Remarkably Bright Creatures BOOK REVIEW

• Date Published:
  2022
• Length:
  368 pages—Listening Time: 11 hours 16 minutes
• Genre:
  Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
• Setting:
  Present day, over the course of an entire summer. Sowell Bay, a fictional small coastal town located in the Puget Sound region of northern Washington
• Awards
  Audie Award Finalist Audiobook of the Year 2023; Lincoln Award: Illinois Teen Readers' Choice Award Nominee 2026; BookBrowse Awards Debut 2022; Heartland Booksellers Award Winner, Fiction, 2023; Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee Fiction 2022; New York Times bestseller Fiction 2023; Great Reads from Great Places Illinois, Adults 2023; Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year Fiction 2022; Lariat Adult Fiction Reading List 2023; LibraryReads Monthly Pick May 2022; King County Library System Best Books Fiction 2022;
  Read with Jenna 05 – 2022; BPL Staff Picks: Best Reads of the Year 2024; The Best Books: Book Recommendations from the Multnomah County Library 2022; KAXE Staff Favorite Books of the Year 2025; Read Across Texas 2023; Illinois Reads Adult 2023; San Diego Public Library. Recommended Books 2023; Top Syndetics Unbound Titles of the Year 2025; Top Syndetics Unbound Titles of the Year Canada 2025
• Languages:
  Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Polish, Croatian, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese (Portugal)
• Sensitive Aspects:
  Grief and multiple deaths, missing child, terminal illness, suicide attempt, alcoholism and alcohol use, recreational drug use, hoarding, abortion mentioned, child abandonment, pregnancy loss and complications, strong depictions of loneliness and depression, profanity and cursing, mild sexual references and implied sex outside marriage, parental death and widowed protagonist, serious illness and aging, animal captivity and ethical concerns about keeping intelligent animals in aquariums, brief references to cancer and other serious medical conditions, mention of a suicide attempt and ongoing themes of intense grief and trauma processing
• Movie:
  The feature film adaptation of Remarkably Bright Creatures was released on Netflix on May 8, 2026.
• Recommended for Book Club:
  Yes!

Marcellus is not what you’d expect from a tank-dwelling octopus nearing the end of his life. He’s grumpy, observant, deeply opinionated—and, quite frankly, smarter than most humans he’s forced to watch all day. From behind the glass walls of the Sowell Bay Aquarium, he studies people the way you might study a messy novel: with curiosity, judgment, and the occasional urge to throw something across the room. If he had hands instead of tentacles, he’d absolutely be the type to write scathing marginal notes.

And yet, for all his sharp wit and solitary tendencies, Marcellus might be one of the most emotionally perceptive characters you’ll meet.

That’s the quiet magic of Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. It sneaks up on you.

At first glance, it sounds almost whimsical—an aging octopus narrating parts of the story? You might be wondering if it leans too quirky, too gimmicky. I thought so too. But within a few chapters, something shifts. The humor softens into something more tender, the oddity becomes grounding, and suddenly you’re not just entertained—you’re invested.

Because this isn’t really a story about an octopus.

It’s about loneliness. About the invisible threads that tie people together even when they feel completely untethered. It’s about grief that lingers quietly for decades and the small, unexpected moments that crack it open just enough to let light in.

At the center of it all is Tova, a widow who fills her nights cleaning the aquarium, moving through life with a steady, practiced resilience. She’s the kind of character who doesn’t ask for your sympathy—but earns it anyway. And somehow, in the stillness of those late-night shifts, her life begins to intersect with Marcellus in ways that feel both improbable and entirely right.

So let me ask you this: when was the last time a book made you feel seen… and surprised you at the same time?

Because this one just might.

Remarkably Bright Creatures follows three intertwined lives in a small Washington coastal town, all quietly circling the same unresolved loss. At its heart is Tova Sullivan, a seventy-year-old widow who keeps her grief tightly buttoned up and her floors spotless, working the night shift as a cleaner at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Decades earlier, her teenage son, Erik, disappeared under mysterious circumstances on Puget Sound, a tragedy officially ruled a suicide but never fully accepted by Tova.

During her solitary shifts, Tova develops an unlikely connection with Marcellus, a highly intelligent giant Pacific octopus who lives at the aquarium. Marcellus is observant, cunning, and more than a little opinionated; he regularly escapes his tank to roam the building, collecting details about the humans around him and quietly piecing together a larger puzzle. From his vantage point, he begins to understand things about Tova’s past that she herself has never been able to resolve.

Meanwhile, the novel also follows Cameron, a drifting thirty-something who’s never quite found his footing in life. After discovering a handful of cryptic clues among his late mother’s belongings, he fixates on finding the father he’s never known, a quest that eventually leads him to Sowell Bay. Broke and stuck in town longer than planned, he ends up taking a maintenance job at the very same aquarium where Tova works, bringing their paths into slow, awkward alignment.

As the story alternates between their perspectives—and occasionally, Marcellus’s wry internal commentary—their lives begin to overlap in ways none of them anticipate. Tova is forced to confront long-buried questions about Erik’s disappearance; Cameron stumbles into a sense of purpose he didn’t know he was looking for, and Marcellus finds himself racing against time to ensure that certain truths don’t remain hidden forever. Without ever revealing too much, the novel steadily brings its characters together, leading to a revelation that reshapes what family, loss, and second chances can mean in a town where everyone thinks they already know everyone else.

You know how when someone asks, “Okay, but what book would you actually press into my hands?” This book is one of those. So here’s why I think Readers With Wrinkles will absolutely eat this one up.

A grumpy octopus with main-character energy

Marcellus is not a charming side character; he’s a full-on scene-stealer with the voice of a cranky old man who’s seen too much and is unimpressed by most of it. If you love character-driven stories but also enjoy a bit of weird, delightful magic threaded through the everyday, his chapters will feel like a treat—sharp, funny, and oddly moving all at once.

Older main characters who actually feel real

Tova isn’t a quirky grandma trope; she’s a nuanced, seventy-year-old woman with a job, a routine, a complicated past, and a spine of quiet steel. If you’re tired of older characters being sidelined, you’ll appreciate how the book centers her inner life—her grief, her habits, her choices—without ever turning her into a cliché or a pity project.

It’s heartfelt without being sticky sweet.

This book has feelings—big ones—but it never tips into saccharine or manipulation. Instead of melodrama, you get small, grounded moments: a late-night conversation, a shared task, a gentle gesture that says more than a tearful speech ever could. If you like to feel things but hate being emotionally bullied by your fiction, you’re safe here.

Found family with all the awkward edges left on

The story builds a kind of found family, but not the Instagram-ready version where everyone instantly clicks and trauma dissolves in a group hug. These characters fumble, misunderstand each other, and sometimes get in their own way, which makes the moments of connection feel earned—like people choosing each other, not just conveniently bumping into love and belonging.

A mystery that quietly hooks you

There’s a central question threaded through the story—a long-ago disappearance, half-answers, and rumors that never quite settled—that gives the book a gentle, persistent pull. It’s not a thriller, but you will keep turning pages to see how the pieces connect, and when they finally do, it’s satisfying in that “ohhh, of course” way rather than a wild plot twist for shock value.

Perfect for a cozy-but-not-fluffy mood

If your reading sweet spot is “comforting, but with emotional weight,” this slots right in. It’s the kind of book you can curl up with on a rainy evening, but it also lingers the next morning, nudging you to think about aging, regret, and the small acts of kindness that make life bearable.

It respects your brain and your heart

The writing assumes you’re smart enough to pick up on subtext and patient enough for a slow build, but it never feels dense or pretentious. You get clean, accessible prose with just enough sparkle to keep you noticing lines, plus emotional beats that land because they’ve been earned over time, not laid on with a trowel.

It’s wonderfully book-clubbable

You can absolutely hand this to a friend—or a whole room of them—and know there’s plenty to chew on: grief, second chances, ethical questions about animals in captivity, what we owe our parents, what we owe our children, and how much of ourselves we bury in order to survive. If your brain is already drafting discussion questions, this one will give you lots to work with. My book club loved it!

If you’re in the mood for something tender, slightly odd in the best way, and deeply human, this is one I’d genuinely love to see you pick up—and then come back so we can talk about it.

Get Remarkably Bright Creatures

A witty, tender story about grief, second chances, and an astonishingly perceptive octopus, Remarkably Bright Creatures is the kind of heartwarming, slightly odd novel that sneaks up on you and stays.

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Purchase Remarkably Bright Creaturess on Bookshop.org

If you enjoyed We Burned So Bright and its end-of-the-world vibes, older protagonists, big feelings, or tender queer stories, here are a few books you may enjoy.

The House in the Cerullean Sea by TJ Klune
If you loved the emotional warmth and found-family heartbeat of Klune’s writing, this one’s a must. It follows a by-the-book caseworker sent to evaluate a magical orphanage, only to discover a makeshift family that quietly rearranges his entire life. It’s gentler and more whimsical than We Burned So Bright, but the emotional payoff and queer love story will feel very familiar. Read the full review here.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
A grumpy, rigid widower with a well-organized life (and death plan) gets reluctantly pulled back into the world when noisy new neighbors move in and refuse to leave him alone. It’s a story of grief, stubbornness, and unexpected connection that slowly melts into something deeply tender and hopeful.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
In 1960s California, brilliant chemist Elizabeth Zott is pushed out of her lab and into hosting a TV cooking show, where she uses recipes to secretly teach women science—and self-respect. With sharp humor, emotional heft, and even an intelligent dog with thoughts of his own, it scratches that “smart but heartfelt” itch.

Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley
A flamboyant, middle-aged magazine columnist rides the same train every day, silently categorizing her fellow commuters—until a sudden incident forces them to actually talk to each other. Out of that awkwardness comes a messy, lovable web of friendships, perfect if you enjoy stories where strangers slowly knit themselves into a community.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
A widowed, cranky bookstore owner’s carefully curated isolation is interrupted when a baby is left in his shop with a note, pulling him into a life he never planned to have. It’s bookish, bittersweet, and full of second chances—the same emotional register of quiet sadness warming into connection.

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin
Seventeen-year-old Lenni and eighty-three-year-old Margot meet in a hospital art class and decide to paint one picture for each of their combined one hundred years. Their unlikely friendship—funny, sharp, and deeply moving—offers that multigenerational, end-of-life perspective that pairs beautifully with Tova's and Marcellus’s story. Read the full review here.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
In a 1930s Pennsylvania neighborhood where Jewish and Black residents live side by side, a group of ordinary people band together to protect a vulnerable deaf boy from being institutionalized. It’s rich with community, moral questions, and the small, brave acts people do for each other in the shadows.

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr
Raised by an eccentric collective of crossword and puzzle lovers, Clayton sets off on a clue-filled quest left behind by his late guardian to uncover the truth about his past. With its themes of chosen family, identity, and a slightly odd premise that turns unexpectedly tender, it feels like a cousin to Remarkably Bright Creatures in spirit.