Like a lot of people, I first met Marley through the 2008 film starring Owen Wilson as John Grogan, Marley’s long-suffering owner and the author of the original book.
While travelling recently, I stumbled across a suitably dog-eared copy (pun very much intended) of Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog, first published in 2005.
And I fell in love with Marley all over again.
For anyone who hasn’t read it, Marley & Me is the story of John Grogan, his wife Jenny, and the enormous, exuberant, spectacularly badly behaved Labrador who crashes into their lives. Marley eats things he shouldn’t, destroys furniture, fails miserably at obedience school and generally creates chaos wherever he goes. But beneath all the comedy is a much gentler story about marriage, family, growing older, and the way a dog can quietly become woven into the fabric of a life.
What surprised me most was how much more moving the book felt than I remembered from the film. It is very funny, but Grogan never turns Marley into anything more complicated than what he is: a ridiculous, affectionate, completely devoted dog. And perhaps that is why the ending hits so hard. Anyone who has ever loved an animal will recognise that strange bargain we make with them: knowing their lives will almost certainly be shorter than ours, and loving them wholeheartedly anyway.