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A review by archaicrobin
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I really wanted to enjoy this but I had a huge issue with two parts of this book. The plot and Cameron’s entire character.
First I’ll talk about what I did love about this book and that would be Tova and her little circle of friends(including Marcellus the octopus).
Tova is a sweet old woman you instantly love who works as a cleaning lady in an aquarium in order to keep busy in her older years. She’s still grieving the death of her husband and the loss of her son, so doesn’t socialize much. That is until she begins to talk to the octopus on the aquarium Marcellus. Along with these two are the other endearing locals of the town like Ethan the Scottish grocer, Terry the aquarium director, and Avery the paddle shop owner. My favorite parts of this novel were the chapters focused on Tova, Marcellus, and the town. These characters were endearing, relatable, and enjoyable to listen to.
My first issue with this book was the unequal pacing. Once we meet the other perspective Cameroon, we rarely get Tova’s perspective anymore, to the point where I felt like I had to suffer through the Cameron chapters just to get a 3 page break before Cameron again.
Which unfortunately leads me to one of my biggest problems with this book: Cameron. He is a 30 something loser who has no life skills and gets by through manipulating and using his friends’ and family’s pity donations. Cameron is the most insufferable, selfish, immature, character and in my opinion it greatly affected my enjoyment of this book. Cameron does not grow at all in this story, he has the same behaviors he does from the start making him stagnant. While Tova and even Marcellus see growth in their characters, Cameron instead continues to slide by on others efforts. And not only that, but the reader is given these viewpoints of how “he can’t help it” and “he misunderstood, the poor thing” preventing him from ever actually dealing with any consequence. There’s actually quite a few scenes where I felt there were some misogynistic values being pushed. Such as Tova’s comments about men, or Cameron’s behavior being explained away because he’s just a “good guy with a bad hand” and the portrayal of Cameron’s ex-girlfriend being a “bitch” for throwing him out when it was beyond justified. It’s frustrating, maybe the author’s standards for men need to rise I don’t know.
Anyway,
I might be a loner in this, but Cameron’s chapters were TORTURE to listen to. All he does is complain about how his life isn’t fair and everything is done to him, nothing is ever his fault. Obviously, I am not a fan of Cameron and because once he’s introduced he’s a majority of the book, this greatly lowered my rating.
My other issues with Remarkably Bright Creatures was the predictable plot. If I can predict exactly everything that’s going to happen only 20% of the way into the the audiobook, that’s a problem. That is not a mystery, which is one of the genres tagged with this book. And even if I do find the book predictable, if I can still enjoy how we get there I’m ok.
I did not enjoy how we got there.
For everything being so obvious, the secrets took FOREVER to be revealed, so long that by the time it finally happened it had no impact because I saw it chapters ago. The pacing and predictability were the other issues I had with this book because nothing was a surprise and the only things I didn’t predict were honestly just fluff which was cute but also what made the book WAY too long. 11 hours? We could have cut this to 8.
With all that in mind I did enjoy the setting and the feel good vibes as well as the characters I mentioned previously. I did feel the hallmark-like pushiness occurred in the end, like they’re laying on the drama sappy scenes a little too thick for my liking but I know some people like that.
Overall i rated all the elements and a 3 felt right, I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it, I did enjoy it at moments but not many. I’d recommend this to anyone that just wants a sappy hallmark feel good slice of life who doesn’t mind entitled middle aged men as main characters.
First I’ll talk about what I did love about this book and that would be Tova and her little circle of friends(including Marcellus the octopus).
Tova is a sweet old woman you instantly love who works as a cleaning lady in an aquarium in order to keep busy in her older years. She’s still grieving the death of her husband and the loss of her son, so doesn’t socialize much. That is until she begins to talk to the octopus on the aquarium Marcellus. Along with these two are the other endearing locals of the town like Ethan the Scottish grocer, Terry the aquarium director, and Avery the paddle shop owner. My favorite parts of this novel were the chapters focused on Tova, Marcellus, and the town. These characters were endearing, relatable, and enjoyable to listen to.
My first issue with this book was the unequal pacing. Once we meet the other perspective Cameroon, we rarely get Tova’s perspective anymore, to the point where I felt like I had to suffer through the Cameron chapters just to get a 3 page break before Cameron again.
Which unfortunately leads me to one of my biggest problems with this book: Cameron. He is a 30 something loser who has no life skills and gets by through manipulating and using his friends’ and family’s pity donations. Cameron is the most insufferable, selfish, immature, character and in my opinion it greatly affected my enjoyment of this book. Cameron does not grow at all in this story, he has the same behaviors he does from the start making him stagnant. While Tova and even Marcellus see growth in their characters, Cameron instead continues to slide by on others efforts. And not only that, but the reader is given these viewpoints of how “he can’t help it” and “he misunderstood, the poor thing” preventing him from ever actually dealing with any consequence. There’s actually quite a few scenes where I felt there were some misogynistic values being pushed. Such as Tova’s comments about men, or Cameron’s behavior being explained away because he’s just a “good guy with a bad hand” and the portrayal of Cameron’s ex-girlfriend being a “bitch” for throwing him out when it was beyond justified. It’s frustrating, maybe the author’s standards for men need to rise I don’t know.
Anyway,
I might be a loner in this, but Cameron’s chapters were TORTURE to listen to. All he does is complain about how his life isn’t fair and everything is done to him, nothing is ever his fault. Obviously, I am not a fan of Cameron and because once he’s introduced he’s a majority of the book, this greatly lowered my rating.
My other issues with Remarkably Bright Creatures was the predictable plot. If I can predict exactly everything that’s going to happen only 20% of the way into the the audiobook, that’s a problem. That is not a mystery, which is one of the genres tagged with this book. And even if I do find the book predictable, if I can still enjoy how we get there I’m ok.
I did not enjoy how we got there.
For everything being so obvious, the secrets took FOREVER to be revealed, so long that by the time it finally happened it had no impact because I saw it chapters ago. The pacing and predictability were the other issues I had with this book because nothing was a surprise and the only things I didn’t predict were honestly just fluff which was cute but also what made the book WAY too long. 11 hours? We could have cut this to 8.
With all that in mind I did enjoy the setting and the feel good vibes as well as the characters I mentioned previously. I did feel the hallmark-like pushiness occurred in the end, like they’re laying on the drama sappy scenes a little too thick for my liking but I know some people like that.
Overall i rated all the elements and a 3 felt right, I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it, I did enjoy it at moments but not many. I’d recommend this to anyone that just wants a sappy hallmark feel good slice of life who doesn’t mind entitled middle aged men as main characters.