Remarkably Bright Creatures
Ratings376
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings376
Average rating4.1
Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.
After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.
Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.
Reviews with the most likes.
Peaceful, straightforward read about elderly no-nonsense Swede, Tova, coming to terms with grief and learning personal growth amid a tumult of coincidences and magical realism that bring people together.
Tova is very well-written, fleshed out character, and I wanted to see more of our gruff Scotsman, Ethan, with a heart of gold. Cameron came across as a little flat, and his penchant for not listening to people until they're done with their sentences conveniently added ~40 pages to the end of the book.
Also, I missed why Cameron didn't send a follow-up text to Avery after talking to Marco because it's not like Marco liked Cameron to begin with enough to do him a favor. The octopus duex ex machina could've been edited out of the book all-together and the ending would have still been the same.
This is a lovely book in a beautiful setting in Washington State, but the languid pacing and octopus shoe-horned in pulled me out of Tova, Ethan, and Cameron's story.
Cute, “family movie” vibe with the added gimmick of an octopus and his internal monologue. It's in the same vein as A Man Called Ove, featuring an older person who has been through some tragedy and gets the chance to connect with new people. (Hey, octopuses are people too!)
I wish she had pushed the light comedy a bit further and made it funnier. There was potential, but most of the characters were humorless. Van Pelt kept very specific characterizations. Cameron: resentful, Tova: practical, Ethan: generous, Knit-Wits: meddlesome, Avery: spirited. There wasn't much complexity.
Other reviewers mentioned disliking Cameron, and I get it. He's insufferable to the point where I didn't want to see things work out for him. The author must have thought readers would be on his side if she kept serving him bad luck. Sometimes it's more about how the character handles setbacks than the setbacks themselves.
Despite all the backstory of death, child abandonment, and other heartbreak, it's uncomplicated and light-hearted if you're in that type of mood. It was entertaining for the time I spent reading it.
This was one of those books that I wish I could experience again for the first time. It was so warm, so happy, and just an overall delight. My only complaint is that we don't get enough of Marcellus :(
I'm so so sorry........ I do not think this book is well written. The last 30 pages made me want to add a star but I think it's also because I took a break before reading those final 30 pages and I forgot how I felt before. 1 star for Marcellus and 1 star for Tova, but beyond that I fear I thought the writing was bad, many of the situations were very contrived, and Cameron fuckin sucks so much as a character
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