tigertheory 's review for:

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

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.