Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

My Remarkably Bright Creatures Review: A Book I Almost Skipped

I’ll start this Remarkably Bright Creatures review with a confession: I almost didn’t read it. The book had been on my radar for a long time. I kept hearing about it after it published, and then again when Netflix picked it up for a movie adaptation, but I held off. I couldn’t quite picture how a story could be told partly from an octopus’s point of view, so even with all the hype, I still hadn’t read it. Then my daughter was hunting for a beach read at Sundog Books, our favorite bookstore in Seaside, Florida, and texted to ask if I’d read it yet. When I said no, she was surprised, since she was sure it was exactly my kind of book based on the back cover. So I searched it up on Libby, and within a few days we were both reading it: mine an eBook, hers a beautiful new paperback from Sundog Books.

My daughter was completely right. I loved Remarkably Bright Creatures, and I’d argue it’s the best book I’ve read this summer. Shelby Van Pelt writes with such beautiful, easy language that I could not put the book down. The characters are believable, and she made me really care about each of them and feel for what they’d all been through. It’s part mystery, part literary fiction, and a whole lot of a heartwarming tale, all woven together.

What Worked for Me

The book is told in alternating points of view between Tova, Marcellus, and Cameron, and every single one of those voices worked for me. Tova is an elderly widow working at a run-down aquarium to fill her days. As her story unfolds, we learn her eighteen-year-old son went missing years ago in a possible boating accident in Puget Sound, and staying busy has been how she’s carried that loss ever since. Marcellus is a giant Pacific octopus who lives at the aquarium where Tova works, and somehow Van Pelt makes his chapters just as compelling as the human ones. He and Tova become unlikely friends. And then there’s Cameron, a stranger who blows into town down on his luck, chasing a theory that a wealthy local real estate investor might be his long-lost father.

As those three storylines intertwined, I was genuinely mesmerized by her prose and how deeply she built out each character. The mystery elements gave the book momentum, but it’s the characters, and how much I came to care about them, that made this one stick with me.

Where It Fell Short

Honestly, there isn’t much I’d change. If anything, the alternating perspectives take a chapter or two to settle into, especially getting used to Marcellus’s chapters at first. And readers hoping for a fast-paced, twisty mystery should know the reveals unfold gently rather than with big shocks. That was exactly the pace I wanted, but it’s worth knowing going in if you’re after something more plot-driven.

Who Should Read It

I’d recommend Remarkably Bright Creatures to pretty much anyone looking for an engaging, character-driven story with a positive view of the world. The characters overcome real difficulties and don’t always make the right call, but the book always leaves you rooting for them to find their way to each other. It’s a great beach read, a great book club pick, and a great choice if you loved Where the Crawdads Sing or other found-family stories with a touch of mystery.

Final Thoughts

That’s my Remarkably Bright Creatures review: I loved it, and I have a feeling most readers would too. My rating is 5 stars. It’s since been adapted into a Netflix film starring Sally Field, and I’m looking forward to watching it, though I have a feeling the book will still win out, the way it usually does for me.