Seventy-year-old Tova Sullivan works as a cleaner at a local aquarium to keep busy after the death of her husband. While doing so, she strikes up an unlikely friendship with Marcellus, who happens to be a Giant Pacific octopus. Marcellus is not just any ordinary sea creature, however. He is supremely intelligent and a cunning escape artist, prone to late-night adventures like invading the other creatures’ habitats and even the aquarium’s offices. Marcellus even narrates some chapters, dating each from the start of his captivity, counting toward his anticipated demise around day 1,460, four years being the lifespan of his species. Though Marcellus takes a dim view of humanity generally, he is sympathetic towards Tova, especially after learning of the tragic death of her son Eric many years ago.
The third hub of Shelby Van Pelt’s story is Cameron, a wayward 30-year-old who’s had a rough life after being abandoned as a young boy by his mother. Unable to hold down a job and seemingly unwilling to grow up, Cameron latches on to some slim evidence that the father he never knew may in fact be a real-estate magnate in Washington state. While trying to track down the elusive tycoon he hopes to shake down for 18 years of missed child support payments, he takes a temp job at Tova’s and Marcellus’s aquarium.
From there the book takes it time, proceeding at a languid pace toward the frankly rather obvious but still heartwarming conclusion. Van Pelt’s creativity seems to have run out shortly after she came up with the “sentient octopus as a co-narrator” bit. Thankfully, she has readily apparent gifts for light humor and loveable characters. Tova is something of a stock-type elderly woman who refuses to own a cell phone or use email, but she is nevertheless a good character to spend time with. Marcellus’s wit is a welcome change of pace in his chapters. Cameron is a bit more of a struggle. His man-baby tendencies are a bit much to take, especially in the audiobook format. Marin Ireland has a rough time doing the voices of all the book’s male characters, but her Cameron is especially tough to take.
Remarkably Bright Creatures is a pleasant read with a humorous hook, but it is unlikely to linger long in the reader’s memory.