Remarkably Bright Creatures published in May of 2022, is the debut novel of Author Shelby Van Pelt. The book has sold nearly 1.4 million copies worldwide and has been featured on the New York Times bestseller list as well as numerous online book club publications. However, these statistics are the least impressive aspect of this remarkably warm and human story, which happens to be told partly from the perspective of an octopus.
Remarkably Bright Creatures follows three main characters, the first being Tova Sullivan, a 70 year old woman living in the small town of Sowell Bay, Washington state. Despite her age, and the urging of her friends to finally retire, she still works nightly as a janitor at the local aquarium. Thirty years prior to the story her only son, Erik, disappeared off the coast in a boating accident, never to be seen again. So Tova cleans, if only as a way to pass the time and escape her grief.
There in the aquarium lives our second, and most unique narrator, Marcellus. Marcellus isn’t any old human employee, he’s a Giant Pacific Octopus who lives in the central tank of the aquarium. Marcellus is incredibly intelligent and has a penchant for escaping from his tank to snack on the other sea creatures when nobody is around. Sadly, Marcellus knows (thanks to the placard outside his tank) that his species only lives around 4 years, which is 1,461 days. His first narrated chapter begins on day 1,299 of his life, a fact that Marcellus is very aware of.
Our third and final character is Cameron, abandoned at a young age by his deadbeat mom at the age of 9 and left to live with his slightly crazy aunt. Now at 30 years old he’s attempting to find his father, an adventure that will lead him to the small town of Sowell bay.
After that introduction to our main cast you might be thinking that this book is incredibly depressing, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. One thing that I realized from the first dozen or so pages is how warm the book is. The characters are so realistic that you’ll feel like you’re saying goodbye to old friends by the time you finish reading the last page. Even though these characters have all experienced their own personal losses and tragedies, this book focuses less on those events and more about how the characters overcome their circumstances, and eventually find happiness despite those tragedies.
My favorite aspect of this book is Marcellus and Tova’s relationship. The two originally meet during one of Marcellus’s midnight rendezvous to the break room; he ends up getting tangled in some loose power cords. Tova, stumbling in on this strange scene helps him get untangled and back to his tank. This is the moment that cements their bond. While they can’t verbally communicate, Marcellus finds ways to help Tova understand him and she continuously shows care and respect for Marcellus and helps keep his escapes a secret. Through their interactions Marcellus eventually realizes that he holds some very important information in regards to Tova’s son’s disappearance, and has to figure out a way to help Tova connect the dots.
I’m not the only one who loved this book though. Mrs. Brennan, our graduation coach, shared her thoughts after reading. “I was engrossed in the story. The characters were so easy to connect to. Because you felt like you understood both their struggles and their accomplishments; you just felt so incredibly tied to them. To me, you’re connected right away in this novel.” She later shared her thoughts on the more unique perspectives the book writes from. “It made it so much more interesting. It gave it depth and it kind of allowed you to give human form to creatures that we just think are just floating around in the depths of the ocean… I love that it humbles us in a way that maybe we’re not as smart as we think we are. And that just because we can’t hear their thoughts, and just because we don’t know how their minds work, doesn’t mean that they’re less intellectual than we are. I just loved how that was explored in this novel.”
In conclusion, Remarkably Bright Creatures is one of the most honest and human novels I have ever had the pleasure of reading. From its hilariously snarky commentary, to the beautiful depiction of living life after tragedy this book has everything you need for an amazing read. I highly recommend anyone read this novel, and I’m very excited to follow Shelby Van Pelt’s future career.
