Reviews tagging 'Death'

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

584 reviews

oceanwriter's review against another edition

4.75

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

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The cover of this book has been jumping out at me since it was published and I’ve heard a number of different people reviewing it and speaking about it, but for some reason, I wasn’t super interested in picking it up (the idea of a narrating octopus, perhaps?) until a friend of mine gave a glowing recommendation. 

 

Tova doesn’t have much in her life after the deaths of her husband and son. Her son’s mysterious and sudden death particularly weighs on her. Her job cleaning the Sowell Bay Aquarium is more or less what keeps her going, much to her friends’ chagrin as they wish to see her retire. 

 

Tova forges an unlikely friendship with the aquarium’s octopus, Marcellus. Tova realizes something exceptional about this sea creature (apart from his escape artist capabilities). In turn, Marcellus tries to communicate to her the answers she’s desperately been looking for surrounding her son’s death. 

 

This book was so heartwarming and I liked seeing an older protagonist in a realistic light rather than an over-the-top 70-year-old trying to act like a 30-year-old. Though the story is mainly centered on Tova, we also see bits of narration from Marcellus and a man named Cameron, whom Tova meets as the story progresses. 

 

Honestly, I think without the addition of Cameron’s POV this would have been a full five starts for me. He had good character growth but was insufferable in the beginning and I didn’t find myself caring what happened to him. He did grow on me though, but I don’t think he necessarily had to be a main voice in the story. The heart of the story is Tova and Marcellus for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse

Minor: Cancer, Suicide, Suicide attempt

camcam1997's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief

Minor: Drug abuse

audrygerber's review against another edition

4.75

emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment

sarasimper's review against another edition

4.25

hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship

aroraback's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Easy 5 star.  Characters are loveable, but they have their flaws. All the main characters are able to show growth, that is specifically learned from connecting with each other. Love how the author showed the small but important connections we all have.

Definitely teared up at points.  

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Drug abuse, Suicide

kelisabeth's review against another edition

4.75

emotional hopeful 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: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

tigertheory's review against another edition

4.75

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad 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

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So good; this was just the right book at the right time. I loved spending time in this world, and while this explores some heavy topics, it does so in a lighthearted but authentic manner. 
Especially as an ADHD-plagued child of Scandinavian immigrants myself, this book truly spoke to me. I bought a copy to give to my mom for Christmas before I even finished reading. 

The only reason I am not giving this 5 stars is because I think that in terms of literary craftsmanship, there’s still a bit of room to improve, but I can’t wait to see what van Pelt does next!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

The son of one of the main characters died many years ago under mysterious circumstances. Her husband later died of cancer. One of the other characters has an absentee mother who suffers from substance abuse problems which are not further described.

All of these are important to the plot and brought up relatively often, but are not described explicitly/in detail.

pedanther's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

aruthj's review against another edition

3.0

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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It was a nice book! Cute, cozy, heartwarming. I don’t think I’ll read it again, but it was good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Grief, Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use

literelli's review against another edition

4.0

lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death