Shelby Van Pelt

For fans of A Man Called Ove, a luminous debut novel about a widow's unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium--and the truths she finally uncovers about her son's disappearance thirty years ago. 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 the Puget Sound over thirty years ago. As she works, 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 tentacles for his human captors--until he forms an unlikely friendship with Tova. Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. As his affection for Tova grows, Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late. Charming, compulsively readable, and full of wit, Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a beautiful exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope--a reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

A Novel

Remarkably Bright Creatures

karina

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

Lynn

Baylea Fancher

“You don’t recover. Not all the way. But you move on. You have to.”

“I miss you. Both of you.” She taps her heart. 

Much of human parlance is nonsense, but perhaps most ludicrous among the rubbish they spew is their tendency to glorify their own foolishness. By this, I mean absurd statements such as: What he doesn't know won't hurt him! Or, worse: Ignorance is bliss!

Here, in the kingdom of animals, ignorance is dangerous. The poor herring dropped into the tank lacks any awareness of the shark lurking below. Ask the herring whether what he doesn't know can hurt him.

I am not like you and Mary Ann and Barbara. I don’t have children who will come stay with me when I've had a fall. I don’t have grandchildren who will stop by to unclog my drain or make sure I’m taking my pills. And I won't put that burden on my friends and neighbors.

"There's your problem," says Janice softly. "Assuming it’s a burden.”

Zachary Roberts

Once your soul was soaked though with grief, any more simply ran off, overflowed, the way maple syrup on Saturday-morning pancakes always cascaded onto the table whenever Erik was allowed to pour it himself. 

Remarkably Bright Creatures quotes

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