February 26, 2009: Page Turners 7 p.m.

Book: Marley & Me by John Grogan

Discussion:

This was a very exciting meeting of Page Turners. Marley & Me was extremely well received with eleven of thirteen members voting thumbs up and two abstaining pending completion of the book.

With such a positive reception, most of our discussion took the form of comments on the book and personal pet stories. We began by commenting on the tearful ending. One Page Turner said she was tearing up with laughter at the beginning of the book then teared up again at the end because of the sad ending. Other group members wondered why Marley’s owners let him continue to suffer, knowing he was deteriorating. We agreed the final decision was just so difficult and emotional that the Grogans probably wanted to put it off as long as possible.

We also questioned why, knowing his habits, the family continued to put Marley in situations where he was likely to misbehave. One example would be the movie Marley was to be in. It is difficult enough to get a non-hyperactive dog to do exactly what you want him to do when you want him to do it, but with a dog like Marley it would be impossible.

This might be excused given the novelty of having your dog featured in a movie, but we also mistrusted the Grogans’ idea of securing Marley’s leash around a table leg at an outdoor restaurant. Keep in mind this dog weighs one hundred pounds and is able to drag his owners around when they hold his leash. Yet they seemed surprised Marley was able to tip over a light-weight cafe table.

We then talked about Marley’s habit of stealing food from the children. With a dog larger than the children in question this would be a hard practice to curb. One Page Turner recounted the story of a dog she once had who would gat out of the yard during the day and come back a night with various goodies. Once he returned with a loaf of bread, fully packaged! They assumed he walked down to the corner convenience store and took it right off the shelf!

The remainder of the meeting was mostly filled by personal pet stories. Many of the Page Turners are cat owners. One patron told the story of how she kept hearing running water only to discover her cat was turning on the faucet, it was the kind with a lever that you push on or off, in order to drink straight from the tap! Another reader mentioned a strange occurrence when she moved into a new house. She was sitting in one room and heard a noise coming from a bathroom nearby. She was alone in the house but it sounded like someone was making use of the restroom. She waited but no one ever emerged from the bedroom connected to the bathroom. Not long after this the previous owners came by and told our fellow Page Turner that a traveling priest had once passed away in the house, and that ever since they had noticed some strange happenings. During the days that followed it would appear that someone had used the bathroom in question but had not flushed the toilet. Our Page Turner’s son attended the local university and would often stop by when his mother wasn’t home. She assumed he had used her restroom, but wondered why he refused to flush. Finally she heard the noise again, gathered her courage and went to investigate. When she pushed open the door she came face to face with her pet cat who had some how learned to use the toilet, but not to flush!

We had a good laugh over that story and several of the others. Before we adjourned we quickly discussed the recent movie version of Marley & Me. Three members had seen it and described it as “good, but not as good as the book” and mentioned that there were a few deviations from Grogan’s memoir and that the wife’s character seemed a bit more prevalent than the husband’s in the film. One Page Turner said she much preferred picturing John and Jen Grogan as she imagined they would look than the actors who portray them in the movie. Some of the readers’ copies of the book had photographs in them which we looked at and decided that Grogan’s wife did favor Jennifer Anniston a bit around the chin, but that Owen Wilson must have been hired more for personality as he does not resemble the author in the least!

We also handed out copies of next month’s selection, David Baldacci’s The Collectors, and flyers advertising upcoming programming and events were distributed as well.