About Book Tastings:
In a book tasting, we read only the opening 25 pages of a book. We’ll tell how the book begins and then say whether those pages inspired us to continue reading the book. A book tasting is not a book review; it doesn’t evaluate the entire book. (For more about Book Tastings, click here)
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Remarkably Bright Creatures is an adult fiction New York Times best seller. The genre is a mixture of several categories: literary fiction, magical realism and mystery.
The story begins inside a fictional aquarium near Puget Sound in the fictional town of Sowell Bay. The book has sections/chapters that follow different characters. The Marcellus sections are told as an inner dialogue, first person, anthropomorphizing the octopus. The other chapters I read, following Tova and Cameron are told in third person point of view.
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Marcellus, a Giant Pacific Octopus, lives in one of the aquarium tanks. He can read the plaque next to his tank where it says, “Octopuses are remarkably bright creatures.” He knows how long he’s been in captivity and that his species lives for about 1,460 days. That means he has about 160 left to live at the beginning of the story.
At night Marcellus likes to escape his tank and scavenge for extra food. Sometimes he takes a few blue bay mussels from another tank, but usually he likes to forage through the human areas for scraps. Unfortunately, he can only survive 18 minutes out of the tank before “The Consequences” set in, and he must hurry back to the tank before he passes out or dies.
One evening, Marcellus gets tangled up in a thin power cord and can’t return to his tank. He’s in mortal danger as the minutes tick by.
The next chapter follows Tova, 70 years old, who is the aquarium’s janitor. As Tova cleans, she says hello, greeting all the creatures as she wipes down the sides of the various tanks. On this day, when she gets into the break room, she sees Marcellus, tangled up and stuck in a cord. She frees him, which makes Marcellous very grateful, although a few suction marks end up on Tova’s arm.
Tova had a son Eric who mysteriously disappeared a couple of decades ago when he was 18. The authorities believe he committed suicide in Puget Sound, but Tova knows he wouldn’t have done that. Still, the years go by, but her gut feeling remains sad yet hopeful.
Tova and her firends started a knitting group 25 years ago called the Knit-Wits. They started the group around the time they were all becoming empty nesters, when their kids went to college or got married. Tova’s empty nest was because her son went missing.
Currently, the group talks about grandkids, which Tova understands but finds it sad because she can’t come to terms with losing her son. Her hope to find Eric never leaves her.
In the Knit-Wits group, some of Tova’s friends are oblivious of Tova’s sadness and unresolved answers about her son. At the end of their meeting, friend Mary Ann asks Tova to let her know if she needs any help. She’s concerned that Tova works too hard at her age, and she notices the bruises on Tova’s arm.
Driving home from her knitting meeting, Tova looks at the sunset over Puget Sound and thinks about her own family from Sweden and brother Lars and, of course, about her son missing somewhere in that body of water. Or is he somewhere else?
When Tova gets home, she gets a phone call about the death of her brother Lars, which brings up memories of her childhood.
At the end of the 25 pages, we’re introduced to a third character. A hungover Cameron Cassmore has borrowed his friend’s truck to drive to Welina Mobile Park to help his Aunt Jeanne clean up her clematis vine that’s expanding past her allotted space. Cameron is amazed that he knows so much detail about plants, which sounds like a mystery to be solved.
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This novel captured my attention immediately by starting with the inner monologue of Marcellus the octopus. Each chapter with Marcellus begins with a heading telling us the number of days he’s been in captivity. He is portrayed as a matter-of-fact creature, with clear observations.
In this short Book Tasting reading, we have three of Marcellus’s sections, two of Tova’s chapters and one page into the chapter about Cameron Cassmore. Will there be more characters within the next 343 pages?
When we follow Tova, the author Van Pelt uses rich metaphors and similes to describe actions and feelings, such as Tova sees a partially hidden octopus that is “like a child’s hide and seek misstep.” She sees the octopus’s eye that glints “like a naughty child’s.” The octopus’s arm winds around hers “like a maypole ribbon.” Also, Tova keeps her thoughts deep inside “like an old bullet.” Tova “feels as if she’s a mistaken jigsaw piece who found her way into the wrong puzzle.” Van Pelt uses her unique metaphors and similes to add richness to this poignant fascinating story, and it works beautifully.
With a third main character {Cameron) introduced, Van Pelt seems to hint that somehow, all these lives (and maybe more) will come together in some special way. I’m looking forward to reading this delightful yet moving story to see how she connects all the dots. Hopefully, Tova will find the answers she seeks.
Book Tasting post by Jackie Sachen Turner
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