A widow who cleans an aquarium at night befriends a clever, grumpy octopus who knows a secret about her past
A widow, a young man and an octopus
Tova Sullivan is seventy, recently widowed and fiercely independent. She works the night shift cleaning the small aquarium in the town of Sowell Bay, Washington, where she gets to know Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus who is clever, bored and quietly approaching the end of his life. Thirty years ago, Tova's only son, Erik, was lost at sea at eighteen, and she has never stopped wondering what happened.
Who will enjoy it
Readers who enjoy warm, gently funny novels about friendship, second chances and unlikely bonds, with quirky small-town characters.
What you will get
A warm, funny and moving novel about friendship, grief and second chances, narrated in part by a wonderfully sarcastic and observant octopus.
Remarkably Bright Creatures Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Literary Fiction · Octopus · Friendship · Grief
Length
384 pages · ≈ 11 h
More about this book
Marcellus narrates some chapters himself, in a dry, superior voice, describing humans as dull and predictable, and counting down the days he has left. He sometimes escapes his tank at night to explore. When Tova finds him tangled in cords on the floor, a friendship begins between two solitary, proud creatures. Tova, meanwhile, refuses help from her friends in the knitting group and from Ethan, the kind owner of the local grocery store, who clearly cares for her.
Cameron, a thirty-year-old man who keeps losing jobs and girlfriends, arrives in Sowell Bay looking for the father he never knew, based on a few clues his mother left behind. He takes a summer job at the aquarium, where he and Tova slowly become friends. Marcellus, observing everything, realizes how the stories connect long before the humans do, and he risks his own life to help them see the truth. The novel deals with loss and loneliness, but the tone is gentle and hopeful, and the ending is very satisfying.
Heartwarming, funny and memorable, later adapted as a film. About 384 pages in the Ecco paperback.
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