Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Read by Marin Ireland and Micheal Urie

11 hours 16 minutes

Published May 2022 by HarperCollins

Publisher's Summary: 

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. 

My Thoughts: 

Another in the line of stories featuring older women, this one's been on my TBR since it came out three years ago. I finally got around to requesting it from the library and requested it in print and audio, figuring I'd go with whichever became available first. 

And then Shelby Van Pelt came to town (well, not MY town, but Council Bluffs, which is right across the river) so I bought a copy of the book and had it signed. Three days later, the audiobook became available. I had thought I'd make it a read/listen combination, but I was enjoying the reading so much that I just "read" the whole book that way. You can never go wrong with Marin Ireland and Micheal Urie did a wonderful job. 

If you ever get the chance to hear Shelby Van Pelt speak, I highly recommend it. The story of how she came to be a writer and how she came to write this particular book is so interesting. She is funny, and warm, and signed books and took pictures for easily an hour after she was done with the scheduled speaking. 

As for the book, it was, for me, one of those "right book, right time" reads. I would have been happy if no one else appeared in the book except Tova and Marcellus (who is such a fun character); but, of course, it would be hard to craft a book entirely around only two characters, especially when one of them can't speak. Tova is lonely, despite having a tight circle of friends, since her husband died. Erik was their only child, and as she gets older, it's becoming more and more apparent to her that there is no one who will care for her when her home gets to be too much for her. But Tova is not as alone as she thinks she is and she'll soon find that there is a lot left for her to look forward to in her life. 

I don't want to give too much away, other than to tell you that there are characters who aren't even mentioned in the summary who come to be very important to Tova. And while the story line is sweet and bittersweet, it's the characters in this one that really make this a book worth reading.