Remarkably Bright Creatures: 'That Octopus Book', the major bestseller coming to Netflix soon - Cover May Vary

A witty and light-hearted read that I couldn’t put down. The writing is easy to follow, yet full of warmth and charm. At its heart, it’s a story of fate—of paths crossing in unexpected ways—that keeps you guessing while reminding you just how small the universe can feel. An uplifting, joyful book that leaves you smiling long after the last page.

I had high hopes for 'Remarkably Bright Creatures' as I have been learning about octopuses and am quite in awe of them. It seemed then completely wonderful to find a book with an octopus as the central character, but this book isn't quite that. Marcellus the octopus is the character that I am left with a lasting impression of and I am so glad that I met him in this book. He is fascinating, funny, wise, and magical and the book is worth reading just for the role he plays. Several of the other characters are also likeable and tenderly drawn. This is a sometimes funny, sometimes moving, sometimes annoying, and sometimes faintly tedious book and I found myself forcing my way through the middle section. There was enough to keep me reading, but only just. It is worth persevering for the ending though and, of course, for Marcellus. If you love octopuses you will be glad that you read this.

This book was such a lovely experience, a joy to read and listen to. At its heart lies the theme of relationships. We meet Tova Sullivan, who has endured the loss of her husband and the mysterious disappearance of her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, over thirty years ago. Tova takes a job cleaning an aquarium at night, where she befriends an octopus named Marcellus. As they spend time together, Marcellus narrates parts of the story, revealing fascinating details about their lives. He is incredibly clever and able to sense Tova’s footsteps and pick up on her emotions. Surprisingly, Marcellus possesses the ability to uncover hidden truths. Tova becomes a trusted confidant to him, and he makes it his mission to help her answer some pressing questions. I won’t spoil the plot, but let’s just say Marcellus is a remarkably bright and intelligent creature. I simply fell in love with him.

I wish I could refind and reread as a new reader. I loved this book so much, I got fully evolved with each character and had such great pictures in my mind of sowel Bay and the aquarium. Loved every minute and will be watching for the next book by you Shelby! A great story with 3 amazing main characters along with a handful of other great characters. A little bit of real life and a little bit of love, just enthralling!! Loved it and getting a copy for friends and family because no one is borrowing mine!!!

This book was quite an entertaining read and it was worth picking up and indeed finishing, but I would have to say that it didn't live up to the advertising hype that probably drew me to it. In all honesty, few of the books I've read actually merit the exclamations as to how wonderful they are by the blurb that advertisers use to promote their books, which has the effect of making me take these with a pinch of salt. However, that is another story but this story was good and certainly had a feelgood factor about it. Of course, reading a book like this requires you to suspend reality somewhat but nevertheless there was a good story with some well written characters and some folks would love it and some others perhaps not so much. I was sort of middling about it but I come down on the side of it being worth a read.

So first things first, the blurb is misleading. After reading it I thought that it would be a book about an octopus detective, finding out how the son was murdered and then working out how to communicate that to Tova. It is not. What this is is a book about family and what not having one is like. It's also about growing older. Tova is, in her eyes, approaching the end, in a house that's emptier and colder every day, with no one to look after her. Meanwhile Marcellus is reaching the end of his life, Giant Pacific Octopi only living for four years and the book treats that like a countdown. The two bond and that bond is one of the best things about this book. Watching Marcellus trying to work out how to communicate with Tova is great. Unfortunately what he couldn't have accounted for is humanity's stubborn disregard for what's in front of them. So what mystery there was was solved about halfway through the book and then everyone just continued on as if it hadn't been. So if you're looking for a mystery book this isn't it. It also doesn't have as much octopus as you might expect. The bits from Marcellus' perspective were fun but also a little few and far between. It's mostly focused on Tova, her circle of acquaintances and Cameron, who's life got to a point that going to a random Washington town on a whim was a good idea. It's all very sweet and a lovely look at a community. It was an engaging read and I loved how everything evolved. It was definitely worth the read. It just wasn't a mystery story like I thought it was.

What a wonderful surprise this was! I thought Remarkably Bright Creatures was a story about a woman and an octopus, but it turned out to be so much more than that. This is Shelby Van Pelt’s first book, and I don’t think a debut has affected me like this since I read Hollow Kingdom, another story that unfolds through the eyes of an animal. The story has a bit of magical realism to it, in the sense that parts of it are told from the octopus’s point of view, but otherwise it’s simply a delightful tale about family and connections that had me ugly crying by the end of the book. In the first chapter we meet Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus on display in the Sowell Bay Aquarium near Puget Sound. Marcellus has been in captivity for 1,299 days, and based on his life expectancy of about four years, he believes he only has a handful of days left to live. His dreary days in a small glass enclosure are broken up by secret nighttime excursions, as Marcellus is extremely smart and has found a way out of his tank. Tova Sullivan is a seventy-year-old woman who has been working nights at the aquarium as a cleaning lady for the past two years. Tova knows how to remove the hundreds of fingerprints on the tank walls and can polish the floors to a brilliant shine. She’s also quite fond of the sea creatures she encounters each night, especially Marcellus, and the two have formed an unusual bond since Tova saved Marcellus one night after he escaped and became entangled in a bunch of electrical cords. Next, we meet Cameron Cassmore, a thirty-year-old man who is drifting through life with no real purpose. Cameron lives in California, and one day his aunt gives him a box of his estranged mother’s things. Inside the box he finds a photo and an old class ring, clues that could lead to the identity of his father, a man he never knew. Cameron hops on a plane to Washington state, convinced the man he thinks is his father—a rich real estate tycoon—will be so distraught over abandoning his son, he’ll shower Cam with money. At least that’s the plan. Finally, Ethan Mack is the owner of Sowell Bay’s Shop-Way, the local grocery store. Ethan has known Tova for years and secretly has a crush on her, but Tova is much too distant to notice his interest. When Cameron shows up at the Shop-Way looking for a job, Ethan directs him to his friend who manages the aquarium, which is how Cameron and Tova meet. Tying all these characters together is Marcellus, a remarkably bright octopus with a penchant for stealing and hoarding the treasures he finds after hours on the aquarium floor, and who just might be able to bring two people together who need each other—but don’t yet realize it. Van Pelt’s chapters alternate among all these characters and introduce a slew of side characters as well, each one vitally important to the story. At first, we don’t realize how each character is connected to the next, but slowly the author reveals her secrets until the stunned reader begins to understand the depth of these connections. Each character is given a detailed backstory that becomes very important to the plot. Tova’s story in particular was heart wrenching, as she has experienced quite a bit of loss in her life and finds herself mostly alone in her twilight years. Luckily she belongs to a group of women who call themselves the Knit-Wits, and the four of them meet weekly to eat, drink, gossip and support each other. Tova came to America from Sweden as a little girl, so the story is filled with details about growing up with her Swedish mother and father. Even the Dala horses her mother collected play a part in the story, and I found these little details added so much richness. At first I couldn’t figure out how Cameron fit it, but once he arrives in Sowell Bay and meets Ethan and Tova, his story takes on new meaning. Cameron meets a woman named Avery who also plays a vital part in filling in some of the missing pieces about Cameron’s father, and I loved the way the author gave even the most insignificant side characters meaning and purpose. Van Pelt infuses her story with so many emotional moments and themes. We see how the Knit-Wits are going through the aging process, as their numbers have dwindled over the last few years. Tova is facing being alone in her old age, with no children or husband to take care of her, and so she makes the rash decision to sell her beloved house and move into a retirement community. I don’t want to give too many details about Tova’s past and her losses, because I think it’s better to discover those revelations for yourself. Let’s just say that I felt Tova’s pain and wanted nothing more than for her to be happy. And Van Pelt includes so many funny moments in her story that kept the tone light, despite some of the more heavy themes. There’s an ongoing bit about Cameron’s lost luggage that was hysterically funny, and Tova inherits a stray cat at one point, which was a delightful side plot. I also loved the story about the t-shirt that Tova uses to clean Ethan’s kitchen—you’ll just have to read the book so you can experience the hilarity too! And of course, I can’t forget the star of the story, Marcellus the octopus. As the days tick by—each of his chapters starts with a marker (“Day 1,299 of my captivity”, etc)---the tension builds as Marcellus gets closer to his impending death (at least that’s what he thinks). Marcellus understands human nature more than most humans, and I loved the way he wisely intuits each character’s needs. Ultimately, this is a story about creatures—both human and animal—saving each other. The way Marcellus’s story plays out was absolutely perfect—heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. This is a very special book, and I’m so glad I was able to finally read it. Highly recommended!

At first glance, with the title and cover, I expected the octopus to take center stage in the story—but it turned out to be more of a family-searching journey, which was a lovely surprise. That said, the octopus adds just the right spice to the story, offering a unique perspective on the human world. Personally, this book reminded me of my grandfather, who was adopted as a baby and spent years searching for his original family. It gave me a deeper understanding of why people feel such a strong desire to know their roots.

This story is about love and loss and just getting on with it. In 2024, I bought and read 70 books for my Kindle, and this was my favourite among them all. Tova Sullivan is a 70-something widow living alone in her beloved house. Her only child, Erik, died in a tragic boating accident when he was only eighteen, some thirty years before. Tova never saw dirt that she didn't automatically and thoroughly clean up immediately. So after her husband, Will, died, she accepted a job at the aquarium cleaning it after closing for the day. There she meet, Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus, who has been held in captivity since he was a juvenile. And as the sign on his display area says: His life span is four years, which is 1460 days, and Marcellus is counting down every one of them. To me, these are the two main characters of the book, but there are many more whom you will meet while reading this fascinating story. I will be thinking about the two main characters for a very long time and never want to forget them. As I said, this is my favourite book of 2024, and I plead with the author, Shelby Van Pelt to write another one soon. Such imagination and such immense talent.

This was magical. It did take me over 100 pages to understand who all these people were and what they were to the story, but it was worth it in the end. Marcellus, you beauty.

I bought this for my kindle because it mentioned cephalopods, and I have a love affair going with this remarkable animals. But I got something even more extraordinary, characters that live on the page. It is narrated by an octopus, yet the other main characters are humans. Full of the sort of thing I usually hate in books -- misunderstandings, lost phones, letters unread -- yet it all comes together in a way that seems quite believable, and thank goodness, 'as it should'. And there is no doubt that the hero of the story is Marcellus, a giant pacific octopus in an aquarium in Washington State. I am also, as a writer myself, in awe of how very well this first time author has made her characters live on the page, has woven complex stories together into something that works so well. I was in tears more than once, and the ending is just what I'd hoped. I'm a good writer of fantasy fiction, featuring dragons and people who need to find their place in the world as 'heroes' and even at one point cephalopods who save my heroine. But the story telling abilities of Shelby Van Pelt leave me realising there are new authors out there that have such wonderful stories to tell, and, bless 'em, the talent to tell them so well. This book touched parts of me that I usually keep carefully sheltered, and that wasn't always easy, but it is about people and families, yet also with an under current of the loneliness that can happen, I know this story in my own life. But it is that rarest of things, a complex story with complex characters where things do turn out well. Thank you, Shelby, this is a wonderful gift.