Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Read with Jenna Pick Hardcover – May 3, 2022

This book is the epitome of original writing. Entering into your senses is co-lead character, Tova, a widow with a Swedish background. She is a slight woman, maybe 80 pounds or less. She is a widow and lost her husband to cancer and her beautiful boy, Erik, to a boating accident when he was a teenager. It is no easy task to lose a child and survive the grief without anger and hopelessness. Tova works as a cleaner in a small aquarium. She has a special friend there, a large octopus named Marcellus. Angry to be taken from his natural habitat, Marcellus forms a bond with Tova.Enter the other main character, Cameron, a child born from a single mother who is filled with anger that his mother left him and he has no idea who is father is. He ruins every love relationship he has because of his inability to finish a task or keep a job. The irony is that he very smart and quirky, somewhat like our star, the octopus.The author does not lose a step creating Tova into a placid., smart crossword puzzle who lives and breathes her lost family, her husband Will from cancer and her son Erik, where there is no resolution regarding his deadly accident. Van Pelt weaves a smart, emotional tale. Way before the end of the book, we know Tova and Cameron, how they speak, think and regard other people. Despite their bad stories, they soldier on and find answers and present the reader with a story that breathes the octopus’ background of evolutionary intelligence and a human’s compulsion to keep moving.

When I first read the summary of Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, I was intrigued by the octopus in the plot and the summary got me interested in reading the book and I am glad I did. This story was sort of open ended and yet so difficult to guess. It kept me interested to the very end and of course, I enjoyed not just the story but also the ending as well. It is now one of my favorite books.The main characters in the book have certain unique perspectives including Marcellus. I ended up feeling deeply for Tova, Cameron, Erik, even Ethan and most of all Marcellus. The book is written superbly in a way that I really felt connected with these characters. I will re-read/re-listen to this book in the future again. Will surely read more books by Shelby as she writes and publishes.The best thing I really liked in the book is when Cameron asks Tova how did she go on and recover from something like what she went through, I really like her response, that while one cannot recover, not fully, one moves on and one must. I recommended this book to any one who wants a fresh unique writing style and a very well written story. Also, Whispersync helped a lot since I was reading and listening alternatively and Jenna Pick did a wonderful narration. Lastly, I read Secrets of the Octopus by Sy Montgomery before reading this and that helped me understand this book better. Overall, I loved reading this book.

I stumbled on Remarkably Bright Creatures among my recommendations. As often happens, the premise intrigued me enough to read it even though I didn't know the author. Well, if Shelby Van Pelt often writes like this, I definitely want more of her books.The friendship between Tova the aquarium cleaning lady and Marcellus the giant Pacific octopus is a definite selling point in this book. It's a great twist on the "A Kid and Their X" trope (the kind of thing you see in stuff like Where the Red Fern Grows, Old Yeller, Free Willy, and so forth). This one, I am pleased to report, is far less cheesy and saccharine. Tova is a multifaceted character whose life may seem small in her estimation, and probably is if we go by what is a "normal" life in a small seaside town. Yet that life has been stuffed with complex emotions, unanswered questions, and a longing for "more" that I think everybody can relate to. At least, I certainly could.As for Marcellus, he's multifaceted, too. A part of me did stick with his point of view, and story, because it is a story of a "remarkably bright," underestimated creature trapped and controlled in a world he doesn't understand. I have cerebral palsy and was diagnosed as level 1 autistic this spring; I'm still looking back and trying to heal from a lot of the latter's implications. So in a visceral way, yeah. I'm not a captive animal or mistreated, but I understood how Marcellus felt. What I liked even better about his story though, is that Marcellus' story doesn't stop there.Marcellus actually has a life and a history that Shelby Van Pelt, Tova, Cameron, and other characters dig into. He's not just a captive yearning for freedom and mourning lost opportunities, as often happens with similar stories. He makes wry, witty, yet quiet, non-snarky observations about humans. He cares deeply for Tova because she took time to know him as a "person," but also because she's the only human who has ever stopped long enough for Marcellus to know as a real "person." Marcellus gets to be the conduit of real revelation and change for people inside and outside his world. That's amazing, and frankly, it's a lot more than many human characters get.Remarkably Bright Creatures couldn't succeed with just Tova or Marcellus though, or at least not as well as it did, I think. The other characters pop off the page as well. Cameron is my favorite, precisely because I didn't expect to like him at first. By his own admission, he comes off as a burnout and a loser, and I admit, that's how I saw him to begin with. But as with Tova and Marcellus, Cameron is hiding a lot of layers, a lot of depth. He's got a great heart, but he's still a typical, kinda clueless 30-year-old guy (and I'm still a 30-something so I say that tongue in cheek). He's vulnerable but not pitiful; he plays the victim sometimes, but then he gets mad at being called out on that and wants to do better. He struggles and is a burnout, but he's got good, solid friends and some real interests and potential. In other words, I got really into his arc, especially once Tova, Marcellus, and even Ethan got involved.As for Ethan, he's unexpectedly cool, as well. I admit some brownie points with him, as I love all things Scottish or Irish and he is of Scottish descent. But I also didn't expect a shopkeeper in his '70s with a gruff edge to be a Grateful Dead fan or to get along so well with a neat and tidy, tiny Swedish aquarium cleaner, so brownie points on plot and character there. In fact, Ethan's role in the story, in particular, went all kinds of unexpected places, so without spoiling anything, I'll tell you to keep an eye on it.Finally, Shelby wins some extra brownie points for a lot of the "little" things that "pop" out at me when reading a book like this one. For instance, I love cats and love the reluctant yet affectionate relationship Tova develops with a stray cat. I love Marcellus' Collection and the pride and care he takes in it. I love and felt some heartbreak over Tova's reminiscing about the attic playroom that never got to be a playroom.But I think the thing I loved most about Remarkably Bright Creatures is how remarkable Shelby showed readers humans--and creatures--can be, without getting heavy-handed or cheesy. There are some romances here, so to speak, but this is a relationship novel, and those are, have been for the past several years, some of my favorite ones.There is some language here, so caveat emptor if that's not your thing. From a writer's perspective, I also wondered how much some threads or characters were actually needed. For instance, looking back, I understand why Tova had a brother, but I'm unsure how much he furthered the plot. Similarly, I understand the roles of Avery and Marco but again, am unsure how much they furthered the plot.Also, I almost hate to say it, and I could be wrong about this. After all, I know about as much concerning octopi as the average person who watches Jeopardy (which I do). But while Marcellus' plot thread is great, and while I definitely understand suspension of disbelief, I did wonder along with Cameron how much those boundaries were pushed. I mean, I buy Marcellus getting out of his tank, and with the right Collection items, I guess Tova and Cameron could've figured out whatever they needed to know. But...there's a logical shard of me that isn't quite sure she buys how everything lined up, I guess.All that aside though, Remarkably Bright Creatures is still a remarkable book. As often happens, I'm now eager to find more like it. And yes, it does get a hearty recommendation. At the very least, I'll want to take closer looks next time I go to an aquarium.