Name: Katharine kollman's review of Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Item: Remarkably Bright Creatures
Rating: 5
Author: Katharine kollman

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

Lynn

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

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

Beautiful original wholesome, it teases you along and gives you plenty pull your hair out moments, many a good cry. I love the ocean and stories that are built ocean-adjacent 

Katharine kollman

Aimee Ardonne

Caroline

I have finally found my new favourite...


Knowing I'm kinda late to the party & having finally read it, I can now say this book was something & I'm glad I read it.

What a beautiful, heart warming story. The writing so easy and beautiful. The plot lovely and felt like a warm hug so much too the extent that u wish u were part of their journey. The characters are so lovable. From the Gaint Pacific Octopus Marcellus🐙 with his POV on us human and his intelligence. Only though, I wish there was more of him to Tova, an old yet rough & rock hard women dealing with the ghost of her past. And then there was Cameron who I kind of fell in love with.😍 Loved his mind talking and witty yet sarcastic mannerism but just without whom this story would lack lustre. 🐙

For her debut novel, author Shelby Van Pelt have totally done a fabulous job and I would total recommend this book to everyone put there... Would love to see this book made into a movie.🐙

An uneventful walk down the middle of the road.

Paige LeBook

neri

I started this book out of wonder; the synopsis got my attention from the moment I started reading it and all topics it said it included were basically what I enjoyed to read the most in a book altogether. And oh, this book for me was genuinely lovely. Soft, mundane, intricate. 

Words are hard, and I don't think I'm good writing little reviews, but this was a delight to read; a very beautiful book. From the characters - intricate and bright humans and sea creatures - to the story and the topics; it was lovely. I enjoyed Tova and Ethan's characters the most - next to Marcellus, of course.

The dialogue and pace to me was perfect. It wasn't too slow or too fast, it was calm and, again, lovely. I truly enjoyed how the hard topics came into it, and how said topics were handled; I really loved how grief was talked about, and so the love and friendships and community, even with other creatures. This was also so mundane, it was - again - lovely!

I do have to say I was a bit unsure about it since I don't really like aquariums per se. But the fact that this was, in a way, also talked about in the novel by their characters was good. Considering too the creatures were rescued. 

I really loved when I got to read Marcellus' point of view. And in general; each point of view was so well done to the point it never felt out of place or distant regarding the character, which is something that happens sometimes when writing stuff like this.

Remarkably Bright Creatures made me smile a lot, it was also a fun book in its own way, also full of love. And I also loved the fact that the main character was older than what you usually read. It was like fresh air in general, incredible to read; like a cozy book.

I am simply content with this, and very happy that this was even more that what I was expecting. I enjoyed every second of it, and I truly needed to read something like it. I really hope I get to read something new by Shelby Van Pelt in the future because I fell in love with her style and storytelling, but until then, and even after, will not stop recommending this book, especially if you love mundane things!

Rodrigo Figueiredo Severino

Really predictable but really feel good and it did have a good twist regarding Avery and the person she saved years ago.
Just a very sweet story. Could have used some more Marcellus tho felt like he kinda vanished in the middle of the book.

So sweet! I really liked how the Van Pelt introduced all of the characters separately, so it felt like a mystery figuring out how they all fit together. The characters were well written and complex. He fixed her Dala Horse😭

Liz Hunsaker

Luke

I only give five stars for the very best  books (in my opinion), and this is one of them. I absolutely loved this book and will never forget it, it made me cry several times with how sweet and smart it is. I’ll never forget the wonderful characters, especially Marcellus and Tova. Five stars 💙🐙💙

Jane Bucher-McCoy

Jennifer Fail 

oh sweet marcellus 🤍🐙🤧 this book took me by surprise! i fell in love with the characters and loved their stories. i was crying happy, fat tears at the end 😮‍💨🥹 i recommend!

Julie Rubens

This was such a fun and sweet and heartwarming book, I loved it.

Both Tova and Marcellus have really lovely stories and their inner monologues are very interesting. Cameron is really hard to care for, I think the book would work better without him. 30 years old and a hot and angry mess.

The book is very melancholy, and has a sense of desperation throughout. Not always in a hopeful way, but more in a way of not being able to find enough solutions.

Tova having Swedish roots seems very misplaced and doesn’t feel authentic.

Also really makes you think about the ethics of keeping fish / sea life in an aquarium.

Michael Urie is a fantastic narrator and really brings Marcellus’ thoughts alive.

All in all an interesting read but not something I would reread.

Suzanne

Michael Urie (Narrator), Marin Ireland (Narrator)

We follows three characters

Tova, a 70 year old who lost her son and her husband and works as a cleaner in an aquarium. Tova was born in Sweden but moved to the US when she was young.

Marcellus a huge octopus who lives in the aquarium.

Cameron, just dumped by his girlfriend and tries to find his father (who he never met).

Both Tova and Marcellus have really lovely stories and their inner monologues are very interesting. Cameron is really hard to care for, I think the book would work better without him. 30 years old and a hot and angry mess.

The book is very melancholy, and has a sense of desperation throughout. Not always in a hopeful way, but more in a way of not being able to find enough solutions.

Tova having Swedish roots seems very misplaced and doesn’t feel authentic.

Also really makes you think about the ethics of keeping fish / sea life in an aquarium.

Michael Urie is a fantastic narrator and really brings Marcellus’ thoughts alive.

All in all an interesting read but not something I would reread.

Alice S 

A really sweet story about family. At times a bit cheesy but always brought back by Marcellus’s narrative, a ‘remarkably bright creature’ you can’t help but love. 

Jacqui Spears

allison chen

why did it take me over a month to finish this... 
i did not have a clue what this book would be about when i first picked it up but now i'm just glad that i gave it a go! honestly the pacing of the story was the reason why i could pick it back up and have no problem continuing without confusion. the setting was mundane and grief is never an easy topic to read about, but it was very wholesome and a little bit magical. 
happy first semester of uni!

2.5⭐️ rounded up. 

An enjoyable read with a warmth to it that I found refreshing. 

Marcellus (an octopus) was my favorite character in the book, and I found the scenes written from his POV endearing. The scenes in which he interacted with Tova were heartwarming and the book had a unique charm to it. 

I did feel there were several characters who didn’t really add anything to the story and when we were learning about them, it felt as if nothing was happening to move the story along.
 
Overall, I liked the book well enough, but didn’t love the whole of it.

Erin Darlyn

Francesca Starecheski

I have always thought of life as beauty, and death were its end. But life and death are one and the same, and the beauty is unending. Thank you for your wisdom, Marcellus the great Pacific octopus.

Cody Degen

Victoria 

I absolutely LOVED this audiobook! The story is heartwarming

I am a sucker for unique characters (pun intended)! 

Jessica Kovalick

milly

I adored this I honestly love all the characters

indri

i.. don't know where to start. it has everything i want in a book and even more.

there are so many things i love about this book but i really want to highlight how good the writing is. it's like each sentence, each conversation, each thought are there to show more about the characters, making it easy for us to be fully immersed in their story - tova, who's never fully healing from the grief of losing her son. cameron, who's always blaming the world for his own shortcomings and is constantly hanging on that sliver of hope that things will get better somehow. and other characters with their own flaws, but still remarkably wonderful in the end..

anyway, this was such a wonderful read. i was curious because it had such high reviews here on goodreads, and i found out that its totally deserves all these good ratings. a total 5/5.

Hannah Lee

Wonderful. Marcellus is an eight-legged Frasier Crane. 

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

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Join the club

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt