Books Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - Oh, those 1 star-reviewing crackpots
John Grogan is a wonderful writer. This book is honest, funny, poignant and touching. His story is peeled to the truth, and about real life. Not everything goes smoothly, and just because it didn't with Marley, there's no reason to assume Grogan and his wife loved their dog any less.

It is no surprise, though, that every crackpot who thinks he/she knows better, would come out here, scream like banshees, and insult Grogan. Crackpots galore. Bone-a-fide, inbred doggie-dooers.

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Rating: - The Dog Lover
What a great story for anyone that loves dogs and has lost them.... and if you have you will connect with this story. " EXCELLENT"

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Rating: - Did Most Of This Really Happen?
The only reason I read this book at all was because it was recommended to me by someone at the dog run as being a nice book about a dog. Below is my review.

As the proud owner of a large breed puppy who is not even 6 months old, I found this book offensive. The Grogans seem to have allowed every single bad habit and behavior to persist and then complained about it when Marley became a 90 lb adult Lab. They seem to have basically ignored Marley --- when I brought my puppy home, my whole family made a huge fuss about him and hung out with him and we had him sleeping in our bedroom (in a crate, of course).

Grogan just dumps this 8-week-old puppy in his garage and goes about his business as though Marley did not exist... some welcome home that is!

The obedience school instructor either was the worst instructor on the planet, or none of that really happened: a real instructor should first of all know how to control all sorts of dogs, should be ready for all kinds of craziness, and should attempt to communicate with the dog they are trying to train. But if this really did happen, couldn't they have just found another trainer who knew his/her business?

He made no effort to restrain Marley or confine him to a room, if crates were not the fashion then, and then complains to high heaven that the dog is all over the place.

The commentary Grogan spouted while he was taking Marley in to be fixed was perfectly disgusting. Also, the methods used to get Marley to quit jumping up on people, for instance, were also pretty offputting. Actually, "brutal" is a better word.

Last but not least, Grogan seems to take up a lot of the book talking about his married life (I'm being delicate). Why do we have to wade through this? The dog was a little rambunctious, and he also was mismanaged and unchecked, we got that, but the point of the book was the owners...?

Basically, the bottom line is, if you want to read this book, read it in the bookstore, or just get it out of your local library. Just don't buy it. It's pretty scammy.

Or, better yet, just take your dog for a walk... a nice long one.

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Rating: - One of my favorite books
I read Marley & Me when it first came out years ago but my book club just read it and everyone loved it. This is definitely one of my favorite books...maybe it is because I have my own "Marley" in the form of my now 4 year old male yellow lab but also because it is just a great book. It is hilarious but also has some sad parts. I would recommend it to most people but especially to dog lovers. Enjoy!