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Remarkably Bright Creatures Book Cover

By: Shelby Van Pelt

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Dev O.

Selected By

Dev O.

Number
Book 35
Book Rating
★3.3/5 Stars
Month Read
August 2023

Summary

Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing 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.

Highlights

Humans. For the most part, you are dull and blundering. But occasionally, you can be remarkably bright creatures.

, Shelby Van Pelt

Why can humans not use their millions of words to simply tell one another what they desire?

, Shelby Van Pelt

Secrets are everywhere. Some humans are crammed full of them. How do they not explode? It seems to be a hallmark of the human species: abysmal communication skills.

, Shelby Van Pelt

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