BookBrowse Reviews Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

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A warmhearted look at grief and aging set in the Pacific Northwest.

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Winner: 2022 Best Debut Award.
Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel, Remarkably Bright Creatures, is set in the fictional town of Sowell Bay in upper Washington State, one of those coastal villages where the best restaurant in town is a deli attached to the area's only grocery store and everyone is "up in everyone else's business," as one character puts it. It is, however, large enough to support a small aquarium that houses, among other animals, a giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus — a "remarkably bright creature" according to the plaque near his tank. He is, indeed, so intelligent that he can understand human speech and escape at will to snack on the sea cucumbers one tank over.

Septuagenarian Tova Sullivan has lived in Sowell Bay since childhood, in the home her father built by hand after immigrating from Sweden. She began cleaning the aquarium at night following her husband's passing, five years before the story opens, to keep busy. Although she has many friends, she's lonely, mired in grief not only over her spouse but also the unexplained disappearance and presumed death of her 18-year-old son decades ago. One night she discovers Marcellus stuck in a tangle of electrical cables and rescues him, and an unlikely friendship ensues.

Meanwhile, there's Cameron Cassmore, an extremely bright young man who, at the age of 30, still can't get a handle on adulting. After losing yet another job, he uses the last of his money to fly to Seattle in the hopes of finding the father he never knew. His search leads him to Sowell Bay, and as the three main characters' lives intersect, Tova and Cameron learn how to move beyond their pain to find happiness.

Van Pelt pens a truly beautiful tale, rife with humor and insight, and there's a lot to love about it. Marcellus's musings are especially entertaining. At one point he hears a man tell his son that "ignorance is bliss," and thinks:

"Ah, to be a human, for whom bliss can be achieved by mere ignorance! Here, in the kingdom of animals, ignorance is dangerous. The poor herring dropped into the tank lacks any awareness of the shark lurking below. Ask the herring whether what he doesn't know can hurt him."

The book is peppered with a vast array of quirky characters, all of whom are well-rounded and unique. And they're not just padding inserted to add interest to the story or up the page count; they all play roles that are important to the novel's action and are so well-drawn that each makes a lasting impression. The main characters in particular are outstandingly written — three-dimensional individuals readers can relate to and sympathize with.

What I find exceptional about Remarkably Bright Creatures is the author's ability to capture those pivotal times in a life when one knows things are changing and must figure out how to adapt. Tova, for example, has endured the death of her husband and the decline of her peers over the past few years, and has to come to terms with the fact that she herself is aging and can no longer live in her vast, multi-storied house: "[S]he sometimes catches a glimpse of her profile reflected in a shop window, the way her shoulders have begun to stoop. She wonders how this body can possibly be hers." As she grapples with what to do with all the items she's accumulated in her 70 years, she ends up discarding those that she finds meaningful. With no family to leave them to, she knows they will only burden someone else if she doesn't dispose of them herself. Cameron, too, has his periods of self-reflection and revelation, and these scenes add an unexpected richness to the novel.

The book combines realism with the supernatural; certainly an octopus capable of intervening in human affairs is an unlikely beast. But while Marcellus's actions are critical to the plot's ultimate resolution, it's the novel's underlying themes of grief, loneliness and change that propel it along. As a result, those who might generally avoid the magic realism genre will probably not find the story particularly objectionable. Despite its unusual elements, the plot is rather predictable, but it's so delightful that most won't mind this either.

Remarkably Bright Creatures is one of those rare, warmhearted novels that feels like the perfect antidote to the worries of the world — a marvelous escape. It has definitely earned its place on the "best of" lists this year, and I heartily recommend it to most audiences; its feel-good ending is sure to leave readers smiling.

To learn about the real-life neurological abilities of octopuses, see our article "The Intelligent Octopus"

This review first ran in the December 7, 2022 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.