Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt – A Book Review

My first book of February is my book club book Remarkably Bright Creatures by Selby Van Pelt. (affiliate link)

The Blurb

After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night cleaner shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Ever since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat over thirty years ago keeping busy has helped her cope. One night she meets Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium who sees everything, but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors – until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late…

My review of Remarkably Bright Creatures.

This book is like a warm hug. It’s hard to stop reading, it’s predictable, not extremely exciting, or thrilling, there are no murders to solve, no time travelling or any of the other things I usually read books for.

It’s just really well written and it keeps you turning the pages because you know what you want for these characters.

There is Tova, a grieving widow and mother that lost her teenage son. She is getting old but still enjoys her job of cleaning the local aquarium. She has her friends, the Knit Wits, and the guy in the supermarket seems sweet on her, but she is sad and misses her loved ones.

There is Cameron, abandoned by both his parents and brought up by his aunt. He is a clever man but seems hell bent on destroying everything, he can’t stick with a job or a girlfriend. He decided he needs to find his father, who probably doesn’t know he exists.

Then there is Marcellus, the octopus, who also tells his story. He’s a clever octopus and knows that his days are numbered (literally.) I like octopuses (not as much as my daughter who is a big fan of Tako Yaki..but I don’t like to eat them!) There is a guy on Youtube, Mark Tober who has some videos of very clever octopuses. So, if you read this this and you think it’s a bit far fetched what Marcellus gets up to, then it will make you think again.

Octopuses are remarkably bright creatures.

Saying all of that, when I usually read a book I’m thinking mmm I wonder what happened. With this one is more like those films you watch when you are screaming at the tv, can’t you see what’s in front of you!! It doesn’t detract from the story though.

This is really not the type of book that I would normally read but I’ve wanted to read it since reading Sarah’s review so it’s been on my TBR pile for a while. I might add that to my Reading Challenge 2025

What are you reading? Have you read Remarkably Bright Creatures? Do you like Octopuses? (Mark Tober told me that they are like aliens, they have as much intelligence as a lot of mammals but they are not mammals. It just doesn’t figure! )

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