I tried to read this last year? The year before? And couldn’t bring myself to get very far, for whatever reason. But recently I was working on a reading vlog where I was only going to read books with animal narrators, and I thought it might be a good time to try this book again. It stuck this time!
Remarkably Bright Creatures follows three main narrators: Tova, a widow whose son also died when he was seventeen, who is now a janitor at an aquarium; Cameron, a sort of useless dude who needs to get his shit together, who starts the book being fired and then dumped (for good reason on both counts); and Marcellus, a Giant Pacific Octopus who lives at the aquarium where Tova works. After she rescues him one night when his nighttime wanderings get him in trouble, they form a really cute bond.
I say cute, but Marcellus is basically depressed and bored, because he’s very intelligent. He doesn’t see himself as having been rescued, he believes he is being imprisoned and would absolutely book it back to the ocean if he could. He also knows he is dying, because he can read and the side of his tank lists the life expectancy for Giant Pacific Octopuses.
There are some interwoven storylines here that don’t come together for a while, and I predicted where they were all going, but I did have a very nice time getting there, so I’m giving this one four stars. I’m glad I finally finished it, but I don’t think it’s going to stick with me for very long.
CBRBINGO: Rec’d (Honestly, who hasn’t recommended this book to me? But specifically, my friend Bre read this first and loved it, so I bought it on Libro one day.)
