Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Remarkably Bright Creatures

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Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

21 reviews

kimveach's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Who knew I liked reading animal thoughts? After Lessons in Chemistry and now this book, it appears that I do. This was the perfect book for me right now. I loved the Puget Sound setting, the characters, and the wise old octopus. Though the book focuses on loneliness and loss, it feels like you've been given a warm hug.

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vedpears's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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honeybeewitched87's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Needs more octopus.

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ramreadsagain's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy of this book. This is my honest review.

Tova is in her 70's and works as a cleaner in the aquarium, where she befriends Marcellus, the resident Giant Pacific Octopus. Her husband died a few years ago, and their son died 30 years ago due to a presumed accident at sea. Tova is fairly lonely but tries to keep herself occupied. We also have Cameron who has arrived in town in search of his dad, whom he has never met.

There are a lot of things I really liked about this book, and a handful of things I didn't.

The writing style is really good, with great prose and realistic-feeling dialogue. The octopus's POV was excellent, I really loved him and I like how his personality really shone through. The characters were a bit tropey but that is part of its charm.

Our main character Tova in particular was great, I'd love to be her friend. She is exactly the kind of "old person character" I enjoy, realistically confused with technology and not some kind of larger-than-life super-granny. She actually feels fragile and old, unlike some elder characters who are shimming up trees at 80 (*cough* Beth O'Leary).

One of the main reasons this book gave me mixed feelings is our character Cameron. He is the most whiney, entitled, childish 30-year-old I have ever seen written in a book. He's not even really redeemed but the narrative seems to think we are going to like him by the end. Nope, he was intolerable and some of his sections really ruined bits for me.

Some spoiler-y plot thoughts:

The mystery element was so easy to guess I'm fairly certain it wasn't actually supposed to be a mystery. It was obvious as soon as the years matched up. I think this did bring down the rating for me slightly as I was hoping for there still to be a bit of mystery to be revealed.

However, it's about the friends we make along the way, and the characters' own journeys made for a largely heartwarming book about grief, small towns, growing old, and forming new connections with people.

I recommend for fans of character-driven contemporary fiction and octopus lovers!

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ciciyo's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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mysterymom40's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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linneak's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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marioosa517's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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kibbles15's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I initially picked up Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt because of the beautiful cover (seriously, it’s spectacular), and I decided to buy it after finding the synopsis intriguing.

Blurb:

Tova is a seventy-year-old woman who works as a night cleaner at a local aquarium in a small town in Puget Sound, Washington. She prides herself on her independence and work ethic, two qualities that allow her to remain strong in the face of the recent death of her husband and her son’s tragic disappearance thirty years ago. As she faces new changes, relationships, and challenges in her life, her friendship with the aquarium’s resident octopus, Marcellus, helps her face her future—and understand the past—in surprising ways.

Review:

Remarkably Bright Creatures is a fairly breezy read, and I found myself interested in the story and the characters. The writing, for the most part, is serviceable: some lines come across as a bit trite or out of place, but in general the writing was neither good nor bad enough to draw my attention away from the story.

The main character Tova was fun to read about. Her personality, age, traumas, and relationships make her an interesting and endearing character. Her well-meaning but occasionally tactless group of elderly friends (the ‘Knit-Wits), Ethan the grocery store clerk, and Terry her boss add color to the story. Occasionally, a character would say or do something that seemed a bit artificial, but this happened relatively infrequently.

Of course, the (arguably) central relationship of the story exists between Tova and the Giant Pacific Octopus, Marcellus. I found Marcellus, whose high intelligence gives him a near-perfect memory and the ability to understand English, to be an engaging and fun character. I was willing to suspend my disbelief that an octopus could understand English and insert himself into human affairs for the sake of the story, but a couple of narrative choices made this a bit difficult. For one, I was confused as to how he knows certain words but not others. Supposedly, he learns English by listening to human visitors at the aquarium and reading the aquarium’s plaques. Thus, he knows some English words but not others. But this does not explain why he knows words such as ‘lawnmower’ and ‘cuckold’ but not ‘pacifier,’ the latter of which he collects in his tank? Furthermore, Marcellus’s role in Tova’s story is undeniably far-fetched, even for an octopus who understands English. This story could easily have been told without Marcellus’s interference, so it strikes me as a bit odd that Van Pelt chose to involve him so heavily in the plot. The far-fetched nature of Marcellus’ role contributes to a larger problem of the book, which is that the plot requires a lot of well-placed coincidences to unfold.

If my problems with the book ended with some minor issues with characters, plot, and writing, I would have rated Remarkably Bright Creatures higher. Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the book was mostly ruined by one character: Cameron Cassmore. He is undoubtedly one of the worst fictional characters in existence. He has NO redeeming qualities. He is a lazy, selfish grifter who expects people to bend over backward for him despite his terrible track record as a human being and employee. He practically demands that people give him jobs—despite him blatantly lying on his job applications and having no relevant experience—because he thinks he’s “smart” and deserves a “chance.” He treats the people around him like dirt, especially women. His behavior might be slightly understandable if he were, say, thirteen, but he is thirty and he blames everything that goes wrong in his life on the fact that he was raised by his (non-abusive, loving, middle-class) aunt after being abandoned by his mother at a young age. I understand that being abandoned as a child can cause someone to have problems in their development, but it is no excuse for being an absolute garbage human being, especially at thirty years old. And yes—I understand the author intended to write Cameron as unsympathetic. However, he never really comes to grips with his shitty actions or learns his lesson, despite the story implying otherwise. He continues to be unjustly rewarded and enabled by the people around him, despite showing only minor improvements in his personality. Cameron’s lack of accountability made me want to throw the book across the room. If his character had been written more sympathetically, I would have probably enjoyed Remarkably Bright Creatures a lot more than I did.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like Remarkably Bright Creatures if:

· You enjoy cozy, heart-warming stories with small-town settings

· You love the documentary My Octopus Teacher and/or love stories about human and animal companionship

· You don’t mind sacrificing a bit of believability in exchange for cozy vibes, fun characters, and heartwarming relationships between humans and animals

You might not like Remarkably Bright Creatures if:

· The idea of an octopus who understands English sounds ludicrous to you

· You get annoyed by far-fetched plots

· You want to see unsympathetic or flawed characters face the consequences of their actions and undergo realistic character growth

A Similar Book:

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen (a personal 4-star read). Similarities between these books include:

· Magical realism

· Cozy, small-town setting

· A large cast of (mostly) likable, quirky characters

· Characters healing from grief and trauma through friendship and community

· A mystery surrounding a young man’s parentage

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