Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Read with Jenna Pick

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Truly original and touching, Remarkably Bright Creatures is a story of family, community, and optimism in spite of darkness. Prepare to fall in love with a most exceptional octopus.” Note: Above are quotes and excerpts from the book “Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel by Shelby Van Pelt”. If you find it interesting and useful, don’t forget to buy paper books to support the Author and Publisher! Lessons in Chemistry: In the male-dominated world of 1960s science, Elizabeth Zott breaks barriers with her brilliant mind and unexpected love story. But when she becomes an accidental cooking sensation, she challenges norms and empowers women, all with a touch of humor. Cameron was a child who was left in his aunt’s care at the age of nine. He’s lost in many ways but mostly he just doesn’t see why he should care. Inspired by David Copperfield, Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South.

Humans… For the most part you are dull and blundering. But occasionally you can be remarkably bright creatures.” Tova is 70 years old and has no more family. She’s tough and energetic so she spends her nights working as a janitor at the local aquarium.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. Shelby Van Pelt grew up in Tacoma, and as a child, she says, her favorite place was the aquarium at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. “I loved to go there,” she says, “hang out for long periods of time while I sat in the dark and looked at jellyfish. I liked that it was dark; it felt more personal than other parts of the zoo. You kind of felt like you were part of it instead of just looking at animals in an enclosure. It was more immersive.” Tova is a seventy year old widow who lost her son many years ago and spends her nights cleaning the local aquarium. Marcellus is an octopus nearing the end of his life. He is a Remarkably Bright Creature. One night he and Tova forge a bond. Cameron is a wayward young man floating from job to job and lamenting that his mother abandoned him when he was young and never told him who his father was. When he finds a clue that leads to a man in Washington state, Cameron leaves California to go confront him. For fans of A Man Called Ove, a luminous debut novel about a widow’s unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium—and the truths she finally uncovers about her son’s disappearance 30 years ago.

Bonus: You’ll learn a lot of fun facts to know and tell about octopuses. 5. LIZ Review Remarkably Bright Creatures This story begins 1,299 days after Marcellus was captured, after he’d been taken from his home and robbed of his freedom, and left in this small space, surrounded by glass walls. He’s fed, and observed through the glass that surrounds him by various people throughout the days, but he longs to return to his home. To be free. Periodically he manages somehow to escape, but is always found by Tova, who makes sure the boss isn’t aware of how often she finds him . Stars. This was a charming story about family, friendships, loss, grief, aging, loneliness, unlikely connections and moving on. The story is set in a small town overlooking Puget Sound, Washington State. I thank the author and publisher for providing a DRC of this wonderful book via Edelweiss+. All opinions expressed here are my own. 3. C.BRAD COX Review Remarkably Bright Creatures

Reviews

As she works, 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 tentacles for his human captors—until he forms an unlikely friendship with Tova. The book was incredibly slow and very mundane at times. More than halfway through nothing significant had happened. There were a few chapters that were completely pointless and didn't contribute to the story in any way. Thank you to *Cheri* for her wonderful review who first turned me on to this priceless quirky novel. I finished this book “Remarkably Bright Creatures” with a bittersweet feeling and a smile. How important is that? For me it’s priceless. How rare was that for this reader? Pretty darn rare. Maybe I’ve been reading the wrong books.

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 the Puget Sound over 30 years ago. It seems to be a hallmark of the human species: abysmal communication skills. Not that any other species are much better, mind you, but even a herring can tell which way the school it belongs to is turning and follow accordingly. Why can humans not use their millions of words to simply tell one another what they desire?”How does Marcellus’s perspective enrich the narrative and provide insight into the other characters, particularly Tova, and what does his journey reveal about the universal nature of the search for meaning and companionship? The audiobook-narrators empowers this story exceptionally!! 10. JANB Review Remarkably Bright Creatures