Remarkably Bright Creatures

The Charming, Witty, and Compulsively Readable BBC Radio Two Book Club Pick

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Shelby Van Pelt: Remarkably Bright Creatures (2022, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc)

English language

Published July 10, 2022 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

ISBN:
978-1-5266-4966-9
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3 stars (2 reviews)

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...

6 editions

Nicely written easy read, unfulfilling plot

3 stars

If you want a sense of the depth of this book, it's basically a re-imagined for adults version of Adam Sandler's "Leo" kids movie. Not sure which actually came first, but either way, neither is particularly deep and both involve lots of Deus ex Machina moments.

I got some chuckles out if it along the way, but the characters don't face any complex challenges or grow in any interesting ways other than to magically shed their flaws.

The solid writing makes it a nice casual read when there's nothing else to do?

Subjects

  • American literature