Marley&Me

Marley&Me

Book Report— Marley & Me : Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog
Introduction of the author and the work
John Grogan is an American journalist and non-fiction writer. His memoir Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog (2005) was a best selling book about his family's dog Marley. Grogan was born in an Irish Catholic Home in the Motor City, Detroit, Michigan, on March 20, 1957. He was the youngest of four, his siblings being Marijo, Michael, and Tim. His father was an engineer for General Motors, while his mother was a housewife. He also attended Central Michigan University where he double majored in Journalism and English. He lives with his wife, Jenny, and their three children, Patrick, Conor, and Colleen in rural eastern Pennsylvania. He met his wife, Jenny, while working as a police reporter for the small Herald-Palladium in the Michigan harbor town of St. Joseph. He has cited Bill Bryson, Alice Sebold, and Jim Harrison among others as his favorite authors.
Told in first-person narrative, the book portrays Grogan and his family's life during the thirteen years that they lived with their dog Marley, and the relationships and lessons from this period. Marley, a yellow Labrador Retriever, is described as a high-strung, boisterous, and somewhat uncontrolled dog. He is strong, powerful, endlessly hungry, eager to be active, and often destructive of their property (but completely without malice). Marley routinely fails to "get the idea" of what humans expect of him; at one point, mental illness is suggested as a plausible explanation for his behavior. His acts and behaviors are forgiven, however, since it is clear that he has a heart of gold and is merely living within his nature.
The strong contrast between the problems and tensions caused by his neuroses and behavior, and the undying devotion, love and trust shown towards the human family as they themselves have children and grow up to accept him for what he is, and their grief when he...

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