A New York Times Bestseller!
A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!
"Remarkably Bright Creatures is a beautiful examination of how loneliness can be transformed, cracked open, with the slightest touch from another living thing." — Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Here
For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus
After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine 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 invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.
Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.
A New York Times Bestseller!
A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!
"Remarkably Bright Creatures is a beautiful examination of how loneliness can be transformed, cracked open, with the slightest touch from another living thing." — Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Here
For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus
After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine 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 invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.
Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.
Critiques-
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March 7, 2022
A cross-species friendship helps solve a pair of decades-old mysteries in Pelt’s whimsical if far-fetched debut. After Tova Sullivan’s husband dies, she takes a night job as janitor at an aquarium, where she enjoys talking to the sea creatures. She’s particularly fond of Marcellus, a giant octopus who shies away from most human attention. But when Tova finds Marcellus out of his tank and helps him back to safety, he becomes fond of her. Meanwhile, Cameron Cassmore comes to town looking for his long-lost father and joins Tova on the night shift, disrupting her routine. However, the two soon realize that Cameron’s mother, who disappeared after leaving him with an aunt when he was nine, and Tova’s son, who died after falling off a boat decades earlier, might have known each other. Marcellus, who lived in the sea before his capture, is the only creature who knows for sure. Pelt imbues Tova, Cameron, and Marcellus with pathos, but her abrupt cycling between their perspectives can be disorienting, and her no-frills prose is ill-suited for the anthropomorphic conceit at the story’s core. While the premise intrigues, this fantastical take on human-animal connection requires a bit too much suspended disbelief. Agent: Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency. -
This fantastical debut audiobook will enchant listeners. Gifted vocal artist Marin Ireland portrays Tova, a 70-year-old widow with a heart of gold whose teenage son died under mysterious circumstances 30 years earlier. Ireland's encouraging tones suit Tova, whose compassion touches everyone, and every creature, in her small Washington town. After she injures herself at her job at the aquarium, Tova meets her temporary replacement, Cameron, a 30-something recently transplanted Californian. Cameron is searching for the father he never knew, and Ireland poignantly expresses his longing for community. Their quests are aided by Tova's unlikely "friendship" with the formidable Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus whose acerbic wit and shrewd observations are wonderfully captured by Michael Urie. A fanciful and enjoyable listening experience. M.J. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
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June 1, 2022
Anyone who remembers the "Sad Cat Diaries" videos from Ze Frank will instantly love Michael Urie's performance of Marcellus the octopus in Van Pelt's debut novel. The octopus's recounted "days of captivity" and his observations of the human characters are pompous yet lovable, and he is as sardonic as he is intelligent. The novel's other point-of-view characters are Tova and Cameron, two searching souls voiced by Marin Ireland, who does an excellent job with each. The link between these two characters is easier for listeners to decode than it is for most of the characters in the novel, but this is not a book that focuses on surprises or even the pair of family mysteries at the center of the story. Rather, this is a kind narrative about misunderstood people learning that they fit into the world just as they are--once they discover where they need to be. Things never get too saccharine because there is enough humor--much of it coming from Marcellus--to balance the emotional story. VERDICT Listeners will be tempted to seek out the nearest octopus and have what only appears to be a one-sided conversation.--Matthew Galloway
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
