Shelby Van Pelt’s debut ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ is a simple story of widowed woman Tova and her unlikely friendship with the octopus Marcellus who lives in the aquarium that she cleans. It is somewhat of a mystery as a down and out young man searches for his lost father and Tova continues to question what led to the death of her son Erik many years ago, however neither of these elements of mystery dominate the novel and it really benefits from that. It’s a small-feeling book that focuses on unlikely friendships, across Cameron, Tova and Marcellus and the desire to find love and belonging. 

I especially enjoyed the chapters narrated by the octopus. They were charming and I wish more of the novel was made up of his perspective however I also recognise not much story can really be told from the perspective of an octopus stuck in a tank. His style of narration and the way he documents his days as diary entries for his ‘captivity’ are incredible though. I do however feel as if Van Pelt could’ve done a little more to criticise aquarium practices with the opportunity of this perspective though. 

Some decisions that make up the ending also felt a little sporadic and unexplained, in some cases a necessity to get the characters in the right places to achieve a resolution, however much of the build up was a lovely slow pace with a small town bustle feel. It was a pretty heartwarming book and I do love that octopus.