Whoever thought dog drool, trashed houseplants and assorted canine alimentarymisadventures would sell? When publishers William Morrow released John Grogan’sMarley & Me late last year, they reckoned a print run of 50,000 woulddo for a book about a loveable but utterly rambunctious Labrador retriever.Clearly they underestimated the number of people who would be entertained by theantics of a loving but incorrigible tail chaser, food thief, table sweeper andindiscriminate swallower of toy soldiers, rubber bands, speaker cones, pregnancytest kits and gold chains.
Marley & Me has already crossed sales of a million, which isenormous for hardback nonfiction. Read this book to see why. As the Groganfamily lurches from one canine catastrophe to another, you’ll find yourselfstruggling not to fall in love with a creature who demonstrates histhoughtfulness by throwing up only in one place--the Grogan’s Persian rug--yetequally, gives them understanding, comfort and entertainment that’sincomparable.
And there is a rather a lot of entertainment. Marley the Lab’s systematicdeconstruction of an uptight dog trainer is alone worth the price of admission,but there’s a lot more, including sundry bad behaviour everywhere from beachesto film sets. Much of this is hysterically funny. Grogan’s is easily some ofthe most hilarious writing on dogs since Dave Barry’s Big Trouble (dogcrazed by encounter with hallucinogenic toad unleashes mayhem) and Carl Hiaasen’sSick Puppy (dog joyfully interferes with stalking of elderly rhinocerosby gun-crazy tourists). Bizarrely, all three made their names as prominentFlorida journalists; is it something in the water there?
Grogan also captures quite delightfully the unique bond between a grown manand his dog. Generally the dog is the only creature that will look up to him asif to say, "Let us go off on this excellent adventure right now!" Thedog’s genius lies in accurately locating the bit of the man that never didgrow up; the part that agrees wholeheartedly with the notion.
Women and children tend to be altogether more sensible in their love fordogs, but when dogs pass on, as they sadly must, the entire family is united ingrief. So too, with the Marley and his human family. A lesser writer would havesuccumbed to tear-jerking through mawkishness, but Grogan simply holds thehumour and tells the story simply. Of course you’ll want to cry.
This book is essential reading for dog-lovers. Everyone else will finallyrealise what our fuss is all about.
