Summer Reading Response


This summer I read the book Marley and Me by John Grogan. This book is one of my favorite books; it wasn’t my first time reading it. In the book Marley belongs to a young couple that lives in Florida. Marley enjoyed many walks on dog beach and a lot of attention from his two owners. Then one day Jenny announced she was pregnant. This meant Marley’s run of the house was over.

One day John took Marley for a run. They were sitting on the beach and John realized it was time Marley was let off the leash. John takes Marley over to dog beach and Marley defecates on the dunes where he is supposed to, so now John figures his bowels are empty. When John lets Marley off the leash everyone else starts doing the same. Then Marley starts swallowing all the ocean water but just goes back to splashing in the waves. Then all the sudden Marley starts going in small circles. Another dog owner starts yelling to John but its too late, Marley had already defecated in the water. Then the police pull out and shut dog beach down.

John deals with the problem by simply pulling Marley out of the water and off the beach. John also apologizes to the rest of the dog owners. I don’t agree with how everyone else dealt with the situation. It’s a dog beach and one dog pooped but its only one dog! It might be a health hazard to other dogs and their owners but it’s a dog and he doesn’t know any better. Also it could have happened before but it just so happened that this time the police were there. John could have avoided the whole situation by just not letting the dog off the leash but, Jenny and John just had a baby and this would be some of the last times that Marley and John would be together at dog beach.

I chose to read Marley and Me because I love dogs especially Labradors. I have had two labs in the past and I have two labs currently. Also we also like to take the dogs to the beach but nothing as dramatic as what happened to Marley has happened to my dogs. I think this should book should be recommended to others because its just a really good read. Its especially for dog lovers like me and someone who is looking for a book that will really keep you wanting more every time you put It down.