Remarkably Bright Creatures

Cute, “family movie” vibe with the added gimmick of an octopus and his internal monologue. It's in the same vein as A Man Called Ove, featuring an older person who has been through some tragedy and gets the chance to connect with new people. (Hey, octopuses are people too!)

I wish she had pushed the light comedy a bit further and made it funnier. There was potential, but most of the characters were humorless. Van Pelt kept very specific characterizations. Cameron: resentful, Tova: practical, Ethan: generous, Knit-Wits: meddlesome, Avery: spirited. There wasn't much complexity.

Other reviewers mentioned disliking Cameron, and I get it. He's insufferable to the point where I didn't want to see things work out for him. The author must have thought readers would be on his side if she kept serving him bad luck. Sometimes it's more about how the character handles setbacks than the setbacks themselves.

Despite all the backstory of death, child abandonment, and other heartbreak, it's uncomplicated and light-hearted if you're in that type of mood. It was entertaining for the time I spent reading it.

Peaceful, straightforward read about elderly no-nonsense Swede, Tova, coming to terms with grief and learning personal growth amid a tumult of coincidences and magical realism that bring people together.

Tova is very well-written, fleshed out character, and I wanted to see more of our gruff Scotsman, Ethan, with a heart of gold. Cameron came across as a little flat, and his penchant for not listening to people until they're done with their sentences conveniently added ~40 pages to the end of the book.

Also, I missed why Cameron didn't send a follow-up text to Avery after talking to Marco because it's not like Marco liked Cameron to begin with enough to do him a favor. The octopus duex ex machina could've been edited out of the book all-together and the ending would have still been the same.

This is a lovely book in a beautiful setting in Washington State, but the languid pacing and octopus shoe-horned in pulled me out of Tova, Ethan, and Cameron's story.

This was such a fabulous and utterly joyful read!

It was really well written and had a wonderful cast of characters. I really loved Tova and Marcellus.

I loved how the relationship between Tova and Marcellus evolved as the story went on.

Thank you to PH and Shelby Van Pelt for the chance to read this book.

I'm so so sorry........ I do not think this book is well written. The last 30 pages made me want to add a star but I think it's also because I took a break before reading those final 30 pages and I forgot how I felt before. 1 star for Marcellus and 1 star for Tova, but beyond that I fear I thought the writing was bad, many of the situations were very contrived, and Cameron fuckin sucks so much as a character

I loved this book so much. The characters were extremely endearing. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 is because I wouldn't recommend it to EVERYONE, as there is some willing suspension of disbelief that needs to come with reading it. Reminded me of a cross between Soul of an Octopus and the Art of Racing in the Rain.

Yet ANOTHER NYTIMES Bestseller deserving of all the hype. Is my faith in this country's readership returning? Who could not love Marcellus the giant pacific octopus? Oh what a clever story, so original, such a slice of joy, but with a side of sadness. It's hard not to ache for Tovah and then desperately root for her happy ending. This book is tremendously satisfying. Plus such a gorgeous cover- also a work of art- like the story within. Highly recommend.

Read for the work book club of April!

A nice discovery with a strange start. I loved how each chapters changed the point of view to one of the characters while moving the story forward. Also loved how the octopus saw the world from his limited window and its observations about our human behavior. In the end it was a very beautiful story with touching characters and I must admit I cried a bit in the end even if I knew (partially) what was coming.

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.

I really enjoyed this story and wished it was longer! An octopus communicating in its own way with Tova, the cleaner, making her see what was right under her nose! The way Marcellus would escape and go walk about out of his tank after hours was priceless. I look forward to more books from this author!

What a wonderful read about loss and discovery! Of course, you have to suspend belief a little to entertain an octopus and a human being able to communicate on some level. Marcellas is, however, an incredibly bright octopus who is very in tune with Tova and has thoughts like “But I do not like the hole in her heart. She only has one, not three, like me. Tova's heart. I will do everything I can to help her fill it.” . . . and he does. Highly recommend! 5 Stars for me ;-)

this was kind of a pain to get through for me. i read this as a part of a book club but would not see me picking this up on my own

in the author's notes, Shelby Van Pelt talks about how the literary device of the octopus came from a creative writing prompt to write from an unusual perspective and i felt like this novel never really expanded from that. the octopus feels like a bit of a gimmick and rarely has any presence throughout the book. the short chapters (if you can call them that) of the octopus are the most interesting parts of the novel as they give an interesting omniscient view of what the characters are going through but his thoughts rarely expand on the plot meaningfully and are also disappointingly infrequent

the overall plot is so unbelievably predictable that it makes the latter chapters a huge slog to get through. i was expecting some sort of crazy surprise in the end since it felt like the plot beats were a bit too obvious to predict but the ending is super disappointing. it sweeps by too quickly and there's no surprising reveal that happens

the worst part for me is the character cameron. he is completely insufferable and genuinely has 0 redeemable qualities. i'm told that he's "actually smart" but he does nothing but make idiotic decisions all day. i have absolutely no sympathy for this guy even though he's built up as the "down on his dumps" character

would not recommend this one. it's just slightly too long to be a quick read and overall just not very interesting. can't see what anyone could get out of this one but i won't yuck your yum if you enjoyed it

This was a delightful, cozy little read. The characters were warm and well-rounded, and seeing them deal with the complexities of their lives was rewarding.

We needed more Marcellus, though! He's presented as a major character and an interesting perspective in the early part of the book, and then mostly disappears in the third act. I think it would have improved the narrative to see more of it from the octopus's eyes.

I had such high hopes. Maybe if I was thirty or forty years younger I would've loved it, but as a way-over-thirty adult I found it insipid, principally because there was no life. No connection between the characters, no chemistry other than what was deemed necessary for the narrative. (Edit: okay, one, the friendship between Elizabeth and loser-boy felt real. But that was a minor part). All throughout the book, characters meet and develop bonds for no discernible reason whatsoever. Real people just don't behave like that; it just made me think the author must be terribly young.

Marcellus the octopus was the most interesting character, of course. But... wtf was his angle? He was depicted as a storyteller, with himself as narrator, conversational in tone, but who is his audience? The author seemed to be trying to crack the fourth wall, but I didn't find it effective. The frequent “but what about this, you ask?” interjections didn't help; I also felt disappointed that there were fewer and fewer Marcellus chapters as the book went on.

Lots of promise unfulfilled. There could've been a really great relationship between Tova and Marcellus, but it was totally flat. There could've been interesting dynamics between the humans, but nope, just people being shoehorned into liking or disliking each other. So sad. Feel free to skip this one.

4,5⭐

A marvellous tale of dealing with change, connection between living creatures and pushing through hard times with a very special protagonist.

First of all. An octopus as one of the main characters AND chapters from his POV? I was so excited when I read the first one from Marcellus's point of view in first person. I love this book just for that concept and giving Marcellus an actual voice of his own.

The characters were nicely fleshed out and diverse, at least considering ages and lifepaths. I apprecited all of them, I liked reading the stories of older people like Tove and Ethan,but I especially Aunt Jeanne, the sailor-mouthed old lady still getting some and I wish we would've seen more of her.

The plot was nicely balanced between the mystery and the inner workings and struggles of Tove and Cameron especially.

I read this in one day and I recommend it wholeheartedly. Dive deep into the story if you happen to swim across it :)

i wish i had an octopus for a therapist

ok it all seriousness, i loved this book so much. yeah okay sure i only picked it up for the octopus on it and for the word aquarium being used. but oh my god. i didn't realize how much i was gonna love this. normally i'm reading some weird mystery book or something niche on a different corner of the literary spectrum, not some story about an old lady and her legacy. but oh my GOD. i'm so glad i picked this up. when, not if, WHEN you read this book, PLEASE LISTEN TO IT!!! the narrator for marcellus is absolutely perfect. i love it so so so much. content ahead may be spoilery so warning you now:
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i saw some reviews where ppl were hating on cameron so much bc he's like a manbaby or something. by the end of the book, i started to really feel for him. he gives big neurodivergent vibes, which that phrase in itself makes me vomit in my mouth but that's really the only way i can put it. full of random information, smart as a fucking tack, yet has a hard job with relationships, socialising, getting the right tone/point across, keeping a job, you name it. hmm.......idk seems kinda adhd/autistic to me but whatevs.

i wish we got to learn more about daphne. will cameron ever find out that the lady avery saved was daphne? will he ever find daphne himself? will tova and ethan ever get together finally??? the world may never know...

My feelings towards this book are complicated. I struggled through the first 100 pages. I didn't care enough about the characters and I kept setting the book down. Once I started to care about them though, all of my feelings towards the book changed. I think I cried like 6 times in the last 50 pages. Marcellus was the puppiest. I loved him and Tova and Ethan. When it switches around and he calls Tova and Cameron “remarkably bright creatures, “ I lost it. I did feel a little annoyed every time Marcellus' arms were called tentacles. I feel like that is the fact that is most commonly told at aquariums that house octopuses. Regardless of the slow start and inaccurate octopus knowledge, this book is still one of my favorites for this year.