked up to the competition. We circled, underlined, and clipped with abandon.

But on this morning, Jenny's nose was not in the news pages but in the classified section. When I stepped closer, I saw she was feverishly circling beneath the heading "Pets -- Dogs."

"Uh," I said in that new-husband, still-treading-gently voice. "Is there something I should know?"

She did not answer.

"It's the plant," she finally said, her voice carrying a slight edge of desperation.

"The plant?" I asked.

"That dumb plant," she said. "The one we killed."

The one we killed? I wasn't about to press the point, but for the record it was the plant that I bought and she killed. I had surprised her with it one night, a lovely large dieffenbachia with emerald-and-cream variegated leaves. "What's the occasion?" she'd asked. But there was none. I'd given it to her for no reason other than to say, "Damn, isn't married life great?"

She had adored both the gesture and the plant and thanked me by throwing her arms around my neck and kissing me on the lips. Then she promptly went on to kill my gift to her with an assassin's coldhearted efficiency. Not that she was trying to; if anything, she nurtured the poor thing to death. Jenny didn't exactly have a green thumb. Working on the assumption that all living things require water, but apparently forgetting that they also need air, she began flooding the dieffenbachia on a daily basis.

"Be careful not to overwater it," I had warned.

"Okay," she had replied, and then dumped on another gallon.

The sicker the plant got, the more she doused it, until finally it just kind of melted into an oozing heap. I looked at its limp skeleton in the pot by the window and thought, Man, someone who believes in omens could have a field day with this one .

Now here she was, somehow making the cosmic leap of logic from dead flora in a pot to living fauna in the pet classifieds. Kill a plant , buy a puppy . Well, of course it made perfect sense.

I looked more closely at the newspaper in front of her and saw that one ad in particular seemed to have caught her fancy. She had drawn three fat red stars beside it. It read: "Lab puppies, yellow. AKC purebred. All shots. Parents on premises."

"So," I said, "can you run this plant-pet thing by me one more time?"

"You know," she said, looking up. "I tried so hard and look what happened. I can't even keep a stupid houseplant alive. I mean, how hard is that ? All you need to do is water the damn thing."

Then she got to the real issue: "If I can't even keep a plantalive, how am I ever going to keep a baby alive?" She looked like she might start crying.

The Baby Thing, as I called it, had become a constant in Jenny's life and was getting bigger by the day. When we had first met, at a small newspaper in western Michigan, she was just a few months out of college, and serious adulthood still seemed a far distant concept. For both of us, it was our first professional job out of school. We ate a lot of pizza, drank a lot of beer, and gave exactly zero thought to the possibility of someday being anything other than young, single, unfettered consumers of pizza and beer.

But years passed. We had barely begun dating when various job opportunities -- and a one-year postgraduate program for me -- pulled us in different directions across the eastern United States. At first we were one hour's drive apart. Then we were three hours apart. Then eight, then twenty-four. By the time we both landed together in South Florida and tied the knot, she was nearly thirty. Her friends were having babies. Her body was sending her strange messages. That once seemingly eternal window of procreative opportunity was slowly lowering.

I leaned over her from behind, wrapped my arms around her shoulders, and kissed the top of her head. "It's okay," I said. But I had to admit, she raised a good question. Neither of us had ever really nurtured a thing in our lives. Sure, we'd had pets growing up, but they didn't really count. We always knew our parents would keep them alive and well. We both knew we wanted to one day have children, but was either of us really up for the job? Children were so . . . so . . . scary. They were helpless and fragile and looked like they would break easily if dropped.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow; First Edition (December 1, 2005)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 291 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060817089
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060817084
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 990L
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.01 x 8.25 inches
• #235 in Animal & Pet Care Essays
• #471 in Dog Breeds (Books)
• #11,346 in Memoirs (Books)

About the author

John grogan.

John Grogan is the author of the #1 international bestseller Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog, the bestselling middle-grade memoir Marley: A Dog Like No Other, and three #1 best-selling picture books: Bad Dog, Marley!, A Very Marley Christmas, and Marley Goes to School. John lives with his wife and their three children in the Pennsylvania countryside.

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