Remarkably Bright Creatures

Remarkably Bright Creatures

by Shelby Van Pelt

Narrated by Marin Ireland, Michael Urie

Unabridged — 11 hours, 16 minutes

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Remarkably Bright Creatures

by Shelby Van Pelt

Narrated by Marin Ireland, Michael Urie

Unabridged — 11 hours, 16 minutes

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Overview

A New York Times Bestseller!

A Read With Jenna*Today*Show Book Club Pick!

Remarkably Bright Creatures*is a beautiful examination of how loneliness can be transformed, cracked open, with the slightest touch from another living thing.” -- Kevin Wilson, author of*Nothing to See Here

For fans of*A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors-until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.*

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.


Editorial Reviews

Library Journal - Audio

06/01/2022

Anyone who remembers the "Sad Cat Diaries" videos from Ze Frank will instantly love Michael Urie's performance of Marcellus the octopus in Van Pelt's debut novel. The octopus's recounted "days of captivity" and his observations of the human characters are pompous yet lovable, and he is as sardonic as he is intelligent. The novel's other point-of-view characters are Tova and Cameron, two searching souls voiced by Marin Ireland, who does an excellent job with each. The link between these two characters is easier for listeners to decode than it is for most of the characters in the novel, but this is not a book that focuses on surprises or even the pair of family mysteries at the center of the story. Rather, this is a kind narrative about misunderstood people learning that they fit into the world just as they are—once they discover where they need to be. Things never get too saccharine because there is enough humor—much of it coming from Marcellus—to balance the emotional story. VERDICT Listeners will be tempted to seek out the nearest octopus and have what only appears to be a one-sided conversation.—Matthew Galloway

MAY 2022 - AudioFile

This fantastical debut audiobook will enchant listeners. Gifted vocal artist Marin Ireland portrays Tova, a 70-year-old widow with a heart of gold whose teenage son died under mysterious circumstances 30 years earlier. Ireland's encouraging tones suit Tova, whose compassion touches everyone, and every creature, in her small Washington town. After she injures herself at her job at the aquarium, Tova meets her temporary replacement, Cameron, a 30-something recently transplanted Californian. Cameron is searching for the father he never knew, and Ireland poignantly expresses his longing for community. Their quests are aided by Tova's unlikely "friendship" with the formidable Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus whose acerbic wit and shrewd observations are wonderfully captured by Michael Urie. A fanciful and enjoyable listening experience. M.J. 2023 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

03/07/2022

A cross-species friendship helps solve a pair of decades-old mysteries in Pelt’s whimsical if far-fetched debut. After Tova Sullivan’s husband dies, she takes a night job as janitor at an aquarium, where she enjoys talking to the sea creatures. She’s particularly fond of Marcellus, a giant octopus who shies away from most human attention. But when Tova finds Marcellus out of his tank and helps him back to safety, he becomes fond of her. Meanwhile, Cameron Cassmore comes to town looking for his long-lost father and joins Tova on the night shift, disrupting her routine. However, the two soon realize that Cameron’s mother, who disappeared after leaving him with an aunt when he was nine, and Tova’s son, who died after falling off a boat decades earlier, might have known each other. Marcellus, who lived in the sea before his capture, is the only creature who knows for sure. Pelt imbues Tova, Cameron, and Marcellus with pathos, but her abrupt cycling between their perspectives can be disorienting, and her no-frills prose is ill-suited for the anthropomorphic conceit at the story’s core. While the premise intrigues, this fantastical take on human-animal connection requires a bit too much suspended disbelief. Agent: Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency. (May)

From the Publisher

Remarkably Bright Creatures [is] an ultimately feel-good but deceptively sensitive debut about what it feels like to have love taken from you, only to find it again in the most unexpected places. . . . Memorable and tender.” — Washington Post 

“A heartwarming novel to suit any mood.” — New York Times

“Infused with heartfelt humor, Van Pelt’s elegant portrait of a widowed woman who finds understanding and connection with a clever octopus is refreshingly, if surprisingly, relatable. Despite the unorthodox relationship at its core, the debut novel offers a wholly original meditation on grief and the bonds that keep us afloat.” — Elle

“The best books about grief find a way to illuminate the darkness of loss, and Remarkably Bright Creatures offers a masterclass." —  Marie Claire

“[B]rilliant upcoming novel about hope and reckoning." — Business Insider 

“ [B]eautiful novel about friendship and family.”  — GoodHousekeeping.com 

“As Van Pelt’s zippy, fun-to-follow prose engages at every turn, readers will find themselves rooting for the many characters, hoping that they’ll find whatever it is they seek. Each character is profoundly human, with flaws and eccentricities crafted with care. But what makes Van Pelt’s novel most charming and joyful is the tender friendship between species, and the ways Tova and Marcellus make each other ever more remarkable and bright.” — BookPage

“A debut novel about a woman who befriends an octopus is a charming, warmhearted read.” — Kirkus Reviews

"A unique and luminous book." — Booklist (starred review)

Remarkably Bright Creatures is the rarest of feats: a book that manages to be wry and wise, charming and surprising, and features one of the most intriguing and satisfying characters I’ve encountered in fiction in a very long time—Marcellus the Octopus. I don’t know how Shelby Van Pelt managed to make this uncommon tale sing so beautifully, but sing it does, and I defy you to put it down once you’ve started.” — Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, author of Good Company and The Nest

“Shelby Van Pelt has done the impossible. She’s created a perfect story with imperfect characters, that is so heartwarming, so mysterious, and so completely absorbing, you won’t be able to put it down because when you’re not reading this book you’ll be hugging it.”
Jamie Ford, author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy and The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

“Truly original and touching, Remarkably Bright Creatures is a story of family, community, and optimism in spite of darkness. Prepare to fall in love with a most exceptional octopus.” — Helen Hoang, author of The Heart Principle

Remarkably Bright Creatures is a beautiful examination of how loneliness can be transformed, cracked open, with the slightest touch from another living thing. Shelby Van Pelt makes good on this wild conceit, somehow making me love a misanthropic octopus, but her writing is so finely tuned that it's a natural element of a larger story about family, about loss, and the electricity of something found.” — Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Here

BookPage

As Van Pelt’s zippy, fun-to-follow prose engages at every turn, readers will find themselves rooting for the many characters, hoping that they’ll find whatever it is they seek. Each character is profoundly human, with flaws and eccentricities crafted with care. But what makes Van Pelt’s novel most charming and joyful is the tender friendship between species, and the ways Tova and Marcellus make each other ever more remarkable and bright.

Business Insider 

[B]rilliant upcoming novel about hope and reckoning."

Helen Hoang

Truly original and touching, Remarkably Bright Creatures is a story of family, community, and optimism in spite of darkness. Prepare to fall in love with a most exceptional octopus.

Jamie Ford

Shelby Van Pelt has done the impossible. She’s created a perfect story with imperfect characters, that is so heartwarming, so mysterious, and so completely absorbing, you won’t be able to put it down because when you’re not reading this book you’ll be hugging it.”

Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

Remarkably Bright Creatures is the rarest of feats: a book that manages to be wry and wise, charming and surprising, and features one of the most intriguing and satisfying characters I’ve encountered in fiction in a very long time—Marcellus the Octopus. I don’t know how Shelby Van Pelt managed to make this uncommon tale sing so beautifully, but sing it does, and I defy you to put it down once you’ve started.

Washington Post 

Remarkably Bright Creatures [is] an ultimately feel-good but deceptively sensitive debut about what it feels like to have love taken from you, only to find it again in the most unexpected places. . . . Memorable and tender.

Marie Claire

The best books about grief find a way to illuminate the darkness of loss, and Remarkably Bright Creatures offers a masterclass."

Elle

Infused with heartfelt humor, Van Pelt’s elegant portrait of a widowed woman who finds understanding and connection with a clever octopus is refreshingly, if surprisingly, relatable. Despite the unorthodox relationship at its core, the debut novel offers a wholly original meditation on grief and the bonds that keep us afloat.

Booklist (starred review)

"A unique and luminous book."

Kevin Wilson

Remarkably Bright Creatures is a beautiful examination of how loneliness can be transformed, cracked open, with the slightest touch from another living thing. Shelby Van Pelt makes good on this wild conceit, somehow making me love a misanthropic octopus, but her writing is so finely tuned that it's a natural element of a larger story about family, about loss, and the electricity of something found.

GoodHousekeeping.com 

[B]eautiful novel about friendship and family.” 

Library Journal

★ 05/01/2022

DEBUT Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living in the Puget Sound's Sowell Bay Aquarium, is running on borrowed time as he nears the end of his life. He is befriended by Tova, the 70-year-old widow who cleans the aquarium and shines the glass of Marcellus's tank. Tova still grieves the disappearance of her only child Erik 30 years earlier, and the more recent death of her husband. Hundreds of miles away in California, Cam, a rock musician who's lost his band, his job, and his girlfriend, finds the Sowell Bay High School class ring of his long-gone mother and heads out to track down the father he never knew. Cam's hard-luck life follows him north, and he eventually crosses paths with Tova when he is hired to take over her duties as she recovers from a workplace injury. Marcellus—a thief, escape artist with a mission, and brilliant observer of human behavior—narrates his chapters with a whip-smart wit born of his nine brains, three hearts, and the impatient urgency of wanting to help his beloved Tova before his time runs out. VERDICT Poet and short story writer Van Pelt has written an irresistibly wonderful, warm, funny, heartbreaking first novel, full of gentle people (and one octopus) bravely powering through their individual scars left by lives that have beaten them up but have not brought them down.—Beth E. Andersen

MAY 2022 - AudioFile

This fantastical debut audiobook will enchant listeners. Gifted vocal artist Marin Ireland portrays Tova, a 70-year-old widow with a heart of gold whose teenage son died under mysterious circumstances 30 years earlier. Ireland's encouraging tones suit Tova, whose compassion touches everyone, and every creature, in her small Washington town. After she injures herself at her job at the aquarium, Tova meets her temporary replacement, Cameron, a 30-something recently transplanted Californian. Cameron is searching for the father he never knew, and Ireland poignantly expresses his longing for community. Their quests are aided by Tova's unlikely "friendship" with the formidable Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus whose acerbic wit and shrewd observations are wonderfully captured by Michael Urie. A fanciful and enjoyable listening experience. M.J. 2023 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID: 2940172993596
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 05/03/2022
Edition description: Unabridged
Sales rank: 200,084
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