Marley and Me, written by John Grogan in 2005, is a story about his life with his dog. It outlines his family's experiences living with Marley, a rather spirited dog, and some of the challenges and lessons learned from those experiences. This is a memoir, and is written in the first person. The book was made into a movie that was released in 2008.

Marley, is a giant yellow Labrador retriever who is energetic and lives life to the fullest. He is also rather high strung and sometimes uncontrollable, often destroying property. Even with this behavior, Marley shows his undying love and trust toward his family. Ultimately, the family recognizes and accepts him as a loved, albeit somewhat neurotic, fun-loving family member.

I really enjoyed reading this book because in many ways I can relate to the experiences of bringing home a new puppy, watching him grow from a cuddly fur ball to a powerful and destructive adolescent. Many times I would laugh out loud while reading about finding shoes that were chewed on or filled with slobber. In some ways I could guess what Marley's temperament would be while reading the description of him as a puppy, having experienced the same personality in our own dog. In many ways, I think the author loved Marley so much because in many ways the dog helped the rest of the family to become closer.

I would give this book 5 stars because I thoroughly enjoyed it, and reading it gave me a great opportunity to reminisce and compare the story of Marley to my own experiences. I've mentioned parts of this book to my family, and suggested it to a few of the people. I haven't seen the film, but I would suggest this book to anyone who describes themselves as a dog lover. I know I'll be reading it again and smiling when I think of my own rambunctious puppy.