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Jessie Charles

Honors English 1

27 July 2009

Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog

Non-Fiction had never been a genre that had appealed to me until I read Marley

and Me. Facts about certain people who were famous or had done something courageous

really bored me. Although, Marley and Me is a Non-fiction book, reading about a dog

growing up with his master and his family couldn’t have been sweeter. As it being a non-

fiction book, making it real, made it all the more special. I chose the book Marley and

Me because dogs have always been animals that are close to my heart and reading about a

real family with a crazy, chaotic, clumsy, but also caring, loving, and funny dog really is a

great book.

The book is about a man named John Grogan who is a columnist for a newspaper.

He and his wife are looking for a dog and they come across an ad for a litter of yellow lab

puppies. They end up getting one and naming him Marley after the famous reggae singer

Bob Marley. The book tells the story of both Marley and John’s family growing up. In the

book John and his family are put in some tough situations like having to leave Marley at

home with a sitter while there was a thunder storm and he tore the house apart. The book

talks about how he loves to eat mangos and likes to go for walks and never liked to obey.

Even though in the book a lot of people would say he was the world’s worst dog

he had some soft sides to him. If someone in the family were to ever get sick he would

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never leave their side. He was protective over the ones he loved but also kind to everyone

he would meet, meaning he intended on meeting everyone whether it meant a lick in the

face or a giant bear hug knocking you down on your back. Trying to teach Marley

commands would be a waste of time but loving him would be one the greatest decisions

of your life.

The reason I really chose to read this book is because reading about a disobedient

dog can really make you appreciate what you have. It can teach you that know matter

how crazy your dog may seen it doesn’t really matter as long as it loves you. So Marley

and non-fiction really have a lot in common. They both can teach you different things

about life, facts, and a different way to look at things. Reading this book has made me

realize that even though sometimes non-fiction may seem boring, it can really teach you

something that you never thought you would learn from it, kind of like Marley.

The moral of this book is like John Grogan said, "What I really wanted to say was

how this animal had touched our souls and taught us some of the most important lessons

of our lives, a person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours. Marley

taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the

moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things- a walk

in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and

achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about

friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty” (Grogan 289).

Reading this book has really changed my aspect on dogs and even though they are

different from humans or books they can still teach us something.